Step 1.1 Making Decisions

The first part of making a plan is evaluating your current position. If the present isn't clearly defined, there is no way to move forward . The SMART Goal System has seven steps, the first step is assessment. These seven steps are an expanded version of the "gap analysis, "Where are you now? Where do you want to be? What is the gap?"

It is good to have lofty aspirations, envisioning a better future position. The first step to get there is assessment. Having vision and defining a mission is in step 2. The first step is to ask "where am I now?"

Asking "where" is the key. Without knowing "where" to start, you can't know "where" to go. In human resource management, employee-evaluation is used to determine "where" each employee is. Evaluation is important, but most methods are counter-intuitive. Usually there are a list of questions, with a grading scale of 1-10 to evaluate employee performance. And the questions are filled with ambiguous terms that could mean anything. One question might be, "Is this employee productive in his/her position?" How is a manager supposed to answer this? How can productivity be measured? And if productivity can be measured, how often will managers give an employee 10 out of 10! The point of evaluation should be to find an accurate measure, to spur the employee to excel. Where most evaluation are vague, leaving the employee discouraged with their poor performance.

Effective evaluation uses concrete terms, which are vital for making a good goal. To say, “I don't feel useful to my boss” is vague. A concrete assessment would be: “I don’t have the skill adequate to proofread my boss’s reports.” The more concrete the better. People don't use concrete terms because they don't won't to outright admit a problem. It hurts to define specific weaknesses. The challenge of using concrete terms is embracing the reality of the short come.  Concrete terms specifically define what needs to change. Donald Whitney in his book on leadership says this,

"To postpone a decision is really to decide for the status quo. In most decisions the key element is not so much knowing what to do but in living with the results."

You might not realize it, but you go through 5 steps every time you make a decision. These five steps take place for big and small choices. You go through this process when you go to lunch.

1. Define the problem.
2. Gather facts
3. Weigh the options.
4. Pick an option.
5. Evaluate your decision. 

As lunchtime arrives, you have a problem, you are hungry...

1. Define the problem. I am hungry, how am I going to resolve my hunger? I will go to lunch. 
2. Gather facts and analyze. What do I want to eat? I feel like eating hamburgers and fries. 
3. Weigh the options. What restaurants are available that offer hamburgers and fries? Wendy's, In-N-Out, or Farmer Boys. 
4. Pick an option and act on it. Decide which one you want and go there. You pick Wendy’s and you have lunch there. 
5. Evaluate your decision. Evaluate whether the triple cheese burger and extra large fry filled your hunger? Yes it did, but it also gave me a stomach ache, and therefore I don't want to do that again.

Going to lunch is a simple example of assessment and making a decision. In the SMART Goal System, making life plans starts with this same process of assessment. When you truly want change, starting with assessment is vital. Though it is painful to reveal  personal weakness and to humble yourself before the Lord (Prov. 22:4), there is good results. When we admit weakness and specifically define it, we are moving from one glory to the next. We are becoming more mature and more experienced in this life (2 Cor. 3:7-18).

In the SMART Goal System, there are 7 steps: 

1. Assessment
2. Mission/Vision
3. SMART goals
4. Timing
5. Responsibility
6. Action Item
7. Flexibility.