SMART Goals
Posted: January 18, 2021
Setting goals is an important part of life. It gives us a purpose, something to work hard for and help make us into the person we want to be. However we need to be careful when setting our goals, as setting the wrong when can be potentially harmful. So when setting a new goal it is handy to remeber this acronym - SMART.
S---- specific
M---- measureable
A---- attainable
R---- realistic
T---- time bound
Make your goal specific. Instead of saying "My goal for this year is to become smarter" say "my goal for this year is to read more books." Becoming smarter, being healthier, these are generalizations. If your goal is stuffed with one of these, then you will most likely accomplish very little, for the sheer fact that you don't actually know what needs to be done. Be specific with what you will actually do to become healthier, become smarter, become more confident. That's what's really important.
The next step in setting your goal would be to make it measureable. While losing weight is a worthwhile and specific goal, in order to really accomplish it we have to state how much weight we actually want to lose. If you can't measure your goal, then you can't manage it. So if you want to read more books, give yourself a specific number, if you want to make more money, then say how much more.
Then you must reflect on the goal and make sure your it is both attainable and realistic. An attainable goal is one that is challenging but possible to accomplish. For instance winning the lottery would not qualify as an attainable goal, because no matter how many times you enter there is no guarantee that you will ever win. If instead you decided to save up a million dollars, that is possible to attain.
But we must then make sure that our goal is also realistic. For instance, it's definitely possible to earn a million dollars in a year. However depending on your finances that might not be realistic for you. It's still possible to accomplish that goal, but it would be more realistic to start out with the goal of doubling your income. This is a goal that is attainable and challenging, but is also fairly realistic.
The final step in creating a SMART goal is to make it bound to a specific time. If you always set goals, but never say when the goals will be accomplished, how can you ever know if you're on track? Setting deadlines helps us focus and put the correct amount of energy into our goals. If we never set any deadlines, its easy to get off track and laze off. So stay on track and give yourself a specific, measureable, attainable, realistic and time bound goal. In short, be SMART.