Get smart - set SMART goals

This page describes how to set smart goals, as one of the best goal setting strategies, and a goal setting worksheet layout for the process. Setting and achieving goals is a vital element of self improvement and smart goal setting is the smart way of doing it.

Why?

Because, S.M.A.R.T goals are:

Specific - i.e. includes the what?, why? and how?

Measurable - i.e. includes how progress will be measured

Attainable - that is, stretchy and achievable

Realistic - this does not mean “easy”, it means do-able with effort

Timed - i.e. includes a time limit which creates a target and urgency

What does a SMART goal look like?

Suppose you want to achieve a healthy weight.

It might look something like this:

* specific - lose 12 pounds

* measurable - weekly weigh-in to check progress; measure waist every two weeks

* attainable - move to a low fat diet; increase fruit and veg. intake; and do 30 minutes exercise 4 times per week to include jogging (home) and weights (gym)

* realistic - lose 1-2 pounds per week

* timeframe - target weight achieved in 10 weeks

The same goal expressed in an un-SMART way might simply read:

* go on a diet and lose weight.

This is much less likely to motivate you or to be achieved.

Get the idea?

There are 7 traps that will undermine and weaken the benefits of goal setting.

Test your goals against these to make sure that you get all the advantages of goal setting.

Your objectives and goals can relate to anything you want to achieve, of course, in your future.

In terms of the big picture, and self improvement, they often derive from your purpose.

Don’t get too hung up trying to express your goals "perfectly" but do make sure that however you set out your goals, they motivate you and create a driving focus for delivering success.

Having carried out the necessary goal setting activities and set some goals, work towards them in a proactive way.

This is usually better than working away from problems or difficulties but whatever enables you to deliver the necessary actions consistently is fine.

Keep your goals visible and refer to them often as a valuable discipline to keep your efforts flowing and on track.

One way of doing this is to write down your smart goals on goal setting forms. It is easy to get overly sophisticated here but one of the best goal setting suggestions is to keep it simple.

For example, you may choose to divide a piece of paper into six columns and use the smart goals headings for each column (i.e. specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timed with, maybe, the date the smart goal was set being the heading for the sixth column).

Additionally, if you wish, you can have a seventh column to tick off and date when a smart goal was achieved.

Also, you may want to organise things a little to support your goal getting actions.

For example, re the example shown above, you may want to schedule your gym visits into your diary so that you plan around them rather than they get overtaken by events (such as going to the pub).

Or you may want to engage your partner as your official "measurer of the waist" (it’s amazing how motivating something like this can prove to be).

Again, high achievers don’t rely on good intentions, they set themselves up to deliver success and persevere through those inevitable times when it would be easy to give up.

In the words of the song, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” - the persistent achiever's favourite tune.

Some achievers would also support their smart goal getting, with pictures and right brain VISUALISATION

That is, they might attach a picture of what they want to their goal setting worksheet or form.

Or, they might set up a vision board on which they pin pictures of what they want.

Pictures can be worth a thousand words, especially to your unconscious mind. Images and pictures are the language of the subconscious mind (rather than the words we use so extensively).

Setting SMART goals is smart, they will enable you to deliver positive action, be in control and gain a great sense of achievement