So you have created some goals using the SMART framework. Perhaps you have even taken a crack at them. Your experience has probably included both triumphs and setbacks.
Either way, there may be room to expand your approach. A goal can be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound without being a good fit for your life.
That is where the Cotivate SMASH lens comes in:
- Sustainable
- Meaningful
- Attentive
- Synergistic
- Harmonious
SMART helps you write a clear goal. SMASH asks whether that goal is worth living with.
Sustainable: can you maintain the pace?
South African sprinter Wayde van Niekerk set the 400-meter world record at 43.03 seconds in the 2016 Olympic final. His recorded 100-meter best is 9.94 seconds. If you multiplied that 100-meter time by four, you would get 39.76 seconds—far faster than his 400-meter record.
The comparison is intentionally simplistic, but the lesson is useful: a pace you can reach briefly is not automatically a pace you can sustain across a longer distance. The official performances are recorded by World Athletics.
The same is true of your actionable steps. You may be able to follow an extreme schedule for several days. That does not mean the schedule will carry you through several months.
Ask:
- Can I continue this effort for as long as the goal requires?
- What happens during a busy or difficult week?
- Am I depending on a level of energy I rarely have?
- What is the smaller version of this action that keeps the goal alive?
Choose actions that challenge you without demanding a permanent sprint.
Meaningful: why does this matter to you?
A meaningful goal requires reflection. Why is completing it important? What will it mean if you do?
External validation can be powerful fuel, but it is often unreliable. If your entire goal depends on impressing someone else, the reward may never arrive—even if you complete the work. The other person may not notice, may not care, or may simply move the standard.
That does not mean every motivation must be profound. It means the goal should offer something you value independently of someone else's reaction: greater confidence, freedom, health, skill, connection, creativity, or another form of growth that belongs to you.
Attentive: what has experience already taught you?
An attentive goal responds to previous success and failure.
If you completed a goal comfortably, you may be ready for a greater challenge. If time constraints repeatedly stopped you, your next target may need to be smaller until your circumstances change.
Suppose you planned to walk 10,000 steps each day but consistently ran out of time. Reducing the target is not automatically giving up. It may be a thoughtful adjustment that allows you to build consistency before increasing the challenge.
Use your own evidence. Before setting the next goal, ask:
- What worked last time?
- Where did friction appear?
- Which assumption turned out to be wrong?
- What would I deliberately repeat or change?
If the last attempt ended in disappointment, start with a structured review of the failure.
Synergistic: does this goal help another goal?
Synergy describes a combined effect that is greater than the separate effects. A synergistic goal supports progress somewhere else in your life.
Imagine that you want to read for ten minutes before bed, but you are mentally exhausted every evening. A separate goal to create a more consistent sleep schedule may have its own benefits while also improving your ability to read.
Not every goal needs to support another one. But when goals can reinforce each other, progress becomes less fragmented. Look for actions that create multiple useful effects.
Harmonious: does this fit the rest of your life?
Harmonious is related to synergistic, but it asks a broader question.
Synergistic goals work well with other goals. Harmonious goals work well with your life.
You may be capable of following a demanding training routine. But if that routine leaves no room for a new baby, an important relationship, necessary rest, or another responsibility you value, it may not be harmonious—even if it is achievable and sustainable in isolation.
Only you can decide whether a goal is worth its cost. Consider:
- What will this goal require me to say no to?
- Who else will be affected by the plan?
- Does the goal create unnecessary conflict with a responsibility or value?
- Would success still feel like success if I reached it this way?
Give your SMART goals the SMASH test
SMART goals are a strong place to start. They make an ambition clearer and more actionable. But a well-written goal is not necessarily a wise goal.
Take one of your current SMART goals and ask:
- Sustainable: Can I maintain the required actions?
- Meaningful: Does the outcome matter to me beyond external approval?
- Attentive: Does the plan reflect what experience has taught me?
- Synergistic: Can it reinforce another goal or priority?
- Harmonious: Does it work alongside the rest of my life?
The point of setting goals is not simply to give yourself more things to accomplish. Your goals should move you toward a life you actually want to live.
Once you have mastered the mechanics of SMART goals, use the SMASH lens and see whether those goals still hold up.