If you have read much in the self improvement arena, then you have probably heard about the ‘SMART’ acronym. The problem comes when most people never think through their goals. They’ve mistakenly believe that just because they have the goal in their mind or they write it down on a piece of paper, it is automatically going to be accomplished. You must have much more intentionality if you are ever going to reach your goals. Whether you are working towards setting goals for the new year or working on it in teams and trying to define your team’s goals, you need to clearly determine the objectives for what you are trying to accomplish. What makes this SMART goals acronym so helpful is because it not only helps you understand the “why” to what you are trying to do but also the “how”. Most people never think through the “how” part of goal setting.

It is important that you get clear on the why. The why is the motivation behind what you are trying to accomplish. Many of us never get clear on why we are trying to achieve a goal and that causes us to never start in the first place. Others of us are clear on the how we are trying to reach a certain goal, but not the why. For example, take the idea of weight loss. Some of us understand that if we don’t lose weight there are health implications down the road. The problem is that we haven’t figured out the “how” equation to the whole process. Using this SMART goals acronym will help you in clearly defining both the how and the why of your goals. Let’s take a further look at the acronym SMART.

Specific – Are you able to articulate your goal and a simple, clear statement? If not, then you have some work to do for your goal. Year goal needs to be memorable and clearly defined in order for you to reach it. You must have a picture of the target that you are trying to reach. Unclear goals are always misunderstood and never accomplish the intended results. And by you getting specific, you will clearly defined exactly what needs to be done. This will also help you determine the appropriate actions.

Measurable – For a goal to be reached you have to be able to measure it along the way. How will you know if you are getting closer or further from reaching your goal if you do not somehow measure it? It can also be very motivating to see that you are making progress. Sometimes, if we are trying to attack a big goal, we can become quickly discouraged if our eyes are only focused on the final objective. When we have a way to measure what is working and what is not along the way, we are able to stay on track much easier. Measuring your goals also greatly encourages you to keep getting better day by day.

Attainable – Have you been overly optimistic about your ability to reach this goal? For example, if your goal is to lose 80 pounds in the next four weeks, it more than likely is not an attainable goal. The best way to make an attainable goal is to break a large goal down into smaller goals. Using our example, you could decide to lose 20 pounds in the next four weeks and focus all your effort and energy into making that happen. While you may still need to lose a lot more than 20 pounds, you will not become so quickly discouraged because you have made an attainable goal. All that being said, it does not hurt you to have goals that stretch your ability and thinking. This is healthy and you will find that you are capable of doing much more then you realize.

Relevant – Does your goal match up with where you are trying to go overall in your life or company? All of your goals should tie back into your personal vision and mission statement. They should never be out of alignment for where you are going in life. In an organization, you will get many more people trying to accomplish the goal if they understand the relevancy of the goal.

Time-based – It is also vitally important that you set a deadline to the goal you are trying to accomplish otherwise it will always be just a dream. Deadlines are always hopeful in getting us to take action. You can even have smaller deadlines along the way to accomplishing your goal if you would like. It can be very motivating when you have a short-term goal that you are trying to reach within a week are two. Developing a targeted plan is impossible if there is not some kind of deadline placed on it.

Just as a review, the SMART goals acronym stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. As you set your goals for the next year, take the time to walk each goal through this process so that you can get very clear on both the why and how to what you are going to do. Writing SMART goals will help you in reaching your dreams. Some places online even have a helpful SMART goals worksheet if you are the type of person who needs to write out their thoughts on paper. Having a SMART goals template to follow can be very helpful. I hope you can use this ‘smart’ acronym to accomplish your goals this year. Write out your SMART goals and objectives today!