Have you heard you need to set goals in order to be successful but don’t know where to start? Well in this video I will be sharing what setting SMART goals means so you can set better goals and start achieving them.

Prefer to watch than read? Then check out the video version!

 

Goal-setting is one of my favourite topics to talk about. In fact, I have a whole playlist of videos about goal setting and achieving, which I will link to in the description box.

Success doesn’t happen by accident and I am a massive believer in writing down your goals, but I understand it can be a daunting task when faced with a blank piece of paper, which is why today I am going to share with you how to use the SMART model when setting your goal.

Now SMART goals are very common in the world of business and all of my business and marketing objectives are set using the SMART model, but you can also use it for setting personal goals.

 

S is for SPECIFIC

Your goals need to be specific. I always recommend that a goal should be specific enough that someone else can be the judge of whether you have achieved it or now. This means that you need to go into as much detail about your goals as possible and some of the other steps of SMART will help you make your goal more specific.

 

 M is for MEASURABLE

Is your goal quantifiable? If you want a pay rise – what would your new salary be ? If you want to sell your book – how many copies? If you want more coverage in the media – how many articles? At this point, you want to add numbers to your goal. This is great for knowing when you have achieved the final goal, but will also help you to be able to identify milestones along the journey.

 

A is for ACTIONABLE

Now I always grew up using achievable, but recently I came across someone who used actionable and thought it was much better.

Is it possible for you to take the necessary actions to achieve the goal? No goal happens without actions, but have you chosen a goal that you can clearly identify what actions you can take it make it happen.

 

R is for REALISTIC

Do you believe you can achieve your goal? It is important that you believe the goal you have set is realistic, but I don’t want you setting easy goals in an attempt to be realistic. Your goals should be challenging and stretch you, but you have be believe you can do it.

 

T is for TIMED

Have you set yourself a deadline? This relates closely with measurable and realistic. Putting a deadline is a to make your goal measurable. I will have done x by x, but also setting a suitable deadline is part of being realistic. Planning on writing a book in a day probably isn’t realistic, but a month is totally doable.

 

That’s it! SMART stands for specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timed. That is JUST ONE of the ways the acronym can be broken down, but I hope that has been helpful.

 

I would love to know the comments below what one of your current SMART goals are.