The New Year is a time when people reflect on new opportunities and unrealized dreams. January 1st feels like a clean slate. But if you aren’t S.M.A.R.T. about setting your goals this year, your chances of achieving them greatly decrease.
S.M.A.R.T. is a mnemonic device to easily remember how to set goals that will yield results. If your goals don’t follow these criteria, you may be setting yourself up for failure.
“S” stands for Specific. Set a specific written goal that is objective and measurable. A general goal would be: “I will lose weight.” A specific goal is to lose 30 pounds in 6 months. Give some broad balance to them adding several categories, such as Attitude, Career, Education, Family, Financial, Physical, Pleasure, and Public Service. You choose the categories most important to you.
“M” stands for Measurable. Set a date, a time and identify an amount. For instance, “I want to lose 5 pounds a month for the next 6 months.” You can measure at the end of each month whether or not you are on track to meet your goal. Even your goals for attitude should be written so they can be measured. Setting a goal that says: “I want to feel more loved in six months.” isn’t measurable. Define how you feel loved and then write those goals. “I want to receive 3 phone calls a week from my friends and 1 gift a month from my husband.”
“A” is for Attainable. Don’t set ‘pie in the sky’ resolutions. Using one example above, don’t write, “I’m going to lose 30 pounds in one month.” Not only is it not realistic, it‘s also not attainable. Try making some of your goals performance-related and not outcome-related. Instead of writing, “I’m going to lose 8 pounds this month,” try writing, “I am going to exercise for 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week, and eat 300 less calories per day.” You can control the amount of exercise you get and what you put in your mouth easier than you can control exactly how many pounds you lose.
“R” stands for Relevant. Your goals have to be relevant and personal. If they’re not, you won’t be motivated to achieve them. In other words, don’t develop goals that you think other people expect from you, or others create for you. Lots of people will set unrealistic and irrelevant goals for you – the media, society, even your family and friends – because they are unaware of your desires and ambitions. Work on goals that are meaningful to your desires and life plans. No one else can tell you what’s important.
“T” is for Timebound. Set a date. You may have goals you want to achieve in 6 weeks and others in 10 months. Make a date and stick to it. Then it will be easier to ‘work backwards’ and create your action plan. Referring back to our weight loss example, if you know you want to lose 30 pounds in 6 months, your sub goal will be to lose 5 pounds a month. Then you can decide if you want to increase your exercise, reduce your calories or both to lose 5 pounds. See how you can take a 6-month goal and break it down into daily tasks to keep you on track?
Almost all top-level athletes, successful business people and achievers in all fields use goals setting techniques. The process of setting goals helps you get where you want to go in life.
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