How to set S.M.A.R.T Goals! Last Minute
viva | Goal Last Minute27 Oct 2010
How to set S.M.A.R.T Goals!
Have you written down your goals or at least started to yet? If so, well done! You are now one of the 3% in the world that have done so. An interesting fact is that it’s that same 3% that have more money than all the rest of the people in the world place together. Do you think it’s a coincidence? I think not.
There are a few rules to setting goals that you need to know about and apply to make them happen. Recently I have been asking people via my Daily Motivational (you can sign up on the left of this page) to send me their biggest goals. This has been very exciting, but I have also become a tiny concerned.
The problem is that far too many of the goals that were sent to me had a negative element to them. Not that they are asking for or wanting bad things as goals, but it is that their actual goal is to not want bad things. Does that make sense? Let me explain. It is no good wanting to be out of debt or not wanting to be overweightor wanting to be a non-smoker.
The problem with that is something that I talked about inmy book videlicet that you need to refrain dread sentences. A dread sentence is affirming something that you DON’T t want, instead of asking for what you DO want. I never want to marry an alcoholic is one of the examples I use in the book, and strangely 8 out of 10 times the mortal saying that would end up marrying an alcoholic. I remember a fun missionary song that people in USA and Europe used to sing “Please don’t send me to Africa” and I wonder how many went to Africa?
I want you to remember that your goals have to be positive because you get what you focus on. Mike Dooley so often states “thoughts become things”. So the more you focus on the things you don’t want, the more the universe sends you exactly that which you don’t want. Your goals have to be about what you want, not what you don’t want. This might seem to be a very basic rule and nearly too easy to stay by and it is, but the vast majority of people still don’t.
Another reason why I have been and still am so insistent that you write your goals down is that once they are on paper you can see your goal and you can …(I’m looking for the right words) you can panel beat it into shape. Just as important as writing down your goals are, the wording of the goals is important too and again the reason is that you get what you are aiming at and asking for.
Let me clarify that even further. State for instance your goal is that you don’t want to be overweight. You will continue to stay in a say of not wanting to be overweight, but you won’t ever quite reach the place of being at your goal weight because you didn’t say it. If your goal as a woman was to weigh 65kg for instance, then that is something you could and should focus on and become. I trust you are getting the picture. Getting the picture is a good choice of words, because getting a picture of what you want is precisely what you need to get, it’s called visualization, but more about that in another article. I adopt you are starting to realize that the wording you use in your goals is important.
So by now you want to know how you can clarify your goals to make them positive instead of dragging along any negative elements to them. It’s wrapped up in a evenhandedly well know acronym: SMART. Let me tell you a tiny more about these SMART Goals, and how using this easy tiny word in practice will help you to set winning goals.
S – specific, significant, stretching, sincere
We have discussed specific a little, your goals must be positive and clear – “I want to be rich” is not specific enough, neither is “I want to be thin,” “I want to travel,” or “I want a superior job.” They all beg the questions: How rich, how thin, travel where and what job? Goals must also be sincere, meaning they must be genuinely YOUR OWN goals. So many of us do things to please others – studying something at varsity or college to keep our parents happy is a common misguided goal. Goals should be significant they should make a difference and have meaning, at least to you. Goals need to stretch us to take us out of our comfort zones and ruts.
M – measurable, meaningful, motivational
The trick with measurable is you need to know when you get there, especially with the travel goal. When you are standing at the top of the Statue of Liberty looking crossways the Hudson River at New York you will know that you have reached your goal. You will also be healthy to measure it when you look at you bank equilibrise and you have a Million in the bank! Goals should be meaningful to you – there must be a reason you want it, it shouldn’t be just “some goal” you thought would be nice to be on your list, just for the intoxicant of being there. Goals should be motivational and they must excite, encourage and enthuse you.
A – concurred upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
With the A I have been using achievable for some years now, but while doing a tiny research the other day I came crossways a gentleman that allocated ACTION to the letter ‘A’, as well. I actually like that. Achievable means to have a goal that is actually possible. If you are 20kg overweight, you will not fit into a size zero dress in a week’s time, nor could you be a president by next year when you have just started in politics. You also can't remember as a Physician in two years time if you are still in school either. If it’s your goal to be a physician it will take 7 or so years to reach, so setting that as your goal is achievable. As I mentioned I like the ‘A’ being for action. To reach goals action is needed. I am going to talk about that in greater detail in another article, but for now know that in order to reach your goal you need to make things happen. No point in just dreaming about it and inactivity for it to miraculously happen while you camp out on the sofa with the remote glued to your hand.
R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
Now realistic is a very relative term. Some people thought that the Wright brothers were being unrealistic when they said that they wanted to build the first flying machine, and they evidenced them wrong. But there are indeed some goals that are impossible, for instance as said early losing 20kg in a week (unless of course you opt for amputating a leg or two). It must be a goal that is relevant and will eventually be rewarding to you, you need to get something out of it. Results-orientated is important as it must take you from point A to B so to speak. There should be growth and a positive outcome.
T – time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
Lastly the ‘T’ is for time-based. You need to know roughly by when you need and would like to reach this goal but in fact try to be as accurate as doable when setting this time. Ask yourself how long it’s going to take. Open ended goals tend not to happen. They must be tangible goals so you can track their progress, know how long they are still going to take and determine what and when things still need to be done in the allotted time.
I have now covered all the basic aspects of SMART Goals. Take the SMART principles and grade apiece of your goals as listed according to them. In this way you will be healthy to fine tune your goals to make them work for you. If this sounds a tiny intimidating, perhaps you should just begin applying it to your top 3 goals. I can assure you that with these instructions and the rest to follow in this article and in the next few, and by providing you with follow through you will reach those goals and plenty of others.
If this seems a lot of effort, you need to comprehend that you are doing much of this to a greater or lesser degree all the time. The goal of getting to work apiece day for instance uses many if not all of these principles, now I am just highlighting them and recommending that you apply them more methodically to other aspects of your life. Doing this will turn you desires, dreams and aspirations into reality in no time at all. So don’t die with the music still in you.
So go forward with this newfound knowledge! Streamline your goals this day and live life large!
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” –Henry David Thoreau – Walden, or Life in the Woods
