What are your SMART Goals?

What is your dream for your future? Is it a new car? Are you seeking a new job? Do you want to get fit and have the body of a famous movie star? We all have different dreams for our lives. To be able to make your dream a reality, you must set goals that are SMART.

If you say to yourself “I will find a new job” or “I will make more profit this year for my business”, these are merely vague statements or dreams, instead you need to be able to set short term and long term goals to be able achieve them. You must set goals that are SMART.

The acronym, SMART has been around for many years and is used to explain goal setting. SMART refers to goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed.  

Specific: goals need to be specific. Often when a goal is set it is very loose and more than likely not possible to achieve. For example, you have a fitness goal of “I will lose weight”. This goal is unclear and how will you know when you have reached your goal? Instead to make it specific, you could say “I will lose 5 kilograms of weight this month”. At the end of this month you would then measure your goal by hoping onto the scales.

Measurable: the goal needs to be measurable in some way. For example, you are a personal trainer and you say “I want to increase the number of new contacts I have on my database”. However by saying “…increase the number of new contacts” is a vague statement and what is the end result? A better goal would be “At the end of this month I would have attended 6 networking events and connected with at least one person at each event”. This is clear and by the end of the month you will know whether you have achieved your goal.

Achievable: goals must be reasonable, a stretch and a challenge. For example, you want to lose weight this month and your goal is to lose 50 kilograms, clearly this is not achievable unless of course you are having some sort of surgery. This goal would certainly be out of reach and a goal of losing 4 - 6 kilograms would be more reasonable and achievable.  

Realistic: goals need to be realistic. For example, you enjoy playing tennis on the weekend with family and friends. You are 46 years old and you have a goal to play at Wimbledon in 2011. Be honest, how realistic is this goal?

Timed: goals need to have a time frame. By having a time frame the goals will have a structure. For example, you have a goal to get a new job. However with no time frame there is no sense of urgency and there is no reason to take any action today. By having timed specific goals will give you the necessary “push” to get started. Timed goals also assist in measuring your progress as you move towards your goal.

So right now visualise a goal that you want to achieve and notice what happens when the goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. Notice how it feels, notice what people are saying to you and notice what you are hearing when you have achieved a SMART goal.