There is a lot of talk around today about goal setting, getting priorities straight, and discovering and achieving our purpose. As I talk with people, I find many don’t know how to set a goal, and when they do set goals, find motivation falls away quickly to achieve it. So how can goals be set that are real, sustainable, and can actually be achieved? The answer is SMART Goals.

SMART Goals are goals that actually bear a resemblance to life. SMART Goals give you a direction and purpose that is real and let you know when you have achieved the goal, leading to a sense of satisfaction, achievement and motivation to go high r and further than you ever thought possible. SMART Goals actually keep you on track! So what actually is a SMART Goal? SMART is actually an acronym, with each letter being a key component of ensuring your goal has a real bearing on your life or project. The concept it to take each goal and put it through the SMART process, helping to make the goal clearer and easier to achieve. As we unpack the SMART Goal process lets modify two common goals into SMART Goals to see what a difference the process can make.

Goal 1: To lose weight

Goal 2: To be a better person

Specific – Is the goal specific or is it too general. By being specific you will be able to focus on the outcome without ambiguity, allowing you to focus your attention in the right direction, leading to a greater sense of achievement when you reach the goal.

Measurable – Is the goal measurable? Can you tell when you have achieved it? We have added specificity to it, now we need to ensure we can measure the point of achievement. So how does this work with our two examples? To amend these to being Specific and Measurable they could be changed as follows:

Goal 1: To lose 10 kg

Goal 2: To compliment someone

Achievable – Can you achieve what is set before you. Is it something you think you can do? This is about your will – do you really want to do it. I once set myself the goal of playing guitar, yet discovered when I started playing that I didn’t want to put the work in to do it. I liked the idea of playing guitar, but didn’t want to pay the price of practicing to achieve it. Think about your goal – do you really want to do, or do you just like the idea of doing it?

Realistic – Can you realistically achieve the goal? Is it within your capabilities to do it? People often set themselves goals in a time frame (see next point) they can’t realistically achieve. They push the limits of what they can do too much and, when they start to hit obstacles, lose focus and stop working towards the goal. Ensure in goal setting that you can realistically achieve what you aim for.

Timed – Does you goal have a time frame? Every goal needs to be bound by a time frame to ensure there is accountability and motivation to achieve it. If there is no time frame, there is no urgency in achieving the goal, and it will remain unachieved. Set a clear time frame for the achievement of your goal, but make sure it is realistic. A Bill Gates is credited as once saying, “Most people over project what they can achieve in a year, and under project what they can achieve in 5 years”. Don’t be afraid to add in a little extra time to your goal if it means you can realistically achieve it, and it keeps you motivated towards achieving it. You don’t want to burn yourself out with too severe a time frame, but you also don’t want to give too loose a deadline so that you lose motivation.

So if we look our original two goals:

Goal 1: To lose weight

Goal 2:To be a better person

We can see that these goals are not specific, measurable, timed, and it is not clear when it will be achieved so it is unrealistic to think there will be any motivation to achieve them.

However if we were to rewrite them as SMART Goals they may look something like:

Goal 1: To lose 10 kg over the next 12 months through a daily exercise programme and a healthy eating programme

Goal 2: To genuinely compliment someone in my world before midday every day, and record this in my journal over the next 12 months.

Both of these goals have now been transformed into SMART Goals with clear action expectations attached to them. The goal setter now knows exactly what they are committing to, and have a record of the achievement to celebrate in 12 months’ time