If you ever had to do a self-evaluation for an employer, you were probably asked to include SMART goals. You are tasked to set your smart goal for the year, that in the end, are of benefit to the company you work for. When is the last time you took the time to set personal goals for your own life? Creating goals can be so impactful. It gets your mind focused on what steps you need to do in order to reach them. It provides motivation to achieving new/better things. Once you reach them, you’re provided a sense of accomplishment and a reason to celebrate. And finally, if not met – it’s opportunity to reflect, learn, improve and try again.
So let’s take this strategy of creating SMART goals and apply it to our lives. I assure you, this will help you feel confident and competent to live your life.
What is a SMART goal? SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based.
Specific
Do your best to focus in on what it is you want. If you are unsure of any goals, I encourage you to reflect on a current issue you are facing that is preventing your true happiness. Utilize the five why’s tool explained in my previous blog to identify the true problem. This will help you identify your focus and create a new specific goal. If the goal is kept too broad and general, it’s hard to decide where to begin to achieve it. As you start to think about what you are trying to accomplish, the steps needed to reach it, will begin to be clearer.
Measurable
Determine how you will know when you have reached your smart goal. This is important so you can celebrate that success when you get it. As you set your goal, include what result you want from it. Picture the outcome you want to see. This may or may not include a precise number. The purpose is to be able to recognize when you have reached your goal.
Attainable
I’m not saying not to go big. Those grand goals are important. I always loved the saying ‘reach for the moon and you’ll land amongst the stars’. Hey, maybe you even go to the moon. I’m here for it. But, I do recommend to create stepping stone goals as well. Great progress takes time. You don’t want to lose faith in yourself because you aren’t quickly achieving those grand goals. Create smaller ones that are realistic to achieve. This will show you that you are moving in the right direction and inspire you to keep going. Help yourself attain the goals utilizing the plan-do-check-act method I discussed in my previous blog.
Relevant
When creating those stepping stone goals, be sure they are truly aligning with what you want. It’s easy to lose focus and come up with other goals, that won’t actually apply to what you truly want. What will make you happy. The stepping stone goals should also be achievable given your current environment. Still push yourself. It can be a lofty goal. These are your goals, and they can be updated whenever you want.
Time-Based
Give yourself a deadline. I don’t know about you but I thrive on procrastination. So if a date is never set, I lack that motivation. Maybe you are the type that likes to start the project as soon as it is assigned. Event better, the date will really be helpful for you to get going. Adding this timeframe to your goal makes it more real. It means you are taking the goal seriously. And you deserve to take yourself seriously.
Some other important factors to successfully achieve your smart goal:
-Write them down. Look at them often. This will increase your commitment to the goal. Then referring to it often, will keep your focus on it. Life gets crazy, and it is very easy to lose sight of a goal you had in mind previously.
-Prepare for achieving them. Sometimes we set our goals, and don’t think it will actually happen. Or at least not as fast as it did. So brace yourself for when it does. Remember to celebrate, and know you can handle the next things coming your way now that you achieved your goal.
My SMART goal example-
My husband and I had always dreamed of moving from Pennsylvania to Florida. I briefly talked to a realtor about selling our home in 2017. In 2018 we visited our destination location to be sure that was where we wanted to go. But it wasn’t until 2019 that I actually created a SMART goal for this dream. I started to hone in on very specific stepping stone goals.
Initially my focus was getting our home ready to sell. You can read more about that experience on my previous blog. I broke goals down room by room and even closet by closet (specific). As each area was decluttered, painted, items were fixed, I marked it as ‘complete’ on my checklist (Measurable. Remember, I said it did not need to be numeric). Since the overall process was broken down into small projects that could be worked on over the weekend, I felt each one was attainable. And as we accomplished small goals, we were motivated to tackle the next one.
I did find myself coming up with irrelevant goals, such as taking vacations (time spent elsewhere) or buying new things (I just decluttered!). It was all in moderation and a few irrelevant goals didn’t derail the big goal. We also needed to enjoy our journey along the way. But we kept our focus on our main goal by looking at it every day. I purchased a white board and stuck it on our bedroom wall by the doorway. It forced us both to remember what our goal was daily.
Finally time based. Once the decision was made that we were going to make this move happened, I decided I didn’t want to spend one more winter up north. By the fall of 2020, I wanted to be in the Sunshine State. After that deadline was set, we had to work backwards to determine our timeline. This in turn provided additional deadlines for my remaining stepping stone goals. Some deadlines we missed, pushed back, or even moved forward. But ultimately we made the big one, and moved in September of 2020!
They key is not to focus on making the perfect goal. These are just guidelines. What is important is giving yourself the time to think about what you want. Believe that you can achieve it. Work towards that smart goal. And celebrate each success along the way.
Well written post!!!
Thank you for reading Cely!!! Appreciate it and hope it’s helpful.