Smart goals
By ensuring that your goals are SMART, you’ll be more likely to achieve them. SMART is an acronym for:
Specific;
Measurable;
Attainable (or Achievable);
Realistic; and
Timely.
An effective SMART goal considers each of these words/ components.
Specific
A specific goal has a greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:
- Who – who is involved?
- What – what do I want to accomplish?
- Where – identify a location
- When – establish a time frame
- Which – identify requirements and constraints
- Why – specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Example: A general goal would be, “be a good parent.” But a specific goal would be, “spend half an hour of undivided one-on-one time with each child, three days a week.”
Measurable
Establish requirements for measuring the progress towards achieving each goal you set. It’s important to establish key dates/timings when creating your goals. This will allow you to measure your progress and take steps to ensure you’ll meet deadlines.
To determine if it’s measurable, consider asking:
- How many factors are involved (quantities of something you want to achieve i.e. monetary)?
- How will I know when it’s accomplished?
Attainable
When setting goals, you need to know if you’re able to achieve them. Once you’ve achieved a certain component of it, you can then start on the next. To make your goal attainable/ achievable, divide them into small steps.
When you identify the goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways to achieve them. This is generally through developing attitudes, abilities, skills and financial capacity.
You’re more likely to achieve your goals when you plan them out and establish steps and time frames to achieve them. Goals that may have seemed out of reach eventually become attainable as you grow and expand to match them.
When you list your goals, you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of the goals and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.
Realistic
To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective that you’re willing and capable of working towards. It can be both high and realistic. Only you can decide how high your goal should be. Though, ensure that your goal represents substantial progress.
Typically, a high one is easier to reach than a low one. This is because low goals require less motivational force. When you think about some of the hardest jobs you’ve accomplished, they seem easy and that’s because they were achieved through a labour of love.
Your goal is probably realistic if you believe that it can be accomplished. Other ways to know that your goal is realistic is by comparing it to similar past accomplishments or asking yourself what conditions need to exist for it to be achieved.
Timely
A goal should be grounded within a timeframe. If a goal doesn’t have a timeframe attached to it, it loses a sense of urgency.
For instance, if you want to lose 5 kg, you need to think about when you want to lose it by. If you anchor your goal with a timeframe, like “by the 1st of May,” then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on it.
A goal is tangible when you can experience it with a sense. That is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. For example, “be a better partner,” turns into, “see my relationship counsellor weekly until my partner and I can see that we have resolved conflict in helpful ways, three times out of five.”
When your goal is tangible, you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable, and thus attainable.
Still need help?
Anglicare Southern Queensland specialises in all-of-life services. Our Social and Community Services improve and support the mental health and wellbeing of Queenslanders, through promoting healthier relationships with self, others and our surroundings. If you require further support, please contact our team on 1300 114 397.