“Bro!!! I need your help.” I asked for inuke..
“Yo!!!.. I don’t like this arrangement.” inuke popped in front of me. Forwing a little.
“What arrangement?”
“This… You calling me for help anytime you want. It feels like I lost my freedom and now I am just a slave. I mean, I was busy talking to the universe and you pulled me here to this place.” inuke expressed his displeasure.
“Shut, I don't have time. Need you help with something really important.”
“And what that would be?”
“I need your help with Smart goals,” I asked for inuke’s help.
“Ah!! If it were dumb goals you would have finished it by yourself.”
I facepalmed myself. And started to rethink my decision of calling for his help.
“SMART is an acronym and if you don't have anything to contribute you may go back to your talking to universe thing.”
“Yeah, the universe is not going anywhere. What is this smart thing you talking about.”
“It's a method of goal setting. Hmm, How do I explain… Go ahead and ask me about my goal.” I asked inuke.
“I see no point, you are going to cry about opening a restaurant in Andaman.”
“Will you please stop and listen to what I have to say? And you are the one asking for an explanation.” I asked inuke to dial the sarcasm down a bit.
“Sure. Let's listen to your goal one more time.” Inuke asked.
“Now, My goal is to open a restaurant in Andaman…”
“Ok!! I am done.....”
“Arey listens re baba…” inuke’s attitude sometimes gets on my nerves. “If I say the restaurant in Andaman is my goal, It's incorrect. That's not my goal. It is my dream.” I answered inuke.
Inuke squinted his eyes
“Yes!! Owning a restaurant is a dream of mine. But I haven't made it my goal yet.”
“Dreams.. Goals. Po-tat-oes Pot-a-toes. Same difference.” inuke replied making hand gestures.
“See, Even I used to think the same. But it is totally different. Dream is... Dream. Something you want. Something you need. But the Goal is the action plan for achieving the dream. The goal is when you get your dream on paper and work towards it.”
“OK, That's the diary, Here is the pen and write it down and be done with it. I assume you know the spelling of restaurant.” inuke asked me for more information in the worst possible way.
“I am going to ignore that stupid remark and explain to you the real reason I called you.” I controlled my urge to punch him in the nose. One of these days I might just punch him.
“Finally.” inuke sighed.
“If I were to write ‘Goal - To own a restaurant in Andaman. It will be a goal but a stupid one. I need to write a SMART Goal. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound. I have to write the specifics about the restaurant as much details as possible. What Type of restaurant? Where? You know Specifics about the dream..”
“Ok, like veg or nonveg, theme-based or bland. I get it.”
“Correct. No on to Measurements. This is where we plug in numbers. What's the budget going to be? This way you will start tracking your progress also. Like if you need 20Lacs for the projects. You can then calculate how much you have, how much you need and how much of work you have to put in.”
“Oh like milestones achieved. Or the progress bar. I love that.” inuke replied with some excitement this time.
“And then comes the Achievable parameter. How are you going to Achieve it. You have to make the decision of running the business here. You need to plan and build the team. You plan the crew for your mission in the state. A single person cannot be the Chef, Waiter and Accountant at the same time.”
“OK, make sense. I would also think twice before stepping into a man's restaurant. You carry on.” Inuke asked for more information..
“Realistic. This is what bridge between the dream and reality. Setting the plan in the realm of reality. You need to accept the fact the restaurant is not going to be next to the beach. At least not right away. The competition would simply bury you in the very sand you want to build your dream. Slowly work your way in there. Start somewhere else. Remember why you want to open it in the first place and it has nothing to do with the beach. Stick to that.”
“Hmm, Now thinking about it you have to be kind of delusional about opening the restaurant in the carbyns cove. Hahaha…” inuke pointed out the obvious. And I totally agree with him on this one.
“T stands for Timebound.”
Inuke stopped me from explaining further.
“I think I know this one. So basically putting a timer against the Goal. to make it timebound. Correct?”
“Hmm, Deadline..” I was about to answer but Inuke cut me off again.
“Timer… Deadline… Same thing..”
“Yeah, Whatever it is it must be in this lifetime.” I informed inuke about the time we are left with.
“Cool!! Now I know.” Inuke started to get up “OK, Good talk will see you around.”
“Yo!! Where are you going, bro..??” I asked inuke.
“Back to talking to..”
I glared at him.
“Oh! Yeah! Right, you need my help in setting the goals. You can stop with the glare. I am not afraid of you. But I am ready to help you..” Inuke replied.
Hello Everyone,
I am inuke, And I am probably one of the very few who are setting the new year resolutions in the month of March. This is not something to brag about, but I think I lost my shame sometimes back. And I am not worried about it. As for the goal setting. I am just trying to capture as much details in the Excel sheet for analysis and planning. Thats all for today. See ya soon.
And do forget to visit. IndiaUnited and BeAwesome. Super cool community.
