BE smart-er
SMART goal setting helped me be SMART-er. #fact
Have you ever set a goal and then found yourself struggling to follow through? Many of us have. The problem is that we don’t always set goals that are SMART. And when we don't, goals can just seem like an overwhelming stream of to-do's. We often don't take the time needed to prioritize these goals, and see how the lead us to our over arching life dreams.
What does SMART mean?
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. These are the 5 criteria that all good goals should meet in order to be effective.
Specific: Your goal should be clear and unambiguous. If someone else asked you what your goal was, would they understand what you meant? If not, you need to add some more details until it becomes clear.
Measurable: You need to know how well your goal is doing at any given time so that you can adjust it if necessary. For example, at 2Social we use analytics to determine if our client's social media strategies are performing as we anticipated, and if not, we pivot and make changes. Or another example, if your goal is to lose weight then your progress will be measured by how much weight you have lost over a given period of time (e.g. 3 months) or by how much body fat percentage has been reduced from one point in time to another (e.g. 2 months).
Attainable: This means that you should only set goals that are realistic for where you are at right now. If your goal requires skills or resources that you don't currently have (e.g. you want to play for the NBA, but you are 30 years old and never played basketball), then you may want to reframe this goal to something more attainable, such as, you want to learn the skills of the sport and play for a local team.
Realistic: You can realistically accomplish the goal in the given time frame with your current resources, knowledge, skills and abilities. Be honest with yourself, and be generous with the time you allow yourself for each goal.
Time-bound: You have given yourself a deadline to meet the goal so that there is urgency in achieving it. Consider looking at your list of goals, and putting each one under a 30 day, 60 day, or 1 year bucket. This will help you prioritize your goals, and have a clearer path forward. Then you can continue from there but breaking into weekly, daily goals.
Taking more time upfront and truly understanding the what and why, the how and when, for each goal will help you put together a better plan for accomplishment, as well as, eliminate the overwhelming feelings that can come with a never ending list of to'do's.
Need a hand? Contact Lauren today for her Goal-Setting Coaching!