How do you know that you are being successful? How do you know that you have achieved success? Well, that requires clear, specific goals.

Most people are familiar with "SMART" goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. That approach is valid and produces relatively good goals. Recently, however, we have become fans of a new approach – HARD™ goals (developed by Mark Murphy, Chairman and CEO of Leadership IQ). The HARD™ goals are:

• Heartfelt – exist to serve something bigger than ourselves.
• Animated – so vividly described and presented that to not reach them would leave us wanting.
• Required – are critical to our continued existence.
• Difficult – so hard they’ll test every one of our limits.

We think that this new framework produces goals that are more vivid/emotional and pushes people beyond their current self-imposed restraints/limits; therefore, bringing a higher level of personal commitment to attaining them.

With goals in hand, how does one measure their success? Obviously, the quantitative approach is easier – establishing metrics for both interim/progress goals as well as "completion" goals. PBI also helps clients identify the softer/qualitative measures. For example, if you goal is to produce happy and successful children, then these measures (we call them "indicators") might include your perception of the quality of their friends, what do they say they are thankful for and want (when they say grace at dinner), etc. The key to this process is to know what success looks like to you and to establish "measures that matter" – ones that you will use the data/feedback from to make adjustments or future decisions.