How SMART are your goals?

I doubt that it is new information to you, but goals are useful. Goals allow us to make promises to ourselves, providing opportunities to prove to our actual self and that we are moving towards a more developed, healed or ideal self. However, there are some pitfalls that I see with my clients when it comes to setting effective goals. Goals are often too ambiguous, too large, too small, too confusing, lacking in value or set in unmeasurable ways. This aspect of impulsive goal setting, or the lack of understanding into what makes up an effective goal, leads the individual on a path towards never achieving anything tangible or never setting a goal in the first place. So, here is a quick and easy to remember framework for setting truly useful goals. 

Is my goal SIMPLE?

  • Set a goal that is clear and concise, one that is easy to describe and understand? 

USELESS Example: “I am going to get better at understanding my self”

USEFUL Example: “I am going to start journaling for 5 minutes a day to start to see the themes 

                                  in my life and habits of my mind” 

Is my goal ATTAINABLE? 

  • Set a goal that is within your capability to achieve. Stretch your abilities with a goal just lofty enough to test your abilities but,  not outside of those abilities, think Goldilocks. 

USELESS Example: “I am going to run a marathon next month”

                        (having never ran more that 2 consecutive miles)

USEFUL Example: “I am going to run a 10k next month” 

Is my goal MEASURABLE? 

  • Set a goal with quantifiable metrics. 

USELESS Example: “I am going to get healthier”

USEFUL Example: “I am going to start cooking myself freshly prepared dinner 5 days a week”

Is my goal RELEVANT? 

  • Set a goal that means truly something to YOU. Be aware if the goal is motivated by societal pressures, your parents/partners ideals, or someone outside of you. Chances are if you are putting a “I SHOULD” in front of the goal it's not relevant. 

USELESS Example: “I should go back to school but it's really not that important to me, but, 

everyone in my family has college degrees”

USEFUL Example: “I am going to do a Values Clarification exercise and figure out what is really

                                 important to me”

Is my goal TIMELY? 

  • Set a goal with a time table. One with a measurable amount of time to which you can hold yourself accountable.

USELESS Example: “I am going to start reading more”

USEFUL Example: “I am going to read one novel in the next 30 days”

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, I would love to talk more about your goals and assist you in setting some relevant goals that target what you truly deserve. 

-TM

Tyler March