"When and where are you going to do that?"

Most coaches know about SMART goals – ones that are Specific, Measurable, Attractive, Realistic, and Time-framed. The idea is that the more a goal meets these criteria, the more likely a person is to achieve it. So the goal “I will lose weight” could be made SMART by re-writing it as “I will lose 20 pounds and be down to my old weight of 170 pounds by my birthday next year.” Research, however, has shown that there is a lot more to goal achievement than the way we phrase our goals.

Specifically, researchers who study goal-related behavior differentiate between goal intentions (i.e. what goals I hope to accomplish) and implementation intentions (what actions I intend to do to accomplish them). See the table below for some examples.

Specify When & Where

Just like writing SMART goals makes them more effective, researchers have discovered ways to make implementations intentions more effective, too. Specifically, the best implementation intentions are ones that specify when and where a behavior is to be performed.

In a recent study, psychologists Pascal Sheeran and Thomas Webb at the University of Sheffield, along with Peter Gollwitzer at New York University asked students to write how many hours they intended to study in the coming week (their goal intentions). They then asked half of the students to write down when and where they intend to study, e.g. “2 to 4 pm. at the library” (their implementation intentions). The other half of the participants were asked to write down only their goal intentions (how many hours they intended to study) but not their specific implementation intentions (when and where). A week later, students in the “when and where” group had studied significantly more hours than those who were not asked to specify a place and time.

The bottom line is that for every goal your client has, it’s not enough to make them SMART – they also need to specify clear and unambiguous implementation intentions, ideally ones that include a place and time.

Coaching activity – make commitments with a place and time

Now that you know the importance of place and time in goal achievement, here’s a simple activity you can do with your clients to improve their likelihood of success.

1. Go through each of their goals and select two or three high priority goals to work on. Remember the “less is more” rule – the fewer goals, the better.
2. For each goal, re-write it as a SMART goal (clicking on this link will take you to a more detailed description of how to do this).
3. For each SMART goal, ask your client to commit to two or three implementation actions and write them down. Make sure each commitment specifies a place and a time, if appropriate.
4. Finally, make sure your client writes down their commitments and posts them in a place where they can be easily seen, for example next to their computer screen, on their bathroom mirror, etc. If you are using Noomii’s client management tools, your client can even have their goals and commitments emailed to them every day.

Example goal:

I want to do better in math class.
Make it SMART:
I will get an A average in my calculus class that finishes in May of next year. This will help me achieve my dream of going to med school when I finish my undergrad degree.

Example commitments that include a “place and time”:

• I will study algebra for one hour a day, Monday to Wednesday, at my dinner table as soon I get home from class at 5pm.
• I will show up for my calculus classes at least five minutes before they start so that I’m not late.
• I will go to the free math tutor help sessions every Wednesday at noon at the student center.

Did you know? Noomii’s coaching page lets you and your client write down SMART goals and commitments. Here’s a screenshot that show how the above goal and commitments would look:

Related posts:

1. My partner hasn’t completed all their commitments – What should I do?
2. The Noomii Goal-Setting Resource
3. Why You Don’t Want to Aim to Crush Your Opponents

So you’ve been coaching with your partner for a few weeks now, and you’ve noticed a pattern. While the energy is great during the coaching sessions, your partner has not been completing all of their commitments. What can you, as a coach, do to help them complete all their commitments?

Step 1: Identify why they are not completing their commitments.

Step 2: Brainstorm solutions with your partner.

Here are some common reasons why people do not complete their commitments and potential solutions:

1. Trying to do too much - Sometimes we get so excited about our goals that we try to do everything all at once. We end up overestimating the amount of things we can get done in between each coaching session. If your partner is trying to do too much between coaching sessions, help them prioritize the most important things and help them realistically figure out how much they can accomplish in a week.

2. Goals are not a priority - Has your partner repeatedly not finished their commitments for a specific goal? if so, then maybe this goal is just not a high priority goal for them right now. That’s not a problem, we often have many goals in life and we focus on completing a few of them at a time. This just might be a signal to re-prioritize your partner’s goals. In the process of re-prioritizing their goals, your partner will either feel a renewed commitment to this goal, or they will decide that this goal is just not a high priority right now and they can work on it later.

3. Can’t remember their commitments – If your partner is having trouble remembering their commitments, there are a couple of things you can do to help them. You could print off a copy of your partner’s commitments for them. Or, if you’re partner users an electronic or paper-based day planner, then suggest that they schedule time during their week to complete their commitments.

4. Individual commitments are too large – Sometimes we commit to a huge task without realizing that it is a series of smaller tasks. For example, say your partner committed to setting up an automatic savings plan, and then when they went to complete the task they realized that there are a series of steps involved in completing the task: a. decide how much money to save b. decide how frequently they will save money c. go to the bank and request for an automatic savings plan. You can avoid this problem by helping your partner break down their commitments into small steps as you create their commitments during the coaching session.

Good luck and Happy Coaching!

Christina

Related posts:

1. Tips on How to help your Coaching Partner Achieve their Goals
2. Make Commitments Stick by Specifying Place & Time
3. Future Visualizations to Achieve Goals, Not Just Good, Good, Good Vibrations