The SMART way of setting your goals

How you set them dictates if you achieve them.

Like most people I also love to make a list of my goals. And like most people I also love to cross them off as each one gets completed. But the thing with goals is, they can be very elusive. The focus is all on how to reach them. On how to be disciplined and have “x” number of habits to get to the finish line. But we often forget that how you create goals and why you create them fundamentally dictates if you end up achieving them.

I am thoroughly a goal oriented person. I thrive on setting short term and long term goals. Weekly projects broken down into smaller daily tasks. And tasks allocated a fixed number of hours, keeping in mind the usual disturbances that come with working from home and being a mother. While this time management is what eventually helps in achieving the intended targets, I believe the real art lies in the creation of these goals.

Creating goals doesn’t seem like a difficult thing to do. We all have a basic idea of what we want to accomplish, right? For this articles purposes, we’ll suppose I want to get fitter. But what does this goal objectively mean to me? Does fitter mean losing weight or gaining muscle or building stamina or becoming flexible? And when do I want to reach this ‘fitter’ state? 1 month? 1 year? Is this goal even realistic and relevant given my current physical state, other ambitions, lifestyle and habits?

Coming up with what we would like to achieve is great, but we must realize we don’t have an infinite set of energy, time and resources. Because simply imagining a goal unfortunately does not translate into reaching it, we need self-discipline and a SMART approach. Setting goals the SMART way means refining what we precisely want and focusing on how exactly we plan to get it. For years, this strategy has helped me save on time and effort. Call it a productivity hack, a mind tool or a functional habit; it has served me well and in a few minutes you will see how it can work for you too.

SMART is an acronym; each letter comprises of the characteristics your goal setting should have so it is more likely to succeed.

Specific — Your goal needs to be established with specific details. When I wanted to become physically fitter, I decided I wanted to run 8k every once a week and strength train three times a week. When I wanted to write more, I decided I will spend 2 hours every single day of the week on writing and editing. This article is a product of that specific goal. Once I know what I want, it becomes so much easier to plan everything else around that one objective.

I can’t stress enough the importance of this. Making a vague goal is like killing your purpose before it takes its first breath. It is like chasing a moving target. It’s easy to leave goals imprecise, saves us time and mental energy. But outlining the specificities allows you to determine all that you will need and leaves little room to scramble around looking for what exactly you wanted when it is time to work. Set clear, pronounced, straightforward targets.

Measurable — Make your goal quantifiable. Adding numbers or values to my goals allows me to measure them objectively. I can track my progress, assess how well I am moving forward and feel excited about being close to the finish line. For my goal to become fitter, I knew I could monitor the process by looking at the weeks I successfully ran 8k once and lifted thrice. For my writing, I set aside two hours each day and held myself accountable for using them to write and only write. Because my goals were so precise and measurable, it was a no-brainer to examine when I succeeded and when I failed to reach them.

Essentially, a measurable goal should answer three basic questions:

• How much time/effort/resources is needed?
• How many people/hours/investments are needed?
• How will I know when it has been reached?

Actionable — A goal must be achievable. While it challenges you, it should still be attainable. I didn't suddenly wake up and decide to run 8k or lift weights. I was already running 5k and doing body weight exercises when the goal to get fitter was created. I was also already writing but sporadically and without much order. The specificity in my writing goal was set to change that lack of structure. But I had to make sure my goal was still possible and achievable.

One of the most common goal-setting mistakes is overestimating what can be accomplished. Creating a lofty goal is like setting yourself up for failure. You know your limitations the best and so, your goals should be challenging and require hard work, but they must remain realistic and attainable. Your goals will hold no significance if they are not based on your reality right now.

Relevant — Make a goal that matters to you and is related to your overall ambitions. Being more fit is a personal target I constantly try to achieve for my own health. I realized my workouts had become quite monotonous and I was feeling physically unchallenged. Making my runs longer and adding weights was aligned with my general goal of being healthy. Writing more was intended to increase the time I was spending on a profession I was building up. The goals I made were small building blocks of the bigger plans I had for my future.

Your goal must be in sync with your inner desires, you current life, and your already established long-term objectives. In effect, it should answer the following questions:

• What worth does this goal hold for me?
• Am I the right person to accomplish this goal?
• Is this the right time to accomplish this goal?
• Does this goal align with my overall goals/desires/needs?

Time-bound — This one goes back to making your goal measurable, for both the input and the output. Deadlines are like catalysts, pushing even the laziest of us forward. Without setting a clear time frame for when you want to reach your goal, it is easy to slip into the “oh I can finish this tomorrow” trap. Locking in a realistic and practical time frame will allows your goal to stay a priority over everyday distractions and chores.

I always had a million excuses ready to pull me away from my fitness and writing goals, but I kept pushing myself on most days simply because I had marked finish dates on an actual calendar. Because both my goals were components of a daily practice I wanted to establish, these dates let me track my progress and allowed me to assess how far I had come. Once I reached the time I had marked, I re-evaluated my goals based on how successful (or not) I was, and created new ones accordingly.

A time-bound goal will address these elements:

• When do I want to reach this goal?
• What progress do I need in 3 months?
• What progress do I need in 3 weeks?
• What progress do I need at the end of each day?

Setting goals that are well-defined, transparent, and well-timed means you know what you are setting yourself up for. Does it mean you will always accomplish them? Probably not. Does it mean you have a greater chance of doing that? Definitely yes. SMART goals are not a magical solution to all your problems, rather they are an effective means to make progress that eventually leads you to success. Because successfully reaching your goals has to start with SMARTly setting them.