It is the beginning of the year, and our thoughts naturally turn to goals and goal setting. We often need to set personal or professional goals.
So why do we set goals and how do we set goals to ensure we successfully attain them. Research shows that written goal setting is a proven powerful process that improves goal attainment tenfold.
I am sure you have all set goals before, the question is, did you accomplish them. We all get ‘stuck’ at times or struggle to get the things we want or need both personally or professionally accomplished.
At some point in life, we all get off track, overwhelmed or just don’t seem to be able to get to our goals in relationships or our job, which is why understanding how to define goals, how to write S.M.A.A.A.R.T. goals and create a goal action plan is critical to your goal attainment success.
The process of setting goals helps you set an end point of where you want to go, similar to using a GPS system. Your goal action plan help break down your goal into measurable steps as the GPS directions do, and if followed, you will get to your goal. By knowing specifically what you want to achieve, gives you clear goal focus. You then need to write your goal in the S.M.A.A.A.R.T. format. Yes, I know you may not be familiar with my spelling New England S.M.A.A.A.R.T. goal model, but being from Maine, we tend to have a couple more ‘A’s in our words, and this model is much clearer and more precise.
When we write goals, they need to be S.M.A.A.A.R.T. The ‘S’ stands for Specific. How do you know the goal is specific because it is measurable. It follows then that the ‘M’ stands for Measurable. The first ‘A’, and I apologize for this because most people think this is a dirty word…the first ‘A’ is Accountable. The second ‘A’ is for Action Oriented, and the third ‘A’ is Agreed upon. The ‘R’ stands for Realistic, and the ‘T’ is for Time-bound as if the goal is not written with a specific time-frame defined, there is no urgency to the goal. So if there is no completion time frame we just never seem to get to that action item.
These goal setting techniques are used by the best athletes, successful business people and high achievers in all fields. Clear, concise goals give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. They guide your daily decisions, as each little decision you make dictates the success of your day, and ultimately the type of life you live.
By setting clearly defined measurable goals, you can track your success and achievement. If you are off target, you see where changes need to can be made to the current plan of action ensuring your goal achievement. Having a buddy, a coach or a friend who reviews your goals and helps holds you accountable also helps ensure your success.
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