Sir Auditor UviesherheSome time ago, I watched a video by one of the leading mindset and behavioral experts, John Assaraf.
In that video, he narrated how he met a successful businessman through his brother.
During their meeting, the businessman asked John a question. He said, “John, are you interested in achieving your goals, or are you committed to them?”
He continued, “If you are interested in achieving your goals, you’ll give in to excuses. However, if you are committed to achieving your goals, you’ll do whatever it takes.”
Remembering this story, I couldn’t help but think about how so many people have big dreams but never achieve them. Were they wrong to dream? No!
But they probably didn’t set SMART goals.
Most of the things people do now are mere wishes. They don’t hold any water and won’t improve their personal growth.
As the saying goes, “If wishes were horses, beggars will ride.” It’s not about having wishes or dreams; the question is, “Can you set SMART goals?”
Setting SMART goals is like creating a compass or GPS that guides you to your destination.
This helps you not just to accept what life throws at you. Instead, you determine what you want and take swift action to achieve it.
What Are SMART Goals?
Goal-setting theories have been in existence for a long time. However, the SMART goal concept is relatively new.
George T. Doran first used the term in the Management Review issue, released in November 1981.
The word “SMART” is an acronym for:
- Specific: You need to have a well-defined and specific goal.
- Measurable: You should be able to track and measure your goals.
- Achievable: Your goal must be attainable.
- Realistic: Setting unreasonable goals will only hinder you from achieving them.
- Timebound: Every goal you set must be bound by time.
The Importance of Setting SMART Goals
Setting SMART goals is non-negotiable. It helps you clarify your ideas and channel your focus to achieve your desires.
When you don’t set goals, you remain in one position or probably move around in cycles without any sign of growth.
Setting goals serves as a roadmap to where you are heading and helps to keep you focused on what truly matters.
Categories To Consider When Setting Smart Goals
1. Career:
Setting SMART goals differentiates someone who has been working in an office for ten years and is yet to get a promotion and someone who started working two years ago and is already promoted.
When you don’t know where you are going, everywhere seems like the bus stop. While it’s good to be content with what you have and your position, it’s also important to aim for more.
Life rewards those who dare to dream and go for it.
2. Finance:
I have never seen a successful man who doesn’t set financial goals. Money solves the majority of the problems you have.
For example, you need to get a quality education, feed yourself, provide for your family, run your business, etc.
Imagine not creating a SMART goal for such an essential aspect of your life.
3. Education:
Education here doesn’t have to do with school education alone. It can also be professional education and skill education.
In formal education, you can aim to become a Ph.D. holder.
In skill education, you can learn digital marketing skills like content creation, Facebook ads, Google ads, social media management, website creation, etc.
4. Physical:
In creating SMART goals, you must also consider your physical well-being.
While you might not have the goal of building six packs, making your body fit and healthy is worth considering.
5. Family:
You can set a goal around your current and future family. For example, when you want to get married, how many children you want to give birth to, etc.
6. Relationships:
As Porter Gale once said, “Your Network is Your Net Worth.” In this day and age, you can’t leave your relationships to chance.
You have to be intentional and strategic about your relationships. This is why learning how to create SMART goals is essential.
7. Business:
Imagine you are currently standing at one of the most significant investment TV shows in the United States of America, Shark Tank.
And you have the likes of investor Mark Cuban Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary on the seat.
After pitching your business to them, it sounded like a fantastic idea, and they asked you a vital question.
Where can you see your organization in the next ten years?
You tried rumbling and thinking on the spot, but they could tell that you didn’t plan for it. How do you think they would respond?
They would most likely reject your business because you don’t have a goal you are pursuing.
While your company might have a mission and vision, you must have a quantifiable goal that you are pursuing.
Likewise, in your personal life, you must have a goal you are pursuing.
What’s in the SMART Framework?
Earlier, we looked at what each word meant in the SMART framework. But let’s look at it in-depth now.
1. Specific:
When your goals are specific, you have a greater chance of accomplishing them than when they are generalistic.
To make any of your goals specific, you have to ask yourself these 5 “W” questions:
1. Who: To achieve this goal, who are involved? It might be only you.
2. What: What do you want to attain?
3. Where: Where will you achieve this goal?
4. When: When do you want to achieve it?
5. Why: Why do you want to achieve it?
Let’s make it practical:
Imagine you want your business to make at least $10,000 every month.
Your goal can be something like this:
I want to gain the necessary skills to scale my digital marketing business to a $10,000 monthly business so we can become one of the leading digital marketing firms.
What: Gain the necessary skills and make $10,000.
Who: Me.
Why: To become one of the leading digital marketing firms.
When: Every month.
Where: In my business.
Do you understand the breakdown?
2. Measurable:
Having metrics to track your goals and record your progress is essential.
Accessing your progress keeps you focused, shows you where you need help, and helps you meet the deadline.
Questions you can ask yourself when you measure your goals are:
How do you track your progress?
What is your progress indicator?
How many/much?
In this case, finding time to learn the skills needed is crucial. Also, how long will it take you to get the desired results when you have the skill?
You can come up with how you track your progress. It can be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
3. Achievable:
Your goal needs to be attainable. It might stretch you, but it should be possible.
I know you have been taught to dream big, but don’t forget that you have to start from somewhere.
If you set a goal you can’t do, don’t be shocked when you fail to attain that goal.
To achieve your goals, there are vital questions you need to ask. Questions like:
1. Are you capable of achieving the goal? Do you have the capabilities? Ask yourself what you are missing if it doesn’t seem like you do.
2. How can you achieve this goal?
3. Have you seen others do it successfully?
Example:
Ask yourself if you can scale your business to $10,000 per month. Of course, you don’t have the necessary skills, so you choose to learn them.
Also, enquire if companies in your field are commanding the same results or even more.
4. Realistic:
What does being realistic mean? Your SMART goal can be achieved realistically by looking at the available resources and the time at your disposal.
Let’s deviate from our example a bit.
If you make $100 monthly, why would you set your goal to $10,000?
That goal is miles apart from the resources and time available.
Do the calculations. Let’s say you realize your monthly $100 by selling 10 products worth $10 each.
Now you want to make $10,000 monthly, do you have a product worth $1,000 to be sold to those 10 people that buy from you?
Or do you plan to sell your $10 product to 100 people now?
Have you done all necessary calculations to help you reach those people in less than a month?
The questions you should ask yourself include but are not limited to:
1. Is your goal realistic, and is it something you can accomplish?
2. Looking at your time and resources, is your goal reachable?
3. Can you commit your time and energy to seeing that you achieve the goal?
No matter the kind of goal, you need a target date. This keeps you on your toes and drives you to take action.
A goal without a time is not a goal. A goal is just like a project. It must have a starting date and a finishing date.
If you have ever handled any project at the place of your work, you must have seen this order in place. The project starts at a particular date and is expected to end at another date.
Now, while unforeseen circumstances may exist, knowing your finish date helps you finish faster.
What are the questions you should consider when setting time for your SMART goals?
1 When do you want to accomplish your goal?
2. Does your goal have a deadline?
Why Do You Need SMART Goals For Personal Growth?
1. Clear Path:
Creating SMART goals shows you a clear path to your future.
People say, “You can’t predict the future,” but I’ll tell you that in some light you can predict the future by what you do today because it primarily affects your tomorrow.
There is a universal Law called the Law of Cause and Effect. The law states that for every effect, there is a cause. Nothing happens without a reason.
So, we can guess what you’ll be tomorrow by what you do today.
Little wonder why John C. Maxwell said, “The secrets of great leaders are in their daily routines.”
If you want your future to stop being foggy and start having a vivid picture in your mind, you need to take SMART goals seriously.
2. Break Down Significant Objectives:
Many dreams will remain as dreams if you don’t set SMART goals. Imagine creating a 5-year fantasy plan like many goal-setting experts would tell you to do.
But after thinking about it and imagining it, you stop there. What do you think will happen?
Nothing. It remains a dream in your head, and no one can do anything about it.
But if you use the SMART goal option, you can create a measurable and realistic plan to achieve that goal.
Suppose your goal is to become an international speaker. That sounds vague, but you can make it more specific with SMART goal setting.
You can determine how many years it will take you to get there and what you need to start doing now.
If you are setting a long-term goal, you must break it down into yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals. What you do daily will affect your output for the week.
Your output for the week will affect your production for the month. Your output for the month will affect what you achieve at the end of the year.
Your achievement at the end of the year will affect the long-term goal.
3. A Sense of Purpose:
Achieving SMART goals gives you a sense of purpose. They give you something to live for. Humans, at their core, are longing and searching for meaning.
Of course, your goals don’t replace your purpose, they give you a sense of purpose.
They keep you going when it gets tough, especially when you have had previous successes.
It’s so surreal when you have something that keeps you up at night, and you look forward to every morning.
Conclusion
I’ll conclude this post by reiterating a quote by the goal-setting and leadership expert Brian Tracy.
He said, “If you don’t set goals for yourself, you are doomed to achieve someone else’s goals.”
Don’t leave this post and look for another blog post about setting goals; pick up your pen and book and set a SMART GOAL for your finances, career, etc.
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