We’ve talked about goal setting as essential for success. Those 5-year goals, defining what success means to you. These are your plans for the future. These grand goals you set for yourself years from now can often be broken down further, into milestone goals, and ultimately behaviors. But before we can get granular with our goal setting endeavors, we need to ensure our goals are well formed. Without well formed goals, we run the risk of misalignment of our actions, and ending up off-course.
So what does it take to set well-formed goals? The most popular framework that is used in goal setting is the SMART framework. By using the SMART framework outlined below, you can ensure that your goals, when executed upon, will lead you to your envisioned future.
Let’s look at the framework:
Specific: Each goal needs to be as clearly defined as possible, so that you will know when you have achieved the desired result. You should be focusing on the What, Where, and When questions. For example: Running isn’t sufficient. Running the Boston marathon next year provides a specific element so that you will know when you have succeeded.
Measurable: Determining the specifics of the goal should have provided a unit of measurement so that you will know when you have fulfilled your goal. In the above example, Boston marathon is the unit of measure that, once reached, will spell out success for your goal. For many of us, success is more than a finish line though, and having a measurable benchmark is more appropriate. These maintenance goals are just as important, and might involve staying a certain body size/weight, attending X social outings in Y time frame, or maintaining a base level of financial wealth.
Attainable: Here is your action plan, as well as an honest look as to how realistic the goal is. It is important when setting personal goals to only include aspects that you can directly control. The other aspect of Attainable, is answering How you plan to reach your goal.
Example: Your goal might be to learn valuable skills to pursue a career in Nursing in 2 years time. Your how in this case might be attending a local school to educate yourself in the various subjects and studies required by nurses. It is important to note that the goal is to set yourself up for a job, not obtain one, as you cannot exert full control over the hiring process.
Relevant: now is the time to relate this back to your life mission. Will accomplishing this goal help you on your journey? There are so many competing demands for our time and energy, it is important that you do things that drive success in your life, however you have defined that.
Time-bound: To hold yourself accountable, all goals need to have a deadline. It is much easier to work towards an end target. Having an end target in mind frames the efforts that will be required, such as our 5-year goal setting. Or, as in the case of the above examples, the marathon is set for next year, or pursuing a career in two years. These timelines help you work backwards to determine the steps needed now, and also provide a definitive target in mind so the initial steps are actually taken now.
There it is, the SMART way to set goals. This is the What, Where, When, Why, and How of your goals. It is important to note that adding a Who component when planning your own success is risky, as any goal that isn’t completely in your control requires an extra level of accountability. Whenever possible, refine your goal to ensure that it is something you can accomplish without someone else’s direct influence.
The Who element will definitely come into play when you are acting as a leader, and helping a team succeed. Whether the team is a family, business, or relationship.
Once you have your 5-year goals, or whatever future time frame you are using to envision your ideal future, you can begin the process of breaking those goals down further into more short-term goals. These shorter term goals will act as mile markers on the way to your grander success. Mile markers that you can use to gauge and adjust progress along the journey.
Success lies just down the road you’ve started on. You’ve drawn your road map. You know what needs to be done. Now go, take the first steps towards the future of your dreams.