How I Achieve My Personal Goals By Getting SMART
By: Christie Adams - Writer
Tags: Goal Setting, Motivational Coach, Goals In Life, Focus, Successful

Motivation, goal setting, goals, entrepreneurs, authors

How I Achieve My Personal Goals By Getting SMART

Image: Steps — Christie Adams

By thinking strategically, you can reach your own personal goals, achieve those dreams and feel rewarded, motivated and content along the way.

Don’t panic it’s not all spreadsheets and slide decks, just grab your pen and pad and we’ll get started.

We’re in such weird times right now, a lot of things feel out of control and out of balance, so to start restoring that direction and feel like you’re actually achieving something, I want you to think of something that’s often associated with business, SMART goals.

I’ll explain what they are in case you’ve not heard of them.

We’re approaching that time of year when people say…

‘Next year, I’m going to …’

I don’t believe in that. I think if you want to change, then start your journey straight away, today.

Instead of waiting for New Year and making resolutions that you know you won’t keep let’s create a plan, a to-do list, a bucket list or whatever else you prefer to call it, just do something now to make yourself feel better and just set some goals.

Even if they’re mini goals just for yourself.

You don’t have to constantly strive!

If you’re happy where you are, that’s fantastic.

This is just a little bit of advice on how to set your goals so that you’ve gt a much better chance of achieving them because there is nothing worse… (Trust me, I’ve been there) …than setting goals for yourself that are just not achievable.

The fact that you constantly fail is demoralising, disheartening and downright dismal.

It knocks your confidence, and we all need a boost in confidence and our mental health at the moment, don’t we?

SMART goals

There are a few variations on it, but the way I learned it is SMART:

Specific,

Measurable,

Achievable, or attainable

Relevant,

Timely, or time-bound.

Or you could use SMARTER goals

Add

Evaluated or exciting

Recognised or reachable.

I think SMARTER is okay, but I’m going to stick with SMART for now, it does the job, why make it more complicated, we’re trying to simplify, right?

So how do SMART goals work in real life?

Well, in business, it can be quite easy to assess because you’ll probably have key performance indicators (the dreaded KPIs) or specific figures that you’ve got to reach. It can be very numeric, predictable, but in your own life, it can be a bit more difficult to work out.

‘How are SMART goals relevant to what I do at home?’

I’ve got a couple of examples for you.

Old Example:

‘I’m just going to eat healthier.’

What exactly does that mean?

Obviously it’s relevant to different people in different ways, you could start with,

‘I’m going to eat healthier,’

which is a vague, although admirable, ambition with no measures, so how do you know that you’ve succeeded?

If you’re on a bad day and you’ve had a bar of chocolate, will you know that you failed and feel awful about it?

Why not make it a SMART goal and how about the time bound and the specific and the measurable things?

New SMART Example:

‘Once a week, I’m going to eat vegetarian’ or

‘I will drink one litre of fresh water every day.’

That’s a really specific goal that you can measure.

You can buy a drinks bottle that’s a litre, fill it up with water. When you’ve emptied it you know that you’ve drunk that in one day, that’s a really easy way of measuring what you’re achieving.

It’s relevant because it achieves your goal of eating healthier, like the vegetarian option once a week.

That’s really easy to measure and really easy to congratulate yourself and feel better about it.

Old Example:

‘I’d like to read more.’

(A little vague goal that you may have decided to do, I hope so as I’m a book fan)

You’re not really going to achieve that it’s vague.

When are you going to read more, how are you going to do it, what books etc?

Change your mindset and make it a SMART goal.

New SMART Example:

‘Every day I’m going to find at least 15 minutes to read from a book on my reading list,’

Whether that be an ebook or paperback or audio book, it doesn’t really matter, but you’ve been specific and decided that every day, so that’s the time bound thing.

You’re going to use 15 minutes of your day to read, maybe add on,

‘…and update Goodreads website.’

I don’t know if you’re aware of Goodreads where you can put all your reading lists. Yet another way to motivate you to read more (told you I love books!) and keep you accountable on your book reading. Instead of just a vague,

‘Oh, I’d like to read more,’ at the end of the month, you can actually say,

‘Well, I read three books this month and I’ve shared two books with friends.’

It’s a very specific, measurable goal.

You getting the idea?

Let’s look at another.

Old Example:

‘I’m fed up of clutter. I’m going to do something about it,’

well the clutter will probably still be there in a couple of months time won’t it?

If you’re a really driven person, then that might be enough to get you through, but I’m not, and if you acquired the clutter in the first place, you’re probably not either.

I need goals and targets.

Instead of saying,

‘I’m fed up with clutter,’

New SMART Example:

‘Every week, I’m going to clear out a bag full of jumble / charity shop donations,’ or

‘I’m going to empty one drawer a day and sell, donate or recycle it,’ or

‘I’m going to empty one cupboard this to make room for my new craft supplies,’

Be SMART

Let me know if this will help you and what you’re going to tackle, how are you going to change your goals to be SMART goals?

Obviously they can also apply in your business, give it a go.

Just to recap,

SMART Goals are…

Specific,

Measurable,

Achievable,

Relevant,

Timely,

[Exciting, and

Recognised]

There’s nothing worse than feeling stuck, and not knowing how to move forward.

Taking control of things is great at the moment, because life is so confused and mixed up right now, and we don’t really know where life’s heading from one week to the next.

Let me know how you get on!