Episode Notes

On the eighteenth entry of Tristan’s Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield (@LayfieldResume) dives into a goal setting method that will help you achieve your goals through actionable steps called “Boulder, Rock, Sand.”

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TRANSCRIPT

Tristan: What’s going on, y’all? It’s Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I’ve teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. Today we’re gonna dive into a goal setting method that will help you achieve your goals through actionable steps. There are many goal setting methods out there, and you really have to find the one that works for you. One that I use and actually uncovered from someone I follow on Twitter is called Boulder, Rock, Sand. It takes SMART goals to a whole ‘nother level. Boulders are your overarching, high-level goals or statements. So for example, a Boulder statement would be “I want to become a project manager in 2019.” Rocks are your SMART goals that, once you achieve them, accomplish your Boulder. For those who don’t know, SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. An example of a Rock statement is “I will take on two projects and complete my PNP certification by December 31st, 2019.” Typically you want to have three to five Rock statements for each Boulder you set. It is imperative that these be as specific as possible and actually achievable. So if you set a goal of having your PNP certification by February of 2019 and it’s December of 2018, you will more than likely fail because of the need to take the course and gather a certain amount of project hours, not to mention actually taking and passing the test. Now, the Sand statements are the specific actions you will take in order to achieve your Rock statements. So for example, I will 1. have a discussion with my boss about projects I can join, 2. utilize my in-office connections to identify projects in need of assistance, and 3. identify and register for a PNP certification course. You can then put these actions into a card or on a Trello board where you have four columns, Not Started, In-Progress, Blocked and Completed. Each card has a goal deadline date and begins in the Not Started column. Once you begin working on it, you move it to the In-Progress column. Now, the Blocked section is for when life happens and sort of stops your progress on that goal. So if your job requires you to travel for a lengthy, unexpected period of time, the card is moved to Blocked until you are back and able to return to working on that task. Setting up goals on a Trello board in this fashion allows you to visually see your progress, which provides motivation to keep going and achieve your goals. This tip was brought to you by Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn. Thanks for joining me. I’ll be talking to you soon.

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