It is that time of year again when many of us feel refreshed and renewed by starting a new year and setting out on another journey to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves. Unfortunately, for far too many people, though, these goals seem to quickly fade or start to feel too overwhelming to accomplish, and motivation drains as time presses on. These goals are often made with the best intentions in mind, and the drive to accomplish them certainly comes from a place of betterment. However, the reason these goals aren’t seen to fruition is because of the way the goals are established and viewed. Think about the typical way goals are viewed today: a very big accomplishment, like finishing a marathon, which takes a lot of hard work and dedication to succeed. When viewed in this manner, reaching that finish line feels like an amazing accomplishment, but just like a marathon, not everybody is built to finish the race.
Rather than continue with the system that hasn’t worked before, change the way that your goals are established and viewed by using SMART Goals. So, what exactly are SMART Goals, and how do they differ from the status quo? SMART Goals allow you to have a larger, overarching objective that you are working towards, like finishing that marathon; however, there is less emphasis placed on the finish line, and more emphasis is placed on the steps along the way. The SMART acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Diving into the acronym, the Specific portion refers to being exact with what it is you are working towards and setting out to accomplish by succeeding at the goal. This portion of the goal should define what you are setting out to accomplish, and this is true for the larger, overarching objective as well as the smaller steps along the way. Rather than just having a goal of finishing a marathon, the SMART Goal method would have this as the larger, overarching objective with steps along the way of running other intervals to work towards that, like a 5k and 10k race.
Next is ensuring that the goals are Measurable in the sense that there is a way that progress towards both the larger, overarching objective and the steps along the way are being tracked. Having progress tracked for both goals not only helps to show your overall progress towards that larger objective but also the progression of accomplishment with the steps along the way and provides a confidence boost. These also give the goals a defined objective and help structure the goal and methods used to accomplish it.
Achievable is the next portion of the acronym, and when it comes to SMART Goals, this is the most imperative in converting the larger, overarching objective that can be too intense on its own into the smaller goals. Making these smaller steps more easily accomplished is aided after determining how success will be measured because knowing the measures helps set the bar for each step. These are also little confidence boosters along the way and each step that is achieved is always seen as a step in the right direction and gives credit to the hard work that you have put in.
The next portion of each smaller step is to ensure that they are relevant to the larger, overarching objective that is being worked towards. This portion of the SMART Goal development helps to keep you on track and constantly moving in the right direction along the journey. These smaller steps also help to keep the focus of what you are working towards overall while also helping you to focus on the next achievement, which will come much sooner and easier than the larger, overarching objective. Each step is designed to develop the skills and abilities necessary to prepare you for accomplishing the larger, overarching objective you set out for initially.
The final portion of the SMART Goal method ensures that smaller steps have specified deadlines to be met by making each one time-bound. This component of the SMART Goal is extremely closely related to the Measurable component as these two work succinctly once each SMART Goal step is created. Finally, this tenant of the goal is used to produce a drive in you to keep working towards accomplishing each step to keep moving forward and closer to accomplishing the more significant, overarching objective.
By taking these steps, the once simple, one-tracked mind goal of finishing a marathon is quickly transformed into a multifaceted SMART Goal that outlines a plan of action to be undertaken to fully develop the skills required to meet the many milestones along the way and ultimately the overarching objective of finishing a marathon. The difference between these two goals is easy to see in the description alone, but that difference is even more powerful and noticeable once the journey has started.
