Wanting Your Goals to Stick? Make them SMART!

I’m not saying the goals you are choosing aren’t good ones, they just aren’t SMART.  Let me explain further.  Let’s say you have a goal to limit your social media intake.  Yes, this is a growing need as more and more are realizing how much their attention is given to their screens.  To achieve this goal you write down something like “I will stop getting on social media every night to limit my intake.”  Okay, that’s a good start.  It’s a great goal to shoot for but will it stick?  Did you give yourself specific parameters to go by?  What does this goal look like?

Let’s talk about the aspects that can make our goals smart.  SMART goals are:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound.

When determining what your goal is think about the specifics.  When we define goals clearly, there is no question about what needs to be done.  If we are uncertain or confused about the objective, it most likely won’t get accomplished. When thinking of specifics try to answer the who, what and why questions.  So far we know the who, which is yourself.  We also know the what and that is limiting your social media intake.  Looks like we still need the why.

Let’s get more specific and add in why you want to reach this goal.

“I will limit surfing through online communities for better health and focus.”

You may have noticed I changed the wording of the first part.  As you take more time fine tuning your goals, you may naturally want to get more detailed in your wording.  Your goal now includes a why.

When creating your goals, making them measurable will keep you motivated and excited as you see yourself progressing.  This also helps you keep track of the how much and how many's.

It’s time to give your goal some measures to go by.

“I will limit surfing through online communities to only three days a week, no longer than thirty minutes at a time, for better health and focus.”

Wow.  You have now made your goal quantifiable by adding a limit per week and the time allotted to do so.  Keeping track of your progress just got easier. 

Making sure your goals are achievable and attainable according to your abilities and resources have a major impact on your success.  If you don’t believe you can achieve a goal, it won’t happen.  When setting goals, it’s important to make sure they are realistic in order to avoid setbacks and disappointment.  Are you confident that this goal is reachable?  If you believe it, you can achieve it!

There are many reasons why we set goals.  We may be in need of motivation, wanting to stay focused, desiring change or just ready to try something new.  Regardless of your reason, your goal should be relevant to what’s important to you.  It is key that your goal aligns with your values, beliefs, priorities and objectives.

Going back to our sample goal, it is clear that health and focus are important to you so limiting your time online is relevant in order for these to remain intact. 

Finally, we reach the when in smart goal setting.  When do you want to achieve this goal?  To answer this question your goal must be time-bound.  You’ll want to set a clear time-frame/deadline for completing your goal.  This piece will also help you keep track of your success and know when you have accomplished what you’ve set out to do.

Take a look at how your goal improves when making it timely.

“I will limit surfing through online communities to only three days a week, no longer than thirty minutes at a time over the next month, for better health and focus.”

The when question has now been answered.  You have given yourself a month to achieve your goal.

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Congratulations! You have turned your great goal into a SMART goal!

Following these simple steps could result in higher success rates. These steps can also be applied to New Year Resolutions.  No more giving up due to failed attempts and unsuccessful results.  You now know the SMART way to accomplishing what you desire.

What goal will you achieve first?