How to Set Goals Using the SMART Method

Setting and achieving goals is difficult for many of us. How many times have you said that you were going to do something and just never got around to doing it? Or set New Year's Resolutions only to see them die before March? We've all done this numerous times.

It's hard enough to stick with the goals we set for ourselves, but with the added burden of sticking to goals that aren't fully articulated or understood, we are doomed for failure. In order to make your personal goals stick they have to be SMART. SMART goal setting consists of setting goals that are:

- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-based

Instructions

• 1

  Make it Specific

  Your goals must be well defined. What specifically do you want to achieve? If you can answer Who? What? When? Why? and How? about you goal, you are on the right track.

  Don't just say that you want to lose weight. You must decide how you are going to make this happen and how much weight you actually want to lose. Are you going to lose 10 pounds within the next six months by jogging 3 times a week? or will you lift weights? or will you make a commitment to replacing one snack a day with a fruit or vegetable?

• 2

  Make it Measurable

  You have to be able to determine when you actually meet your goal. If your goal is to lose weight in the new year. Decide how much weight you want to lose. You can't know if you've reached your goal or not unless you can actually measure your progress.

  Instead of saying "I want to lose weight." Say I want to lose 15 pounds by my high school reunion in August. That way you can gauge your progress, measure it along the way, and know when you have reached your goal.

• 3

  Make it Attainable

  Setting and achieving your goals requires that your goals are realistic and that they can actually be achieved. Setting unrealistic goals is just setting yourself up for failure.

  You want your goals to be a stretch for you, to get you out of your comfort zone, but you don't want them to be too far beyond your reach.

• 4

  Make it Relevant

  Is this something you really want to do? or is it something that you think you should do but has no real meaning to you?

  Your goals have to have some type of significance to you. Setting goals based on what you think you should be doing or on what other people expect is not usually a formula for success in achieving your goals.

  In order for your goals to be reached they must be important to you. Are you willing to put forth the effort, and are you able to actually accomplish the goals that you have set for yourself?

• 5

  Set a Timetable

  Goals cannot be ongoing. How will you ever gauge your progress? How will you know if you are on track to attaining what you want? You need to set a specific timetable for when you want this specific goal to be met. Setting a timetable for achieving your goals will make them more urgent and will cause you to take action.

  If you want to increase the compensation you receive from eHow by 20%, set a timetable for accomplishing your goal. What specific actions will it take make this goal a reality? Are you willing and able to write 1 article a day for the next 60 days in order to reach your goals?