But it is not built for the kind of goal that requires years of sacrifice, repeated failure, and a willingness to keep going long after logic says you should stop. High performers are not chasing goals that fit neatly inside a checklist. They are chasing goals big enough to reshape their identity, and SMART goals were never designed for that.
I am the only American to win an Olympic gold medal in BMX Racing. I spent more than ten years ranked in the top 5 in the world and represented the United States more than 50 times across 25-plus countries. None of that came from filling out a goal-setting worksheet. It came from a different approach to setting and holding onto goals, one that high performers tend to use instinctively even when they cannot name it.
Where the Framework Breaks Down
The issue with SMART goals is built right into the acronym. “Achievable” asks you to be reasonable. But the goals that actually define a high performer’s career were rarely reasonable when they started. If I had run my own goals through a strict SMART framework early on, most of them would not have passed. No ranking, no results, nothing to point to that would make the goal look achievable on paper.
High performance is not built on reasonable goals. It is built on goals that pull you forward faster than logic can talk you out of them, and on a willingness to hold onto that goal long before the evidence supports it.
Make the Goal Impossible to Ignore
One thing I learned early, without realizing I was learning anything at all, is how powerful it is to put a goal somewhere you cannot avoid seeing it. When I was 15, I wrote down what I wanted on my wall. I was not thinking about goal-setting theory. I just wanted to see it every day.
Over time, that repeated exposure changed how the goal felt. It stopped feeling like a wish and started feeling like a fact I was working toward, the same way you work toward a Tuesday. That is the real value of writing a goal down somewhere visible. It is not about motivation. It is about turning a goal into part of your identity instead of a line on a to-do list you revisit once a week.
This is one tool among several, but it is one high performers should not overlook. A goal in a planner you open occasionally does not work the same way as a goal you cannot avoid seeing.
Build Goals Around Identity, Not Just Outcomes
The more important shift beyond SMART goals is moving from “what do I want to achieve” to “who do I need to become to achieve it.” Outcome goals are static. Identity goals compound, because every decision you make gets filtered through the question of whether it matches who you are trying to become.
High performers do not hit extraordinary goals because they filled out the right worksheet. They hit them because they built an identity that made the daily work feel inevitable rather than optional. The goal itself becomes less of a target and more of a description of the person you are training to be.
Goals Need a Why That Can Survive the Unexpected
Every long-term goal eventually gets tested by something you did not plan for. In 2021, my BMX racing career ended after a crash at the Tokyo Olympics. That is not the kind of setback any goal-setting framework prepares you for, and it forced me to separate the goal I had spent years chasing from the identity and purpose underneath it.
What carried me through that transition was not the goal itself. It was gratitude, resilience, and perspective, three things that crash taught me in ways competition never had. High performers need to build goals around a why deep enough to survive a plan falling apart completely, not just a why that explains a good outcome. If your goal only makes sense when things go according to plan, it is not built to hold up under real pressure.
Beyond SMART: A Better Set of Questions
SMART goals still have a place for short-term, tactical work. But for the goals that will take years, demand real sacrifice, and might change shape entirely along the way, high performers are better served by a different set of questions. Is this goal visible enough that I cannot ignore it? Does pursuing it change who I am becoming, not just what I have? Does the why behind it hold up even if the entire plan falls apart?
I did not have language for any of this at 15. I just wrote a dream on a wall because I wanted to see it every day. It turned out to be one small piece of a much bigger method, one that had to hold up through a gold medal, a decade at the top of the sport, and eventually the end of a career I did not choose to walk away from.
If you want to bring this framework to your organization, I speak on performing under pressure and leading through sudden, forced change at events across the country. Learn more about booking a motivational keynote at connorfields.com.
– Connor Fields
