Setting Goals - S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Once you have identified what you want to accomplish in terms of realistic goals to move you toward your life vision, ensure you are setting your self up for success. Fail to plan – plan to fail – in other words, if you set a goal, make sure you plan how to get there so you don’t end up looking back a year later with no progress toward your goals.

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals using the acronym below helps set goals that you will achieve!

• S – Specific

  • Ensure your goal is specific. Instead of “increase sales” – “Increase sales 2x from last month – last month was 20, this month will be 40.”

  • To check if your goal is specific, ask yourself “how will I be able to identify whether I achieved this goal or not?”

    • If the answer is ambiguous, you need to clarify your goal further.

  • Also identify what resources and/or people you will leverage to achieve these results.

• M – Measurable

  • This starts with ensuring your goal is specific – if your goal isn’t specific, measuring it won’t do much good.

  • For example, “improve my phone script skills and get better than everyone else on my team” is a specific goal – but how will you measure it?

  • Instead, “memorize the phone script, and practice it daily, and work with my manager until he/she says my phone script skills are the best on the team.”

    • With this goal I can measure 2 things: whether or not I have the script memorized, and my manager is the measure of whether I am the best on the team.

• A – Attainable

  • Know thyself.

  • Don’t set yourself up for a goal that you will fail to achieve.

  • If you currently bench 200, it is not attainable to bench 400 by the end of 30 days.

    • If you aren’t sure what growth is achievable, find people who have achieved the results you want to reach, and ask their opinion based on where you currently are.

  • At the same time, ensure your goal is challenging.

    • If you currently bench 200, setting a goal of 205 by the end of 6 months is attainable…but will you be proud you accomplished that goal?

  • Acknowledge your time constraints and schedule time to work toward your goal.

    • If you aren’t scheduling time to work towards your goal, it is likely you will end up looking back and wondering where the time went!

• R – Relevant

  • Make sure your goal is relevant to the life you are working towards.

  • Goals can be personal or professional or both…whichever you set, ensure the result you are aiming for gets you closer to your definition of success in work and/or life.

  • Run your goals by your values and personal purpose – does this goal align with who you are and who you want to be? Or is it a goal you are setting because you feel you “should”?

    • Without a strong why that you align with, it will be tough to motivate yourself to do the daily action required to reach your goals, no matter how specific, measurable, attainable and time-bound your goal is.

• T – Time-Bound

  • Set a deadline/time frame for achieving your goal.

  • This ties the above 4 items together – a goal without a timeline is just a dream.

  • To ensure you get from where you are to where you want to be, set a timeline and make a plan.

  • Set incremental goals along the way. If your goal is something you want to achieve in a year, set monthly or weekly milestones to ensure you stay on track toward accomplishing your goal.

  • Make sure your timeline is realistic – again, 220lb bench to 300lb bench in 2 weeks is not realistic – depending on the time you have to work on it, perhaps a year is a more realistic timeline.

  • Refuse to accept failure. If you do not achieve your goal in the timeframe you set originally, set a new timeframe and double down on the activity you schedule to reach those goals.

    • KEEP GOING!

    • “I never lost a game, I just ran out of time.” – Michael Jordan