SMART Goals are those that are measurable, achievable, important, and time-bound. Why is this important?
- Specific: The goal should be clear and specific, answering the questions of who, what, where, when, and why.
- Measurable: Goals need some sort of measure of progress or motivation will fizzle out– quick.
- Achievable/practical– You are capable of anything. But consider that every large achievement is made of thousands of small ones. The goal should be realistic and attainable, considering available resources and constraints. Start with the next closest step.
- Important: You won’t change something that isn’t important or relevant to you. Return to your intention for help with finding and understanding the importance of a goal.
- Time-bound: Goals that have a determined timeline or deadline are more likely to be achieved. The rest of your life feels like a big commitment, taking goals on in an achievable or measured timeline feels way more digestible and doable.
Try it out:
Specific-
- Who is going to achieve this goal?
- What is going to be achieved?
- Where will this goal be achieved?
- When will this goal be achieved?
- Why is this goal important to me?
Measure-
- For your goal, write out achievable milestones for next week, 3 months, 6 months, and then a year.
- For each goal, what is the next closest step?
Achievable-
- What steps or strategies could you try to implement to make sure that you are able to achieve this goal?
- Anticipate your roadblocks. By acknowledging what might be difficult about the process you are setting realistic expectations AND you are giving yourself an advanced plan of action to take on the challenges. This is why people get stuck in goals– they don’t anticipate the roadblocks and then get discouraged by the delay. So, would you rather be surprised or prepared?
- Identify some challenges you might intercept in pursuit of this goal:
Importance-
- On a scale of 1-5, 5 being highly likely, grade how important this goal is to you. If it is not a 4 or higher, go back to your goal and rework it.
Time-Bound-
- When would you like to achieve this goal? Is there another way to measure your commitment? Maybe it is days of the week, amount of time, or a measure that is outside of the box (for example closing your ring on an apple watch, number of items made, number of sales by X date, etc.)
- Set both lower and upper bounds- We all set minimum goals, like above, sitting down for 10 minutes. But what if we put an upper limit to it as well? For example: “After dinner, I will sit down for at least 10 minutes of creative writing, but no more than 30 minutes.” This is the just right challenge. If everytime you show up to your intention or goal, you strive for the best, that is a one way ticket to burn out.