diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 439afc9a9..3fe6643b7 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ jobs:
           reqs_checksum: '{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements.txt" }}-{{ checksum "test_libs/pyspec/requirements-testing.txt" }}'
       - run:
           name: Run linter
-          command: make install_lint && make pyspec && make lint
+          command: make install_lint && make lint
 workflows:
   version: 2.1
   test_spec:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8cc889f21..a6b379b71 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ citest: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
 install_lint:
 	cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); python3 -m venv venv; . venv/bin/activate; pip3 install flake8==3.5.0
 
-lint:
+lint: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
 	cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); . venv/bin/activate; \
 	flake8 --max-line-length=120 ./eth2spec;