The key to accomplishing any goals, whether personal or professional is to write them down and keep a focus on them. This is important for a couple of reasons. First there is something psychological about putting pen to paper. It validates your commitment to seeing the end result. Secondly, it is a reminder of what you committed to and tests your determination to see the goal accomplished. It is always easier to think and say you are going to do something but often much more difficult to see it to the finish line.
SMART Goals are a great way to help you identify and target goal attainment. Without thinking through some of the detail ahead of time, you may be setting yourself up for failure. That is where SMART Goals are really helpful.
SMART Goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Timely
As an example, let’s say if you had a goal to lose weight, you would need to have a target of how much weight and in what timeframe, correct? Let’s look at this example:
Example of SMART Goals
Goal: I will lose 15 pounds starting January 2nd by cutting out desserts and snacks and by controlling my portion sizes in three months.
Ok, let’s look at this goal one point at a time:
Is it Specific?
Yes – losing 15 pounds is very specific. If you had said that you just want to lose “some weight” January 2nd it would not be specific enough to target.
Is it Measurable?
Yes – whether or not you lose the 15 pounds in the three months period is the measure.
Is it Attainable?
Yes – by changing your diet and portion sizes it is very attainable. If you didn’t specify “how” you were going to lose the weight it may not be attainable.
Is it Realistic?
Yes – if you had a goal to lose 15 pounds in two weeks that would not be realistic.
Is It Timely?
Yes – If the goal to start the diet were say, the third week in November right before the holidays, it may not be good timing for the diet. But since it begins in January, it is very timely.
This is an oversimplified example but I think you get the point. Put some time and thought into what you want to achieve, write it down and test it against SMART Goals and see how far you get!
Does anyone have examples of goals they’ve used with this tool?
