🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

What steps are you taking to make sure you achieve your remote work goals for this year?

💡 Concept

In last week’s microlesson, you chose an area of your remote career to focus on in 2024. This week, you’ll practice using a framework to set an action-oriented goal for kick-starting your growth in this area.

A goal-setting framework is a structured approach for articulating what you want to achieve. Using frameworks to set your goals improves your chances of achieving them—and if those frameworks are simple, it’s a win-win situation! 

Two frameworks to help you set and achieve your goals are SMART and WOOP. 

SMART

You may already be familiar with SMART goals. A SMART goal is one that is

• Specific: What exactly will you do?

• Measurable: How will you measure your success? 

• Achievable: Is your goal realistic?

• Relevant: Does it relate to your current situation and area of focus? 

• Time bound: What is the time frame for achieving your goal?

For example, a SMART goal to improve in the area of time management might look like this: By the end of this month, I will reduce the time I spend in synchronous meetings by 10% (compared to last month) so I can focus on deep work. 

WOOP 

WOOP is a science-based framework that guides you to identify obstacles and potential solutions on the path to your progress.

To use WOOP to structure your goal, choose a goal that is aspirational and describes a desired future.

• Wish: What is your most important wish or concern professionally?

• Outcome: What would be the best result of fulfilling your wish?

• Obstacle: What stands in the way of you fulfilling your wish?

• Plan: Name one tiny action you can take to overcome your obstacle. Turn this into an if/then statement.

Example:

• Wish: I wish I could strengthen the boundary between my professional and personal life.

• Outcome: I'd be less resentful at work and have more energy for family and friends.

• Obstacle: I often get emails that I feel I have to respond to after hours or on the weekends. 

• Plan: If I get an email outside of my working hours, I will wait to respond until the next time I am scheduled to work.

🎬 Take Action

• Set a concrete goal for yourself using either the SMART or WOOP framework. 

• Record your goal in a place where you will regularly see it, such as a note on  your calendar or on your desktop.

• Add your goal to your favorite project or task management tool. 

• Add a reminder to your calendar to check in with yourself. 

• Share your goal with a colleague or supervisor for accountability. 

✅ Check In

🧠 Keep Learning

Enroll in Growplaceless to learn the skills to achieve your remote career goals in 2024. 

🎁 Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.