[AmeshAdalja]

Several months ago Jean Moroney, in her Thinking Directions newsletter (which I really like), recommended the book Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Mark Murphy. I just finished reading the book and definitely found it beneficial.

The book is about setting goals that are HARD — Heartfelt, Animated, Required, and Difficult — and achieving them. Murphy’s approach is thoroughly value-centric and egoistic (i.e. goals should be heartfelt and required for oneself). This method is applicable to goals sought in any realm of life. His main thesis is that by setting HARD goals one will be more committed and motivated to achieving them (vs. goals set with alternative criteria).

Not surprisingly, he cites the seminal work of Professor Ed Locke on goal-setting (Professor Locke also provided a favorable quote for the book visible on Amazon.com).

The author’s benevolent outlook on the achievement of values is also a great aspect of the book. 

[Jean Moroney Binswanger]

Thanks for the mention, Amesh (8065). I agree, Mark Murphy is a good source. He also has a column at Forbes. Here was a recent article that I liked on “Don’t Let Fear of Failure Ruin Your 2016 Goals.” 

The only thing I don’t like about this book is the acronym. I can never remember what H.A.R.D. is supposed to stand for. I prefer to use descriptive phrases. From my Smarter Execution classes, I break it down as:

• Compelling goals (> 2 weeks)
• Realistic objectives (< 2 weeks)
• Doable steps (one unit of effort, therefore < 2 hours)

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