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Hard Goals
“Ever felt like you weren’t reaching your goals as fast as you would like? HARD GoalsK shows you how to change your thinking and get on the path to tremendous achievement!”--Marshall Goldsmith, world-renowned executive coach and author of the New York Times bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
“Hard Goals is full of fascinating insights regarding how to get yourself to achieve things you never thought possible, and Murphy’s key ideas have strong research support. . . . If you want to achieve something great or important in your life, this is the book for you.”—Edwin A. Locke, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland
“If you want a mediocre life, set ho-hum goals. If you want a life filled with excellence and meaning, set HARD Goals. This book shows you how to set HARD Goals and love every minute of achieving them. The end result? Winning in life and unparalleled fulfillment.”Lyle Nelson, four-time Olympian and author of Spirit of Champions
“Every company has goals these days. So why do most goals fall short? Why do leaders keep setting the same failed goals year after year? HARD Goals gives you the cutting-edge science to engage every employee in pursuing and achieving extraordinary goals. No more procrastination, foot-dragging, or giving up. With HARD Goals, your organization will achieve astonishing results. Every CEO, manager, and employee needs to read this book!”Kevin M. Andrews, President, SmartBen
Want to increase sales? Get promoted? Change the world? There’s a goal for that . . .
Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, the school teacher next door who amassed a million-dollar fortune . . . Did these people succeed because they were more motivated or because they were more disciplined? The answer to both questions is yes—but not in the ways you might think. Anyone can achieve extraordinary things. The secret is setting goals that test the very limits of your abilities.
In Hard Goals, Mark Murphy, the acclaimed author of Hundred Percenters, explains the science behind getting from where you are to where you want to be in your career, business, and life.
Leadership IQ, Murphy’s top-rated leadership training consultancy, studied nearly 5,000 workers from virtually every field and found that extraordinary goals—the kind that got America to the moon and back, developed the iPod, created nanotechnology, and helped individuals overcome tremendous personal adversity—stimulate and engage the brain in ways that are profoundly different from the goals most people set.
Research conducted for this book revealed that people who set Hard goals are up to 75 percent more fulfilled than people with easy goals. In these pages, Mark Murphy explains how success, and the satisfaction it brings, comes from knowing how to set goals that
Heartfelt—have an emotional attachment, “scratch an existential itch.”Animated—motivated by a vision, that movie that plays over and over in your mind.
“Hard Goals is full of fascinating insights regarding how to get yourself to achieve things you never thought possible, and Murphy’s key ideas have strong research support. . . . If you want to achieve something great or important in your life, this is the book for you.”—Edwin A. Locke, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland
“If you want a mediocre life, set ho-hum goals. If you want a life filled with excellence and meaning, set HARD Goals. This book shows you how to set HARD Goals and love every minute of achieving them. The end result? Winning in life and unparalleled fulfillment.”Lyle Nelson, four-time Olympian and author of Spirit of Champions
“Every company has goals these days. So why do most goals fall short? Why do leaders keep setting the same failed goals year after year? HARD Goals gives you the cutting-edge science to engage every employee in pursuing and achieving extraordinary goals. No more procrastination, foot-dragging, or giving up. With HARD Goals, your organization will achieve astonishing results. Every CEO, manager, and employee needs to read this book!”Kevin M. Andrews, President, SmartBen
Want to increase sales? Get promoted? Change the world? There’s a goal for that . . .
Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, the school teacher next door who amassed a million-dollar fortune . . . Did these people succeed because they were more motivated or because they were more disciplined? The answer to both questions is yes—but not in the ways you might think. Anyone can achieve extraordinary things. The secret is setting goals that test the very limits of your abilities.
In Hard Goals, Mark Murphy, the acclaimed author of Hundred Percenters, explains the science behind getting from where you are to where you want to be in your career, business, and life.
Leadership IQ, Murphy’s top-rated leadership training consultancy, studied nearly 5,000 workers from virtually every field and found that extraordinary goals—the kind that got America to the moon and back, developed the iPod, created nanotechnology, and helped individuals overcome tremendous personal adversity—stimulate and engage the brain in ways that are profoundly different from the goals most people set.
Research conducted for this book revealed that people who set Hard goals are up to 75 percent more fulfilled than people with easy goals. In these pages, Mark Murphy explains how success, and the satisfaction it brings, comes from knowing how to set goals that
Heartfelt—have an emotional attachment, “scratch an existential itch.”Animated—motivated by a vision, that movie that plays over and over in your mind.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 22, 2010
61 people are currently reading
904 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 2, 2016
If you have tried SMART Goals and you are having trouble meeting your goals it's time to make some HARD Goals.
The chapter on having animated goals was one of my favorites. If a six year old can't draw it you aren't being specific enough in your goals. Envisioning your goal to the smallest detail will help you to achieve your goals.
On making goals difficult the author suggest reviewing previous goals to see what got you motivated in the past. Using these benchmarks you can create goals that get you fired up and motivate you to reach the desired goal
I took a lot away from this book and will use the techniques to create stronger goals for myself in the future. While I think you still need to make your goals SMART it is time to make them HARD as well.
The chapter on having animated goals was one of my favorites. If a six year old can't draw it you aren't being specific enough in your goals. Envisioning your goal to the smallest detail will help you to achieve your goals.
On making goals difficult the author suggest reviewing previous goals to see what got you motivated in the past. Using these benchmarks you can create goals that get you fired up and motivate you to reach the desired goal
I took a lot away from this book and will use the techniques to create stronger goals for myself in the future. While I think you still need to make your goals SMART it is time to make them HARD as well.
October 14, 2012
The introduction explains why some goals are achieved and others are not. The book outlines each of the HARD attributes and how to put each to work in order to achieve the desired results.
July 10, 2020
I enjoyed the ideas in this book. It was well written and I a quick read. I like the acronym and the ideas that make it up. I would try this goal setting strategy over SMART any day!
December 10, 2019
Good book. Author use the acronym HARD for the key elements that he deems critical for goal success: Heartfelt, Animated, Required and Difficult. While I do agree with those elements, there are still missing elements of goal setting that are deemed critical such as Clarity/Specific and Attainable. The content covers the motivation aspect and in my opinion not quite enough on the practicality and implementation aspect of goal setting/achievement. I feel this book is a good supplemental read but not a complete enough resource on its own for goal setting and achievement.
September 3, 2025
What do Steve Jobs and a 3 year old have in common? Nice way to start a book.
Hard Goals as the title already says, is about setting goals, but as opposed to the traditional method of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), this book introduces the framework called HARD, drawing researching from a couple of thousand subjects across various fields (with very limited knowledge on the 97 Chicago Bulls but I'll let that pass).
The HARD framework consists of Heartfelt , which is being emotionally tied to your goals to create a passion for it, Animated which is visualizing your goals cause pictures do mean a thousand words, Required which is having a sense of urgency for the goals which prevents procrastination, and finally Difficult, which is to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Very straightforward and pretty good and practical framework with the author stressing that this will help you with deeper motivations.
The book is generally very inspiring , despite being short , the very few pages certainly does get you on fire along with it's research backed writing , making it well, legit!
I am not a pro in goal setting so it's kinda hard for me to compare HARD to SMART but at least in writing, HARD certainly sounds more effective. Besides that the book certainly has a lot of relatable examples and an example I can relate to was the gift certificate research (they actually made a research on gift certificates....)
All the practical tips can easily be applied hence, I would call this a very grounded approachable book.
Minor gripes however is that this book is a little dated (mostly my fault for picking it up this late), but well I am very very sure the author is gonna be pretty upset with how Google and Lance Armstrong has turned out over the years since his writing. Also I just needed to bring up the Chicago Bulls example, way too shallow but I guess it was there to serve a point so I'll let it pass.
But in conclusion, if you want to set goals, and you want to know how and what to do, this is the perfect book for you!
Hard Goals as the title already says, is about setting goals, but as opposed to the traditional method of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), this book introduces the framework called HARD, drawing researching from a couple of thousand subjects across various fields (with very limited knowledge on the 97 Chicago Bulls but I'll let that pass).
The HARD framework consists of Heartfelt , which is being emotionally tied to your goals to create a passion for it, Animated which is visualizing your goals cause pictures do mean a thousand words, Required which is having a sense of urgency for the goals which prevents procrastination, and finally Difficult, which is to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Very straightforward and pretty good and practical framework with the author stressing that this will help you with deeper motivations.
The book is generally very inspiring , despite being short , the very few pages certainly does get you on fire along with it's research backed writing , making it well, legit!
I am not a pro in goal setting so it's kinda hard for me to compare HARD to SMART but at least in writing, HARD certainly sounds more effective. Besides that the book certainly has a lot of relatable examples and an example I can relate to was the gift certificate research (they actually made a research on gift certificates....)
All the practical tips can easily be applied hence, I would call this a very grounded approachable book.
Minor gripes however is that this book is a little dated (mostly my fault for picking it up this late), but well I am very very sure the author is gonna be pretty upset with how Google and Lance Armstrong has turned out over the years since his writing. Also I just needed to bring up the Chicago Bulls example, way too shallow but I guess it was there to serve a point so I'll let it pass.
But in conclusion, if you want to set goals, and you want to know how and what to do, this is the perfect book for you!
November 7, 2023
The book assumes that you can achieve great goals once your goals are Heartfelt, Animated, Required, and Difficult. Good idea but the examples given are not convincing enough. The author assumes that once your goal is HARD, you will take time to work on it and achieving it. Therefore, he only leaves a short last chapter on how to execute HARD goals. I don't think it's that simple. Since each person's goal is very different, there's no general formula to execute it, but still, I expected more guidance.
I learn some things from the book that I think I will be able to use. However, I expected the book to be better researched, with more examples that span over the whole book. I suggest the author does some survey on people who use his method and see how much more successful they are in achieving their goals; what adjustments should be made if they can't really reach those goals... If the book is indeed aimed for hard goals that require lots of efforts and serious work, the author may want to talk more about challenges people may run into when having these goals, like getting burned-out, disoriented, etc. I feel like the author focuses so much on the journey between normal goals and great goals but much less on the journey between having great goals and achieving them.
I learn some things from the book that I think I will be able to use. However, I expected the book to be better researched, with more examples that span over the whole book. I suggest the author does some survey on people who use his method and see how much more successful they are in achieving their goals; what adjustments should be made if they can't really reach those goals... If the book is indeed aimed for hard goals that require lots of efforts and serious work, the author may want to talk more about challenges people may run into when having these goals, like getting burned-out, disoriented, etc. I feel like the author focuses so much on the journey between normal goals and great goals but much less on the journey between having great goals and achieving them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2019
Umjesto SMART ciljeva, autor predlaže HARD ciljeve. Ukratko, oni moraju doći iz srca, biti detaljno 'nacrtani' odnosno vizualizirani, potrebni i teški. Knjiga me nije naročito fascinirala jer sam čitala puno bolje na sličnu temu. Iz iskustva koje imam vezano uz neke naizgled teške ciljeve, rekla bih kako je stvaranje navike svakodnevnog rada na cilju bolji put. Zato mi se i više svidjela knjiga koju sam nedavno pročitala - Atomic Habits - jer upravo priča o tome.
Unatoč tome, savjeti iz knjige nisu za ignorirati. Možda nekome pomognu u kreiranju novogodišnjih odluka :)
Unatoč tome, savjeti iz knjige nisu za ignorirati. Možda nekome pomognu u kreiranju novogodišnjih odluka :)
December 8, 2017
Everyone has heard of SMART goals, but HARD goals may cause you to really accomplish something. Are your goals Heartfelt, Animated, Required, and Difficult? If they are not, perhaps you need to read this book and rework your goals into something you will accomplish and be able to look back on with pride and a sense of accomplishment. It's time to wake up your brain and set goals that really matter!
October 5, 2018
Different take on goal setting. Not your typical SMART goals, but focuses more on the motivation behind the goals and setting larger meaningful life goals.
Good for top-level high goals and motivation. SMART goals could be sub goals to this.
Good for top-level high goals and motivation. SMART goals could be sub goals to this.
August 12, 2022
Decent principles, well thought through, awful examples. For example, Mozart (the boy that composed music at the age of 5) is used to motivate you to focus on practice rather than talent. But if you don’t get caught up in this, the book explains good principles in simple language.
January 28, 2019
The principle is good but in the end, there isn’t that clear road map. Also, too many example relates to loosing weight
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2019
I like the idea.
August 18, 2023
Audiobook
April 7, 2024
I like the fact that you should create goals that are challenging. However, if the goal is too hard, you’ll give up on it before trying.
February 15, 2025
As a student who constantly has to set SMART goals for every marketing plan assignment, this is a game changer.
February 19, 2011
Goal setting has been written and talked about so many times. I am surprised so many people have opinions on it. This book resonated deeply with me. In writing this book Mr. Murphy demonstrated to me that he has had all consuming goals and was able to effectively describe them so that I would recognize that I also have had HARD Goals. I know that this is what real goals are about. Understanding what a goal is helps me to now be able to set them and pursue them. Awesome book, Highly recommended.
September 23, 2012
People set goals all the time… remember how good it felt when you accomplished one of the more difficult goals in your life? Research for this book revealed that that people who set difficult “hard” goals are up to 75 percent more fulfilled than people with easy goals. What makes one goal more satisfying than another goal? According to the author, “Hard” goals are emotional; motivated by your vision; have a sense of urgency; and difficult to achieve.
January 18, 2014
I thought that this book was really very insightful and I found it to be something that I think I can use in my life. The author's premise is that most goals fail because they are not HARD - an acronym for Heartfelt - Animated - Required - Difficult. He thinks that those SMART goals are the antithesis of what a good goal should be and in fact discusses research that shows that most of the verbiage used is likely to result in less buy-in, not more. It is a very interesting, quick read.
May 23, 2012
This was an okay book....seemed like 'more of the same thing.' I got a few new pointers out of it, but didn't love it. Lately - when I read a book like this, I want it to reach out and grab me. This just didn't do that. But it does have good information in it and would be good for someone just getting into self-help and goal-setting books.
May 30, 2012
Many old ideas, worth a read if you have a hard goal.
December 17, 2013
Must Read
January 11, 2014
I got some interesting ideas out of this book. I think it would make a nice tandem with "This year I will".
March 24, 2016
New flavor of good complex distilled thought.
A good distillation and addition of the latest in brain science ... Like a good whiskey. Great take on complex subject
A good distillation and addition of the latest in brain science ... Like a good whiskey. Great take on complex subject
October 29, 2019
A little framework to make your goals became SMART. Not too helpful for me, for this framework more in the measurement about your goals and many things vague here to implement.
April 28, 2017
Ha sido un libro interesante sobre la estrategia de plantearte y lograr llevar a cabo una gran meta.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews