How much times have you set the same goals quarter-after-quarter, year-after-year, without having achieved them? Are you ready to level up your goals using a proven model?
Sometimes, the problem is in the goal itself. When goals are too general, it's easy to get off track. When goals aren't measurable, it's hard for you to know if you are on the right track to achieving them. If goals aren't achievable, it creates a discouraging environment with no path to achievement. When goals aren't relevant to yourself or your desires, you might quickly lose the motivation needed. If the goal doesn't have a timeline or deadline, it might drag on forever.
A SMART Goal is a framework for goal-achieving by creating a checklist of characteristics. They address all of the issues presented above.
If you are ready to generate your goal action plan, check out my SMART Goal Generator Tool. If you haven't made SMART goals before, read on to learn how to make them.
Every SMART goal contains the following characteristics:
S - Specific
Specific goals outline exactly what it is you want to achieve. The more details you include, the better your understanding will be for how to achieve it. Try to avoid general statements, and stay away from words such as more, lots, a bit, a lot, some, etc.
Specific goals should answer the following questions:
What do I want to accomplish? (I want to become a nurse)
Why is this goal important to me? (I want to become a nurse to help others)
Who is involved in making it a reality? (I will apply to nursing school to become a nurse to help others)
Which resources are needed? (I will select a nursing program and apply for a education loan to become a nurse and help others)
M - Measurable
Measurable goals outline exactly how you will measure your success and know your progress. You should identify the KPI (key performance indicator). Here are some examples:
For the goal have more income: KPI could be Income, Investment Return, or Savings Rate
For the goal lose weight: KPI could be Body Weight, or Body Mass Index
For the goal get more views: KPI could be Unique Views
Try to avoid having a wide range of possibilities (lose 10-50lbs), and stay away from unrealistically high numbers.
A - Achievable
It's good to dream, and want to reach the moon, solve world hunger, and achieve some other large lifelong goals. These desires are perfectly healthy, and we all have them. The problem is that it's such a large task, we don't know where to start. The gap between where we are and where we want to be might be too large.
It's far more effective to create goals that are immediately actionable to get closer to achieving them, and setting more follow-up goals to lead you to the ultimate endpoint.
As an example, "I want to solve world hunger" is a great goal, but it might not be easily achievable. A good alternative goal might be "I want to study global food distribution chains to find inefficiencies and create a model to identify food waste and avoid it by re-routing it to nearby food banks"
If you currently have 5000 views on your article, don't set your goal to 1,000,000 views. Start with 10,000 views, and then re-adjust your goals and measurements as you progress.
R - Relevant
Your goals need to matter to you. Why do you want to achieve the goal? Asking yourself the right questions will ensure the goal is relevant to what you want to achieve. This is also a good time to pivot and adjust your goal to increase it's relevance to you. If this is a personal goal, check out Ikigai to find your purpose.
Is now the best time to pursue this goal?
Would my time be more useful achieving a different goal?
Will your life or business improve by achieving this goal?
Am I the right person to reach this goal?
T - Time-bound
Do your goals have a timeline or deadline? If you don't set any dates, it's much harder to stay accountable.
Set a clear due date. Avoid using general timelines like 'next month', unless it's a recurring goal such as 'make x every month for 3 months'
If you set a goal due 'next month' you might forget what date you've set it. Do you want to complete it at the beginning of the month, mid-month, end of the month? Be specific!
Bonus tip: Sharing your goals with others will help you with accountability. The more
SMART Goals Summary
Specific - What(will you do), Why(should you do it), How (will you do it), Who (is involved)
Measurable - What is the Key Performance Indicator (views/dollars/lbs/etc.)
Achievable - Make it realistic, break up massive goals into smaller actions
Relevant - Make sure achieving the goal will add meaningful value to your life
Time-bound - Set specific timelines and deadlines
Now you're ready to start creating your SMART Goals! Use the generator to ask the right questions, and automatically build your goal action plan!