How to Use SMART Goals to Achieve More

Regardless of what you want to achieve in life, setting goals can help you get there.

Most people have goals in life. Whether it’s getting fit, losing weight, starting a business, getting more organized or something else, your ambitions in life are important.

While setting goals seems logical to accomplish something, you need a realistic plan that you can implement within a reasonable period of time.

Many people start out with a list of things they want to accomplish but without a solid plan those things tend to go to the wayside.

What are SMART Goals?

SMART goals is an efficient goal setting process to help you achieve more. Originally created for business, SMART goals can be used for anything you want to accomplish in life.

SMART is a mnemonic acronym, that stands for “Specific”, “Measurable”, “Achievable”, “Relevant”, and “Timely”.

Let’s dive into setting SMART goals so you can get more focus and increase your success rate.

What do you want Achieve?

Before getting into the specifics of SMART goals, first decide what it is you want to accomplish.

Be sure to think about why you want to reach this goal. Having a strong reason why will help you stay more committed and on track.

If you don’t have a real reason why, then it won’t be too important to you. It’s hard to commit to something you that does not mean that much to you.

Setting SMART Goals

Here are some tips on how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals.

1 – Be Specific with your goal

What are the details of your goal? Consider the details of what you want to accomplish. Let’s say you want to lose weight. That, in and of itself is not a good goal because it’s not specific enough.

Focus in on the details to have a better chance of success. You could say something like: You will lose 10 pounds by committing to 3 hours of exercise each week so you can fit into smaller clothes and feel more confident.

Now you have a reason why and a specific number of pounds you want to lose. That is something to aim for!

2 – Make Your Goal Measurable

How will you measure your progress in reaching your goal? For losing weight, weigh yourself every 2 days and write it down to keep track.

In the same way, if exercise is part of achieving that same goal, you can also mark a calendar for the days I actually did my exercise.

If you don’t keep track, it’s easy to skip doing the things that will help you succeed.

3 – Make Your Goal Attainable

Make sure your goals are realistic and attainable. You should definitely push yourself out of your comfort zone but do what is real and right in your life.

I had a client who wanted to start blogging for his business. His original goal was to write one blog post every day. I told him that was unrealistic due to his busy schedule and a lot going on in his life.

Well, you know what happened! He insisted and after about 10 days, he came back to me and said it was not realistic. So we made a blogging goal that was more attainable so he could set himself up success.

4 – Make Your Goal Relevant

How do you know which is the best way to achieve your goal? Make sure it’s geared toward what works well for you.

I love to run and wanted to run a 5K race in a certain amount of time. I started training and was making great progress.

Along the way, I met other runners who were into the marathon running and they tried hard to convince me that I haven’t lived until I ran a marathon.

I hate long distance running and it just is not a good fit for me. The 5K is a better option for me so I would never have a marathon on my list.

5 – Make your Goal Timely

When you plan to accomplish your goal? It’s important to set milestones that you can achieve along the way.

When I was training for a race, I had a timeframe of 3 months to increase my running speed. I tracked my runs and was able to look at each week to see how I improved. That made me feel great and gave me the motivation to continue.

Without a timeframe, your goals will just drag on and on. You may not accomplish them at all.

Conclusion

Taking the time to formulate SMART goals will help set you up for success in whatever you want to achieve. Most of all, think carefully about your what you want to accomplish and make sure it’s important to you.