How to Set SMART Goals
“Thinking of a master plan, cause ain’t nothin but sweat inside my hand,” Rakim, Eric B’s & Rakim’s Paid in Full
Do your new year aspirations include anything like: building your business, getting promoted at work, improving your relationship with your partner, eating healthier, etc? Today, let's look at how to make these ambitions a reality by setting clear and concrete goals.
(Before setting goals, it can be helpful to take a moment to identify what helps you be at your best. For a guide on how to identify your patterns of productivity and moments of thriving, read “I am the one at optimum.” Then come back to this post to learn about goal setting. Your goals will be more effective if you set them in a personalized context with deep understanding of your personal rhythms and preferences.)
Productivity experts promote a plethora of approaches to goal setting: ORKs, CLEAR, Big Hairy Audacious Goals, Pareto’s Principle are just a few concepts that resurface in the conversation at the beginning of each year. Finding the right approach for you is important, and I always advocate starting with a S.M.A.R.T goals strategy, especially if you are newer to the concept. If you’re thinking of a master plan to achieve your goals this year, check out the tips below.
SMART goals are goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve. Simply saying “be more productive at work” or “improve my relationships” doesn’t cut it. Dig deeper and come up with more specific descriptions for your goals. Perhaps “be more productive” turns into “spend less time doom scrolling” and “improve my relationships” becomes “stop yelling at the kids.”
Measurable: Now that you have a specific goal in mind, establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of your goal. How will you know if your goal has been achieved? If your goal is to stop doom scrolling on TikTok and reddit, start by measuring the baseline amount of time that you spend scrolling and aim to decrease that amount of time. If you’re trying to limit your familial yelling, define that by reducing the frequency of those outbursts or by increasing frequency of prosocial communication.
Achievable: Ensure that your goal is realistic and attainable. If your current screen time is in double digits every day, then cutting it down to 3 minutes a day may be both unrealistic and a set up for failure. Practice kindness to yourself by setting achievable goal. If you currently spend 4h a day on reddit, then consider cutting it down to 1h a day + during bathroom breaks. It's important to set challenging goals, but they should still be possible to reach.
Relevant: Your goal should align with personal hopes and aspirations. Take a moment to make sure the goal you’re setting is truly something you aspire to and not a concept forced on you by social media or family and friends. Just because half of TikTok and your cousin are suddenly waking up at 5am and drinking AG1, doesn't mean that should be your goal for 2024. Take time to make sure your goals are true to yourself and aligned with your personal values.
Time-Bound: Goals set in perpetuity are aspirations. Goals with a deadline can become your future. Make sure you are setting yourself up for success by setting a deadline for when you want to have your goal completed. Share this deadline with a trusted support person. Measure your progress toward that deadline. And once you hit it - check in on your progress? Have you achieved your goal? How did you do it? Or what got in the way of it? Is it time to create a new goal or to adjust your current one?
Use the SMART strategy above to apply goals settings principles to your goals for the new year! Are you curious about therapy and unsure of what you want to work towards? Tune in next week for our follow-up post on SMART goals for therapy.
Interested in taking a deeper dive in therapy to kick off your new year? Follow the link below to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation!
AI Disclaimer: This post is original and written by Kevin Boyd of Future Full of Hope, PLLC. No AI tool was leveraged in the development of this post
