You can purchase this for your goal-minded and/or Jewish dog at Cafe Press.

So SMART Goals turned into SMARTY Goals, and then – upon reaching a goal myself this week – I was determined to add some Celebration or Fun into that acronym. But SMARTYC didn’t, uh, work. Neither did  RATMACYS or MYCARTS or, my favorite, MYFARTS (even though anything with the word “fart” is hilarious to me, a 31-year-old woman). So, instead of thinking about your farts when you try to accomplish a goal, think about giving them CHUTZPAH!

According to Mirriam Webster, chutzpah (pronounced “hutz-puh”, and if you can make that sound at the beginning where you’re clearing you’re throat that’s more accurate) means “supreme self-confidence; nerve; gall.” For me, a Jewish girl that grew up around that word, chutzpah means “guts“. Chutzpah means “sass“. Chutzpah means “pizzazz“. Chutzpah means “oomph.” I love that word so much that I was this close to calling myself The Chutzpah Coach instead of The When I Grow Up Coach.

So gather round and hear how to turn your SMART Goals into Goals with CHUTZPAH!:

C is for Celebration. I know it seems silly putting it as the first step, but if you can set what the celebration will be at the finish line, it’ll help you stay focused to run the race.

H is for Honesty. Be honest with yourself: can this goal be accomplished? Is it too big? I’ll repeat myself by saying “ A 44-year-old woman with 2 years of government experience in a state with half a million people should not say “I want to be Vice President.” A 58-year-old man with no government experience should not say “I will be nominated as President in the next election.” Instead, a more honest goal would be to say “I will run for City Council in the next election.”‘

U is for Unique. You have to make sure that this goal is yours & yours alone. Not your brother’s, not your boss’, not your wife’s. Yours.

T is for Timely. You need a start date, an end date, and a date for the milestones in between. I’ve recently discovered that the main thing I need to accomplish a goal is a deadline. Give yourself one.

Z is for Zest. Yeah, I know, “zest” is a weird one. But it didn’t seem to be when I looked up the definition and found it to mean “anything added to impact flavor, enhance one’s appreciation; liveliness or energy; animating spirit.” I had zest for writing a “boring” research paper because I picked a topic that interested me, and would benefit me as a coach. That made the goal of “finish research paper” into something fun and not a chore.

P is for Precise. You need to be specific about choosing your goal. “I want to lose weight” has a lot less holding power than “I’m going to lose 10 pounds by running 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks.”

A is for Assessable. Again, I’ll quote myself by saying, “It’s easy to measure if you jogged in the park for 2 miles on 3 separate days this week. “I want to start exercising again” can be measured by Jack. Jack Squat, that is.” I amuse myself.

H is for Honor. This is where you put the Celebration into practice, by Honoring your win and getting that massage / going to that nice restaurant / having an uninterrupted DVR viewing / whatever you decided was going to be your celebration for reaching that goal.

These CHUTZPAH Goals come with a money-back guarantee. If you follow all the steps and your goals don’t get reached, you can get a full refund. Why would I make such a promise? CHUTZPAH! (Duh).

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