Understanding S.M.A.R.T Goals
So you want to set some goals
The best way to get where you want to go in life is by having a map! A map will guide you to where ever you want to go and will take the guess work out of how to get there! Being successful at anything in life is no different, if you see the path to take and you stick to it, you’re sure to get there! Which is why you always here me say ‘Know The Goal’, after all how can you hit the goal, if you don’t know the goal! S.M.A.R.T Goals are the easiest way to breakdown what we want and how we get it!
So here we go, read the below to get an understanding of how we set ourselves up for success!
SPECIFIC: Having specific goals gives you a much better chance of hitting them then just something general. There are six”W” questions you’ll want to answer to make a goal specific!
Who: Who is involved?
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Where: Identify a location.
When: Establish a time frame.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Lose Weight, or Build Muscle.” A specific goal would say, “I will commit to workout 4 times per week at a fitness facility doing group exercise.”
MEASURABLE: Give your self a solid criteria so you can measure your progress each step of the way and see your progress. There’s no better feeling then progress or accomplishment and this will help you stay focused on hitting the goal!
A way to be sure your goal is measurable you can ask yourself questions like
How often do I need to do ‘blank” to hit my target goal
How will I know when I’ve hit my goal?
Example: If you want to lose 20 pounds, you’ll need to know how you go about losing 1 pound per week, and then hitting you’ll monitor your progress and if you stick to it, you should hit your goal in 5 months or less!
ACHIEVABLE: One of the most important parts of hitting goals is making sure you can hit them and they’re within your physical or mental limitations. Developing the attitude, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them.
I am 100% confident that you can hit any goal you set your mind to, when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.
RELEVANT: To be relevant, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and relevant you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.
A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.
TIME-BASED: A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.
So now that you’ve got a better idea of what a S.M.A.R.T goal is you can start to think about what goals you want to hit and in what amount of time you want to hit them! Stay tuned for more information of setting specific goals!
‘KNOW THE GOAL’
