Creating SMART Goals

It’s coming to the end of another year and the perfect time to set goals for what you want to accomplish in the next. Perhaps you’ve set goals in years past… maybe you’ve called them resolutions… and they somehow don’t seem to get accomplished. But there’s a secret to setting goals that happen. Making your goals SMART will give you a leg up on actually reaching your goals in 2012. Let’s find out how.

What do SMART goals stand for?

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Realistic

T – Timely

How do I create SMART goals?

Get out a pen and paper and make a list of goals you want to accomplish in the next week, month or year. Once you have your goals it’s time to turn them into SMART goals starting with the S.

Specific

You need your goals to be straightforward, focused and underline exactly what you want to happen. By making specific goals that’s exactly what you will do. In order to do this it’s helpful to answer the following questions about each goal:

1. What do you want to accomplish?

2. Why do you want to accomplish the goal?

3. Who is involved?

4. How are you going to accomplish the goal?

Remember to keep your goals clearly stated. What’s the difference between a specific and general goal? A general goal might be, “To finish the interviews” and a specific goal would be, “To finish the interviews in two weeks by scheduling two interviews a day.”

Measurable

It’s important to measure your goal because this allows you to see whether you are accomplishing the goal within the time frame created. If you are unable to measure your goal you will have trouble managing it. By choosing measurable goals you will be able to stay on track, reach your target dates and watch yourself reach each goal step by step.

Attainable

If you choose goals that are too far out of reach, you probably won’t commit to finishing them. Although you may start with the best of intentions, the knowledge that it is too much to handle will cause your subconscious to remind you of this and will probably stop you from giving it your best efforts. You want the goal to challenge you a bit but not so much that it is completely impossible.

You can accomplish practically any goal you set when it’s attainable. Goals that seemed out of reach will eventually move closer and become attainable because you will grow and expand to the challenge.

Realistic

For a goal to be realistic it must represent an objective which you are both willing and able to work toward. Remember that even though a goal is challenging it doesn’t mean it isn’t realistic. You have to be the one to decide whether or not you will be able to handle the pressure. If you can meet the challenge that’s when you know the goal is a realistic one. A goal is probably realistic if you believe it can be accomplished.

Timely

Every goal you make needs to have a time frame in which it is going to be completed. If you don’t have a time frame for your goals there will be no sense of urgency. Without a time frame you will just keep saying, “I’ll finish this goal someday.” But if you create a specific day then you can be held accountable for keeping to that timeline.