Do you have trouble setting your goals and even more trouble accomplishing them? There is a well known and established method of both setting and accomplishing goals. It is often referred to by its acronym SMART. It will definitely make you feel smart once you understand it and implement in your life. It always helps if you study and use a system such as Getting Things Done. You don't have to use all of it but a system will always out perform random acts of goal setting.
Now on to SMART. Each letter stands for a specific item that needs to be included in your goal. The better you make them the better your chances of actually accomplishing your goal and getting the benefit from it.
S = Specific. Most people say I am specific in my goals. Lets look at some goals and determine how specific they are. In the case of financial wealth I often hear people say I have a goal of being rich. Is that a specific goal? Getting a little better is I want to be a millionaire. Better. At least this one includes a dollar amount. I will cover specifics in each of the next letters so I won't spend a lot of time on it here. Just remember the most specific you can make your goal the more powerful it is to your own mind. In other words the easier it is to visualize the better your chances of actually acting on it and accomplishing.
M=MeasurableNow measurable is fairly easy to understand. Can you create a measurement system to determine when your goal is accomplished? Take sports for example. A football team may have a goal of increasing their average yards on first down. It is an established measurement system. Everyone understands how it is calculated and measured. Take our earlier goal - "I want to be rich". Think you can measure that? That any two of your friends will agree with you that you have achieved it? The more objective you can make your goal the more solid it becomes in your mind. Our minds have a tremendous ability to make real what we have in our minds. I want to be a millionaire is better but is it really measurable? Are you talking about being a net worth millionaire or a cash millionaire? There is a very big difference between net worth and cash. A cash millionaire can write a check for a million dollars. A net worth millionaire may not be able to write a check to cover lunch. In case you are wondering I much prefer being a cash millionaire. It is easy to measure and no one can argue on whether you have achieved it or not.
A= Attainable or ActionableWhat?? Two different words? Well it depends on which school of thought you come from on which word is appropriate. I will discuss both so you can see how they could be implemented in your own goal setting process. Let's start withattainable. First let's define attainable. Something that can be achieved. Sounds pretty logical right? No point in setting a goal that can't be achieved right? But how do we determine what is attainable? Is creating a company that impacts millions of people unattainable? Is becoming a millionaire unattainable? Now obviously these goals have been achieved by hundreds of people so they aren't impossible. Now if I said I want to be a millionaire tomorrow when I am broke with no assets is highly improbably. You could always win the lottery but that doesn't follow the second word I chose.
ActionableI prefer goals that I can work towards and that my actions contribute to their success. Having a goal of winning the lottery is an example of something that may be attainable but is not really actionable. I want to be a millionaire or create a business generating $100,000 in profit every year are actionable and attainable goals. You will find that action is the primary ingredient in success. So don't let the thought of attainability limit your goals. Many impossible goals have been accomplished because someone set out to do them and BELIEVED they could be accomplished. Make your goals actionable and they can all be attained.
R= RelevantRelevant is the one part of this whole process that can be in the mind of the beholder. Your goal should be relevent or related to your overall life goals. If my vision of my life includes a strong relationship with my family but the individual goal requires spending 50 weeks a years traveling to accomplish it, then it isn't very relevant to what I want my overall life to represent. I like to think of it this way. As Stephen Covey mentioned in his The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Begin with the End in Mind. Imagine your funeral eulogy. What do you want people to say about you? How do you want to be remembered. Make sure your individual goals line up to support that visual. It is very easy to fall away from our central vision if we aren't careful in setting our individual goals.
T = Time RestrictedThis is probably the one that gets the least amount of emphasis. Think of a diet goal. "I want to lose weight". Not a very strong one is it? A better one I want to lose thirty pounds. Better but still lacking that time emphasis and some of the other characteristics we have discussed so far. If you are anything like me I need a deadline to drive me. Using human psychology we understand that the closer a deadline gets the more active we are on working to complete it. How many all nighters did you do in college to get a paper written? How many times have you shifted your entire schedule to make sure a project was done on time? How often have you forgotten your child's birthday? See how a deadline can make a difference? Now to fully use it you need to take a large goal and break it down into smaller individual goals. Having a goal of losing 30 pounds in 3 months means that we will probably put it off for 2 months and 2 weeks and then try to cram it all into the last 2 weeks. Not a smart way to do it (no pun intended). Now breaking that goal down into 10 pounds in a month or 2 1/2 pounds a week. Now we have something to motivate us each week.
Now lets go back to our original goal. I want to be rich. A much better goal is "To have $750,000 in my bank account and zero debt in the next 4 years by focusing on creating alternative incomes, controlling my spending, maximizing my savings, and following a monthly review process"
That's just an example of course. It is a large goal that covers 4 years. Obviously it needs to be broken down into many smaller goals and plans. An example of a smaller part of this overall goal. I will increase my 401k contribution by 2% tomorrow. Or I will create a budget in the next 24 hours. Or I will spend 2 hours a night for the next 7 days to determine 5 alternative business streams I can create and create goals for them following the SMART method.
Does it take work? Oh yea. That is what separates the majority from the minority. We all have the capability. Not everyone puts the sweat into it.
