SMART Goals
If you’ve ever been lost while driving your car in a location that you are unfamiliar with, you know that it’s quite possible to spend a lot of time and effort wandering around without reaching a desired destination. When you know where you’re going, you can get their a lot quicker with a lot less effort than when you don’t know where you’re going.
Perhaps you have an ambition in life, and you dream about accomplishing something that’s important to you. Rarely does anyone succeed at this without having any idea of how to do it. It usually takes deliberate planning and specific steps that serve as a road map for fulfilling that dream. Those plans and steps often come in form of goals.
Clarifying types of Goals
The word, “goals” is often used loosely. For instance, one person may say that it’s their goal to become a U.S. Senator. Others would argue with that by saying, that’s a desired outcome or a dream that you would like to see come to pass as a result of your efforts, but it’s not a goal. Goals are plans that you make that are within your control to accomplish. Becoming a U.S. Senator is not totally within someone’s control because it’s dependent on how other people vote. You can influence people to vote for you, but you can’t control the choices people make in the voting process.
Use SMART Goals when Possible
For our purposes, we’ll discuss goals in the context of what are often referred to as SMART goals. SMART goals are generally within your control. Reaching these goals is more or less of choice of following through on a commitment to carry out a set of actions that are designed to help you improve and bring you closer to a desired outcome. SMART goals are based on the letters in the word “SMART.” The letters stand for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Sensitive
It may not always be possible to put your goals into SMART goal form because somethings are hard measure, but any time it is possible, it’s wise to use SMART goals. An example of a set of SMART goals for a person who’s desired outcome is to pass a math class or get an A might be:
- Study math every week day beginning at three in the afternoon.
- Review any problems from the previous assignment that were done incorrect and redo them correctly.
- Complete all problems that are assigned each day.
- If there is uncertainty as to how to do a problem, write down any questions in regard to how to compute the problem.
- Use the questions you wrote down to ask Mr. Smith for help until you can do the computations that you had questions about correctly.
- Finish all math work before doing any other activity that day.
These SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time sensitive. You either completed them or you didn’t, there’s no guess work to it. If these SMART goals were carried out, they will be an effective means for helping someone pass a math class. The chances of passing and doing well in math will greatly increase by taking these deliberate steps.
Some people would say that the real goal is to pass the class or get an A. This could be a goal if it is certain that the goal is attainable. However, if it’s not certain that the goal is attainable, then it’s not truly a SMART goal; it’s a desired goal that a person hopes will come to pass. If the teacher decides to create math tests that are too hard for students to pass, or an average student is in a class of extremely intelligent students with a teacher who decides to grade on a bell curve, then passing or getting an A may not truly be attainable no matter how well the SMART goals are followed.
Focus Your Goals on Doing What You Have Control Over
The point of SMART goals is to take control over the behavior that you have control over rather than to focus on outcomes that are not fully under your control. When you complete one set of goals, you can move on to another set of goals that will move you towards a desired outcome. While carrying out your goals, you may see the need to make adjustment with your goals. If so, then you make them.
With a well thought out set of SMART goals, you’ll have a road map for success rather than blind actions that you hope are moving you towards a desired outcome. If you haven’t been using SMART goals, it would be smart to start.