smart goals
Have you heard of SMART goals? I was introduced to these at school and have used this acronym as a checklist in setting my goals ever since. I find it to be a valuable sense check and a way to set yourself up for success when planning what you want to achieve.
Goals work to work to provide clarity and focus around what you want in any aspect of life.
SMART stands for – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Using these criteria when reviewing your goals increases your chances to achieve it.
Specific – get clear, not vague. Consider:
Who is involved in achieving this goal? Is it just me, or others need to be on board and clear about this too?
What is it I want to achieve from this goal – in as much detail as possible.
Why is this important to me?
Rather than ‘I want an online presence’ which could be vague, and also overwhelming, ‘I want to research who can help me set up a website and how to set up social media channels, so I can share my offerings. This is important to me as I want to be found online so I can reach more people and also build a community for likeminded people.
Measurable – how will you track how you’re going? How will you know you’re making progress? Questions to ask here are:
How many – phone calls will I make to web developers?
How much money will I invest in setting up my website?
How many social media posts will I make each month?
How do I know I’m making progress? – eg break goal into stages or include each step you need to take. For example, goal to set up a website could be be broken down to steps as follows:
· web developer researched
· narrow down to maximum 3 web developers to contact
· web developers contacted
· web developer decided
· web developer engaged
· web design agreed
· web content completed (copy and imagery)
· website reviewed, updates made, final version agreed
· website live.
Continue this process of breaking your goal into steps, or chunks, for setting up social media channels and posting rhythm. Also include blog details – frequency, steps for each (brainstorm ideas, decide topics, order topics, draft, review, publish).
Achievable – is it realistic and possible to realise?
Be clear on how you will work towards your goal in the scheme of everything else going on in your life. While it may be challenging as it is something new, by getting clear on exactly what you need to do and the timeframe you’ve set, you can then check what else is required to allow you to achieve it. It’s important to check you have the resources to achieve your goal. If there’s a skillset deficit, you need to factor this in to your plan and make allowances for the time impact this has. If there are life situations with work, family commitments or any health matters, these need to be factored in too. In a perfect world you might be able to set your website up in a week, but in reality, it may take two months, or even longer. By being realistic about the time and resources you have available to support yourself, and any gaps in capability you need to address, you are more likely to achieve your goal rather than setting the bar too hard and giving up because you didn’t do what you set out to do.
Also check your commitment to the goal at this point when you confirm the time and resources needed to realistically achieve it.
Relevant – R represented realistic when I learnt this however I often see it represented as relevant. I find realistic fits nicely with achievable and relevant is a great addition in offering a check in that your goal is in line with your bigger picture and your life purpose.
Ask yourself ‘Is this goal in alignment with my longer term vision for my life’ and ‘Is this goal in support of my values?’. Having this synthesis between what’s most important to you, what you value, and the direction you’re wanting to move in will give your goal more meaning to you which translates to more commitment and energy invested. It is much easier to stay motivated and committed to a goal that supports your greater life purpose, moral compass and values. This might be a time to check in on what your values are. There are many online lists, but what it comes down to is what is important to you. The words may or may not be on these lists. My values have taken some time to form and I continue to try them on for size and they change from time to time. At this point they are freedom, ease, connection, growth and health. I use these to guide my decisions in how I spend my days, how I approach my work and personal life, and the choices I make. In my counselling and psychotherapy studies we looked at ACT and I really liked the focus on ‘valued action’, where your values are used to determine how you decide to act (what you decided to do).
Time-bound – set a date – to start and to finish. Without deadlines our goals and dreams can find themselves on the back burner. A year goes by and you remember you wanted to achieve something and nothing has changed as you didn’t set time lines around it. Set yourself a date to start and a deadline for completion. When do I want to achieve this by? It can be a target and it can be revised, however you do need to commit to prioritising action in support of this timeframe to create some urgency to get started and continue moving.
Example with goal to set up a website
· web developer researched by 15 January
· narrow down to maximum 3 web developers to contact by 22 January
· web developers contacted by 30 January
· web developer decided by 7 February
· web developer engaged by 10 February
· web design agreed by 28 February
· web content completed (copy and imagery) by 20 March
· website reviewed, updates made, final version agreed by 15 April
· website live by 30 April.
These timings possibly appear over too long a period of time for you? This person may be working in a job and he website is side hustle they don’t have dedicated time to devote to. We also need to consider what is realistic turnaround time for our suppliers given they have other clients. My tip is that these things often take longer than we anticipate and when we put times to each step we keep progressing. In particular any website content can be painfully agonised over semantics and ‘good enough-ness’. It is super helpful to put timings around content and copy, particularly if you’re a perfectionist as it will never be perfect and it is more important to get something out there than to continue to say it’s not finished yet – it’s never finished and you can always go back and tweak things. Keep moving forward.
If you’d like help with your goal setting I offer private sessions and always utilise the SMART methodology as one of the ways to set you up for success. Other important factors I use are getting clear on your strengths, what’s worked well in the past, identifying and leveraging all the resources available to you and strategies for mitigating the detractors.
Nicky is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (PACFA), coach and mindfulness meditation teacher.
Get in touch with Nicky if you’d like to know more.