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SMART Goal Setting: A Surefire Way To Achieve Your Goals

I encourage you to pick up a pen and a piece of paper and jot down the goals you want to reach. Look at each goal and evaluate it. Make any changes necessary to ensure it meets the criteria for a SMART goals:

  • S = Specific
  • M = Measurable
  • A = Attainable
  • R = Realistic
  • T = Timely

Specific

Goals should be straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen. Specifics help us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do.

Specific is the What, Why, and How of the SMART model.

  • WHAT are you going to do? Use action words such as direct, organize, coordinate, lead, develop, plan, build etc.
  • WHY is this important to do at this time? What do you want to ultimately accomplish?
  • HOW are you going to do it? (By…)

Ensure the goals you set is very specific, clear and easy. Instead of setting a goal to lose weight or be healthier, set a specific goal to lose 2cm off your waistline or to walk 5 miles at an aerobically challenging pace.

Measurable

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. In the broadest sense, the whole goal statement is a measure for the project; if the goal is accomplished, the is a success. However, there are usually several short-term or small measurements that can be built into the goal.

Choose a goal with measurable progress, so you can see the change occur. How will you see when you reach your goal? Be specific! “I want to read 3 chapter books of 100 pages on my own before my birthday” shows the specific target to be measure. “I want to be a good reader” is not as measurable.

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goals.

Attainable

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop that attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. Your begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

Goals you set which are too far out of your reach, you probably won’t commit to doing. Although you may start with the best of intentions, the knowledge that it’s too much for you means your subconscious will keep reminding you of this fact and will stop you from even giving it your best.

A goal needs to stretch you slightly so you feel you can do it and it will need a real commitment from you. For instance, if you aim to lose 20lbs in one week, we all know that isn’t achievable. But setting a goal to loose 1lb and when you’ve achieved that, aiming to lose a further 1lb, will keep it achievable for you.

The feeling of success which this brings helps you to remain motivated.

Realistic

This is not a synonym for “easy.” Realistic, in this case, means “do-able.” It means that the learning curve is not a vertical slope; that the skills needed to do the work are available; that the project fits with the overall strategy and goals of the organization. A realistic project may push the skills and knowledge of the people working on it but it shouldn’t break them.

Devise a plan or a way of getting there which makes the goal realistic. The goal needs to be realistic for you and where you are at the moment. A goal of never again eating sweets, cakes, crisps and chocolate may not be realistic for someone who really enjoys these foods.

For instance, it may be more realistic to set a goal of eating a piece of fruit each day instead of one sweet item. You can then choose to work towards reducing the amount of sweet products gradually as and when this feels realistic for you.

Be sure to set goals that you can attain with some effort! Too difficult and you set the stage for failure, but too low sends the message that you aren’t very capable. Set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement!

Timely

Set a timeframe for the goal: for next week, in three months, by fifth grade. Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards.

If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action now.

Time must be measurable, attainable and realistic.

Everyone will benefit from goals and objectives if they are SMART. SMART, is the instrument to apply in setting your goals and objectives.

Click here for goal setting strategy that helps you to achieve more by doing less!

Tags: SMART Goal Setting, smart goals

  • Temeka Turner

    Right now i am feeling very lost, stressed, and for some strange reason i feel like there is something pressing down on me that needs to be removed in order for me to get the relief that i need to feel comfortable with myself and others.

  • Jason Guinn

    The methods stated in this article should be a blueprint on goal setting. It actually lays out for you the the most effective ways to set goals. The one that pops out at me is setting realistic goals. And by reaching those goals the confidence gets a major boost. I do believe these methods are effective a really can work. I will apply some of these methods to goal setting process.

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  • Arnetta Yancy

    Smart has made me realize the importance of being specific, setting measurable goals,something I can achieve realistically with attainable sucess and last but not least in a timely manner. This article gives points to begin and also how you will end. As I read this article I jotted down the things that I wanted to achieve with as less stress as possible. I decided on long term goals that could be acheivale in a short term period by focusing with a simple lesson plan for myself.

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  • http://JonGutierrez.Photoshop.com Jon Gutierrez

    I am impressed. This is a first for me to hear how one should be organized in a target “specific” manner in order to achieve one’s goals. Excellent!
    I will apply this! News @ 11. :-)

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  • Ashley Flores

    I think that whenever there is a great deal of emotional distress involved it may be harder for an individual to set SMART gaols. Sometimes when I know I have something to accomplish (perhaps attend a meeting or make it to an appointment, maybe even turn in an assignment on a due date), I find that many of the times I don’t forget or just chose not to attend for reasons only I know at that particular moment. When I am in an emotional trance (angry, or sad) I have the habit of forgetting about my responsibilities. I find it hard to care about the things I should be concerned for. How then can I attempt to succeed at conquoring the “SMART” goals?

  • meg

    This system has been used in the business world for at least 15 years, but it’s good to see that the information is getting out to people who may not have heard of it before. My company has been using this for setting annual objectives at least 15 years.

    Bottom line – it works. It may take a little time to get started, but it’s worth it in the long run. It also helps when setting priorities, and it can be used outside the workplace as well.

    For Ashley – when you are in control of a situation, it lowers your stress level. If you have deadlines, work backwards from your deadline, so you know when to get started on each step of your project. You might want to get some training in project planning, or even find a book on it. Breaking a large project into smaller steps makes it easier to deal with, and you can determine what has to be done first, because other steps of the project might be dependent on something being completed before. Example, you can’t write a project report until the project is completed, or frost a cake before it’s been baked.

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  • Stevejobs

    I LIKE PUDDING!!!!!!!

  • http://www.gotoppm.com Tina Del Buono

    SMART goals have been my method for several years. If I were to pick the one thing that has helped over the years it would be re-evaluation of my goals as things can change daily and that is being smart

  • John

    Objectives are supposed to be measureable not goals. Attainable and realistic are the same.

  • Bob Golobish

    Thanks for the post. I am interested in SMART goal setting and I am reading several articles that popped up in my Google search. I am in marketing communications at a small university. Right now, I tend to categorize SMART goals three ways: good, better, best.

    A “good” SMART goal is completing a project, e.g., web site redesign, publish the university’s magazine, learn how to use SlideShare to make a slidecast, etc.

    A “better” SMART goal is getting people to take action, e.g., getting 100 alums to attend a free public lecture, get 3,000 people to attend our next home football game, etc.

    The “best” SMART goals is action that generates revenue for the university, e.g., recruit 10 more students for an important program.

    From your perspective, does it make sense to categorize SMART goals this way?

  • Gosmartinking

    I am very pleased with the presentation of the inspirational to many people like this on your site. good day ….^_^

  • Annetterocks_2

    yup yup i agree

  • gach

    i already did my goal

  • Gach_12

    boston celtics are the best

  • Gach_12

    heheehehe

  • Annette

    i gach!!!

  • Ronnie Newell

    Very shocking to me. I have been goal setting all through mt military career, in a short forum. to obtain military achievements while deployed, short term and long term, most of which were accomplished. my motto was and is “Write it down and make it plain. plan your work and work your plan. (Ronnie)

  • Richard

    Attainable can be, but is not necessarily the same as realistic. Some examples: An unattainable goal that is also unrealistic: swim to the moon. An attainable, unrealistic goal: lose 20 lbs in one week. An unattainable, realistic goal: replace my arm with a robot arm (bad, I know, but this one is hard to come up with an example). Generally, realistic has to do with the path, and attainable has to do with the end result.

  • Lil_penny22

    i like cheese sticks!!! :D

  • Betty Wilcher

    I really love learning and i am enjoying myself greatly VARK makes sense to me

  • http://impopstar.com Goal Setting

    I like that, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” a great simple concept which I will take with me, thanks!

  • Munesf

    I think that we need a further requirement of the goal. It should also be noble. The goal should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely and most importantly, should be noble. So I suggest that you change the acronym to be SMART-N , To accommodate for nobleness of the goal. What do you think?

  • Pedrazaburgos

    what  if  you  applied  SMART goals to  one  particurly thing YOU want  to  change about  yourself - perhaps, it  may provide  a  connect for  you to be  motivated or inspired to  applying  to  work/School related goals -  worth  a  try

  • Pedrazaburgos

    Absolutuely!

  • Dsneen

    Just think what the world would be like if we had more SMART people!!!

    Sadly, only a small percentage of people will read your article, and fewer will follow it.  But for the few that do mine your wisdom, there is a large nugget of pure gold right here!

  • http://thetaoofcurtisflick.com Curtis Flick

    Very SMART indeed. I highly recommend involving everyone you know, family and friends in your goal setting as well. Writing them down, reading them daily, and talking about them is the best way to stay on track!

  • Nantonaku

    Quoting Thomas S. Monson: “Where performance is
    measured, performance improves. Where performance is measured and
    reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.”  Might I suggest that since Attainable and Realistic are redundant, that we change Realistic to “Recorded and Reported”.

  • http://www.wishbomb.com Wishbomb Goal Setting

    Thank you. Definitely important to define what you want to achieve, why and is is achievable and in what timeline. We try to support our community the best we can and help them find tools to reach their goals.

  • http://mothershipblog.blogspot.com Guest

    useful info I can implement to lose weight, thanks!

  • Scarlson76

    Perhaps Necessary is a better word.

  • Slitranger

    My Administrator at a Skilled Nursing Facility attempted to pass this out as a means of making our facility more efficient.  Suffice it to say, there is a more real world saying (“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy”), which says “theoreticals” like this are 1 step and a long fall down a flight of stairs. 

    As negative as this may sound, and to those that disagree with my analysis of this acronym – this stuff should be common sense to the person trying to make a change.  If you have to sit there and use your fingers to count these out…I liken it to “I put the left fooot in front of the right foooot, and then the left fooot or is the right fooot or no it’s the left foooot…”

    A bad insult to business, a defining insult to the person actually thinking this is going to solve very much; and an overall insult to someone being told how to use this garbage!

  • Dtr619sk8

    is anyone in the personal development class?

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  • Tom McIntosh

    To me, Attainable and Realistic focus on the same attributes.  I use Actions instead of Attainable as nothing gets done without Actions.

  • Rachel

    I like this technique, but I think it should be added that we look back over goals every so often to check whether we still have the desire to achieve them that we did when we set them as I think we can easily think we are a failure for not achieving things when actually our needs have changed which is why we have not achieved. 

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  • http://success48.blogspot.com/ Success

    Don’t forget to focus, read your goals twice a day when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed in the night. I’ve been practiced this for a year and now I have 112 goals with some of them have already achieved.

  • steve

    this is stupid

  • lolfish

    you forgot will power

  • Sparta

    ME TOO!