The SMART Goal

It’s still January so I hope you will allow me to continue with my blogs on goals.  Goals are so crucial to our success and growth in 2013—and really at any point in time in our life.  I’ve seen small steps of progress in my own life because of goals and know the amazing things a team can accomplish together as they work towards them.  Goals have the ability to inspire us to new heights, lift our vision, push us out of our comfort zone, expand our circles of influence, and help us achieve our full potential as human beings.  Please, take advantage of the power of goal setting. 

So for the somewhat novice or first time goal setter let me offer some simple advice.  (This perhaps may be a good reminder for even the expert goal setter as well…)  When setting goals you want to set SMART ones. 

S=simple and specific.  Goals should be simple and easy to understand.  There is much to be gained when we keep things simple and setting goals that are confusing, vague, unclear, or complex will rarely if ever help us.  Thus first think simple and specific when setting goals.  If your 2013 goals are not simple and specific, then change them so that they are.  This will greatly enhance your ability to succeed. 

M=measurable.  We have to have a way to track or measure our goals.  A goal set that is impossible to measure will rarely help us.  As humans we like to see progress and feel good for what we are accomplishing and measurements will help us.  When establishing goals, make sure you have a way you are going to measure them.

A=attainable.  Make sure your goals are something you truly believe you can attain and are realistic.  Establishing a goal that we don’t believe we will ever accomplish can cause more frustration than it does motivation.  Likewise setting a goal to earn a million dollars in a week sounds pretty unrealistic for most of us but perhaps if our goal was to do it in a year or two that might work for some of us.  Thus we need to make sure that our goal will stretch us but also be attainable in our mind.  I think the important thing is in our mind.  Often people may think we’ve set an unattainable goal in their mind but that really doesn’t matter.    

R=relevant.  What this means is we need a goal that has meaning to us.  Earning a million dollars may really have little significance for us and thus setting it as a goal doesn’t really make sense.  Likewise setting a goal that isn’t aligned to what we personally want to do or accomplish in life or is in line with what is most important to us doesn’t make sense and will rarely produce good results.  Thus we need to set goals that are relevant to us. 

T=time-bound.  Finally, our goals should be set with some sort of time limit meaning when do we hope to accomplish the goal we’ve established, in a month, a year, or 10 years?  Having time constraints will make the goal real and will help us measure our progress.  Having an end in mind will push us to achieve it. 

I can’t state too many times or over emphasize how important goal setting is to our success.  Setting SMART goals will help us be our best selves and will make us great leaders in 2013!  

If you have any questions about this post or if I can help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me as I’d love to help out.