Achieve Your Goals the SMART Way
Learn this effective goal-setting technique to create better goals
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
-Tony Robbins
I loved the feeling of planning and setting big goals, often vague ones at that. But when it came to implementing, I felt short.
So, what happened?
I looked back at how I set my goals and noticed it was very superficial.
I wanted to get a six-pack, have better grades, and be better at playing the guitar.
But you can’t set a goal of “playing guitar more” and expect to become the next Hendrix of our generation. You have to be S.M.A.R.T. about it. Below I will go through a popular and effective² ³ goal-setting technique called S.M.A.R.T.
It is a simple goal-setting tool that will help you achieve your goals and help with your goal progression.
S for SPECIFIC
Your goals should be specific.
Write exactly what you would like to achieve.
Then write why you would like to achieve that goal.
For example, instead of writing “I want to lose weight.”, write “I will join a gym tomorrow and go there 3 times a week, to lose 5 kgs. This will make me healthier.”
M for Measurable
You can’t improve what you can’t measure.
Measuring your progress is critical if you want to achieve your goals.
- If you would like to lose weight, measure your weight weekly.
- If you would like to increase your grades measure your time spent studying and your grades.
- If you would like to be better at yoga, track how many classes you join and journal the ease of doing certain poses.
Create an end goal measure, and work up to that while tracking your progress.
A for Achievable
To achieve a goal, you have to have the right tools.
For example, if you want to start woodworking, you need to have some tools such as a hammer and a saw.
Ask yourself whether you have the right tools and skills to achieve a specific goal.
Also, be aware of the events that you can not control.
E.g., setting a goal of earning a million dollars from stock market investing might not be achievable, because of the market forces out of your control.
R for Realistic
Writing specific and measurable goals is great, but you must be realistic about it.
If you only read 3 books a year, don’t expect to read 100 of them the next year. This will only make you frustrated and you will give up.
Instead, set a more realistic goal. If you read 5 books a year, try to increase it to 8, that’s still a 60% increase and you will feel much better about your accomplishment.
T for Time-bound
Specify a deadline. A deadline is crucial for producing an achievable goal.
Without a deadline, you might lose your drive to achieve the goal because there is no urgency.
You might procrastinate more and finishing the goal might get delayed day after day.
For setting time-bound goals, instead of writing, “I will learn to play new songs on guitar.”, write “I will learn 2 songs to play until the first of October.” This will help you stick to the goal by putting a time restriction on your goal.
3 Examples of S.M.A.R.T Goal-setting:
1) Superficial goal: I want to prepare for a marathon
S.M.A.R.T. goal: I will run 10k on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for the next 6 months. I will measure my runs with a run-tracking app. These runs will increase my conditioning enough to make me able to run a marathon.
2) Superficial goal: I want to read more books.
S.M.A.R.T. goal: I will read 5 pages every night before I go to bed. I will record which days I read the book on a calendar, for a month. This goal will help me improve my understanding of the world.
3) Superficial goal: I want to socialize more
S.M.A.R.T. goal: For the next month, I will hang out with a friend every weekend. At the end of the month, I will check how much I went out of my calendar.
S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting method is a useful tool for you to understand what you are aiming to achieve and is a great way to make sure you are on the right track for achieving your goals effectively.
Let me know what you struggle with about goal-setting, in the comments.
Note: In the original paper Doran assigns A for Assignable (“Who will do the assignment?”) but that’s because the method was designed for management goals of a business. A for achievable is much more suitable for personal goal-setting.
Sources
- Doran. (n.d.). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review., 70(11), 35–36.
- McDonald, Samantha & Trost, Stewart (2015) The effects of a goal-setting intervention on aerobic fitness in middle school students. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 34(4), pp. 576–587.
- Lu, Y., Yu, K., & Gan, X. (2022). Effects of a SMART Goal Setting and 12-Week Core Strength Training Intervention on Physical Fitness and Exercise Attitudes in Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(13), 7715.
