Step, Sprint and Stretch Goals.Change doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of intentional effort and consistent progress. You must first define what you want to accomplish, then establish a plan on how to get there. There are three kinds of goals that will help you achieve your objectives: Step, Sprint and Stretch.

Step: A step goal is a very short-arc goal (often daily) that helps you maintain forward progress, even if it’s small progress. They aren’t necessarily major milestones, but small, measured steps that empower you to accomplish your long-term goals.

Sprint: A sprint goal is a medium-arc goal (a week or two weeks) that causes you to take a slightly larger step to increase your capacity and accomplish your mission. A sprint goal is designed to stretch your endurance and generate significant momentum on your stretch goal. As you sit and plan your week, consider an intermediate goal that will help you make progress on your stretch goal, one that can be accomplished in two weeks or less, and determine what you will have to do each day in order to accomplish it (step goals).

Stretch: A stretch goal is big. This is your long-arc goal, your major feat, something that will challenge you to grow and accomplish your lifelong mission. This is your objective.

Note: You should always be working towards at least one stretch goal, and it’s valuable if you have stretch goals in multiple areas of your life: business/work (developing skills or context for your work), mental (developing your intellectual capacity and ability to process complex information), relational (cultivating and growing your relationships), and personal/spiritual (physical health, emotional growth, self-awareness, or personal skill development). These three kinds of goals can be utilized for anything from launching a project, acquiring a

new skill to growing your business. What is important is that you focus on consistent, measurable progress, and always have each kind of goal in your life at all times. You should have a set of step goals that you are accomplishing today, which should be helping you accomplish a set of sprint goals over the next few weeks, which should be leading you toward a set of long-term stretch goals.

Feel free to use the worksheet included here to help you define your goals.

Define your objective.What is your stretch goal?

How will you know you have accomplished your objective?

What is your timeline? When would you like to have accomplished your objective?

Define your Sprint Goals.What will you accomplish within the next couple of weeks?Tip: It may be helpful to define all of your Sprint Goals at the beginning of your planning process or fill them in as you go. Each project will have it’s own timeline. Record these sprint goals on the follwoing pages.

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Define your Step Goals | Week #1What will you accomplish this week to accomplish your Sprint Goal?

Week #1 | Sprint Goal:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Principle: You are building a body of work today through both what you do and how you do it.

Define your Step Goals | Week #2What will you accomplish this week to accomplish your Sprint Goal?

Principle: Comfort is often the enemy of greatness.Get out of your comfort zone. Stretch yourself.

Week #2 | Sprint Goal:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Define your Step Goals | Week #3What will you accomplish this week to accomplish your Sprint Goal?

Week #3 | Sprint Goal:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Principle: You are the curator of your own life and creative process.

Define your Step Goals | Week #4What will you accomplish this week to accomplish your Sprint Goal?

Week #4 | Sprint Goal:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Principle: When you’re gone, your work will stand as thebiggest testament to who you are what you believed.