I’ve been helping people to achieve their goals for many years now and the SMART method of goal setting has proved to be extremely effective.
A SMART goal is a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based goal.
Specific
Always be super specific about your goals. Vague goals get vague results. As specific goal would be:
- Get 10 new clients
- Lose 5lb in weight
- Earn an extra £1,000
- Write 10 blog posts
- Run 30 minutes twice a week
Measurable
You need to know when you’ve actually achieved your goal, so it needs to be measurable.
If your goal is to improve your business, when will you know you have achieved that goal?
If your goal is to lose weight, how much weight?
If your goal is to earn more money, how much?
Once you’ve achieved your measurable goal, you celebrate and if you want to, set new goals.
More successful (hard to measure.)
5000 email subscribers – This is a measurable goal. You will know exactly when you’ve achieved this goal.
Achievable
Can you achieve the goal with the knowledge and understanding you already have? Is it achievable for you right now?
Losing 3 stone over a period of time by introducing healthy habits is achievable. Expecting to grow 5 inches taller by eating carrots is not.
Going from broke to a millionaire in less than a year has certainly been done. For you to be able to take action on a goal like this, it might be an idea to look at what you made the previous year and increase the level to a level that you feel is achievable. This does not mean it has to be a small jump, it is important to make it a significant increase.
Realistic
Being a couch potato and expecting to win a marathon in a week’s time is pretty unrealistic. Training over a period of time and running a full marathon is absolutely realistic.
Time Based
Give your goal a time frame.
- Lose 6 lbs by the end of the month
- Make an extra £500 by the end of the week
- Have over 1000 subscribers on my mailing list by the end of the year
These are time-based goals.
If you have resistance to adding a time, try releasing the resistance with EFT
SMART goals are used extensively in education as well! I was a teacher for 25 years before my recent move to the Netherlands. I set SMART goals as well for my blog and ventures into other Social Media.
I really need to implement this. My Goals are all over the place for now!!
This is exactly what I needed to hear! I’ve not only shared this post but am also printing it out to keep for my own personal use. Thank you Wendy!
I really enjoyed the tips. Our brain is lazy and does not say in detail for him what we want , it will have too lazy to commit to do.
That’s wonderful to hear Anthea and thanks for sharing. Let me know if I can help you further.
Grab my free Goals guidebook at https://morningbusinesschat.com/achieve-your-goals/ and give me a shout if I can help further. Thanks for commenting.
They are a proven method that works so there’s really no need to reinvent the wheel with this one. Thanks for commenting Michele.
Yep, SMART goals are the best, imo. Always good to know where you are and what you want to achieve, then put a timeframe on it . Anything to stop you drifting 😉
Good post, Wendy!
Thank Shan, I definitely need my goals in place to keep me moving forward in all areas of my life.