Tips To Achieve SMART Goals

Setting goals in life is very important because it gives you direction and motive to move forward. Based on your goals, you decide what you are going to do next and plan how to achieve them in the best way possible. If you are one of those people who have the potential and urge to set up goals for your life but are unable to do so, then we are here to provide you with the guidelines you need in order to set up achievable goals that you can plan rightly and achieve with greater satisfaction.

So let's get into it and discover the horizons of SMART goals and how they can be effective for your life.

What are SMART goals?

While you must have heard of the word "smart" in many different contexts like slim or intelligent, here we are bringing you the context of SMART in such a way that it will prove to be highly beneficial for your goals to be set and to be achieved. SMART goals are basically a set of tools that help you plan out how you are going to make a roadmap for your goals and how you are going to achieve them. Let's discuss in detail how the SMART goals tool in your daily life makes your goals more realistic and achievable in every way possible.

The SMART goals basically come literally to the terms as follows:

• Specific 
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-based

Now that we have established the literal context of the word SMART, let's dig deeper into the meaning of each component present in this tool to know how this tool actually works:

Specific

First of all, you need to define your goals in the clearest and most specific manner. It should be very to the point so that there is no confusion left whatsoever that can bring any unclarity to the process. In order to achieve this, you can use the formula of the 5 Ws. If you are wondering about the formula of the 5 W's, we are here to tell you about that as well. It includes the five main W's that are What, Why, Who, Where, and Which.

You need to plan out how you are going to bring these W's in your goals roadmap.

Let's talk about an example that will help you figure out the purpose of the W's in the determination of goals.

• What is the main goal you wish to achieve?

• Why is this so important that you plan and achieve this goal

• Who will be involved in the process and achievement of this particular goal

• Where will this goal take you, and where are the resources located that will help you in achieving this particular goal.

• Which resources will prove to be helpful to you in this goal

Being specific about your goals is very important to get started with the whole process because if your main goal is unclear, you will not be able to move forward with the formulation of strategies that are required to achieve the goal. Hence it can lead to disappointment or something that you were not planning on achieving.

Measurable 

Try making the goal in a measurable format. It does not necessarily mean that you have to keep it in numeric form only. However, it should be in such a way that it will help you to know how far you have come, how far you need to go and to keep track of your progress regarding your goal. Let's say you are planning on covering the chemistry syllabus before exam day. Instead of just planning it like this, try doing it like this:

• Write down the number of days you have till exam day.

• Know about the amount of syllabus you need to cover.

• Now allot a portion of the syllabus, for example, two topics, 1 chapter or however it suits you, to a particular time of day.

By studying in this way, you will be able to know how much you have prepared and how fastly or slowly you need to move forward with it to achieve your goal, which is to be prepared on the exam day.

Attainable

Your goal should be in the realm of a realistic approach. In case your goal is to turn into a fairy or to memorize 20 books in one day, you might be facing a bit of disappointment. So to avoid such scenarios, you need to make sure that that goal you are setting for yourself is actually easy to attain. No matter what the goal is that you want to achieve, whether studying, weight management, quitting something or any other, you need to keep it in a realistic range that is not too easy or too impossible to achieve. This will keep you motivated as well.

Let's talk about some examples of goal setting that would seem more attainable if altered a bit.

• Instead of saying that, I will memorize and understand four subjects in one night, which is close to impossible. Try breaking it down into parts and plan it beforehand in such a way that all four subjects can be completed realistically and efficiently.

• If you are planning on losing or gaining weight, do not simply assume that you will get your desired weight overnight. Plan it and gradually bring in changes to your lifestyle in such a way that you will reach your desired weight in the best way possible.

In the above-mentioned examples, it has been evident that no one is really stopping you from setting goals or planning things. However, you just need to be cautious that your goals are not out of the realm of reality, and they stay in the horizons where you can actually achieve them rather than getting disappointed.

Relevant

Your goal should have relevance to you. If you are working on a goal that is not even relevant to you, it might be just an effort in vain. Let's say that your friend has a chemistry exam, and you don't, and you start to plan or work on covering the chemistry syllabus and waste your time preparing for an exam that you are not even taking. It means that this goal is not relevant to you.

Whenever you set a goal for yourself, before planning about it, make sure you ask yourself the question: is it worthwhile to achieve this goal and devote your time and efforts to it? If it seems like you will get something worthwhile in return, then you definitely need to plan it. Otherwise, if it is simply something that is not giving you much benefit in return, then we would suggest that you put your efforts somewhere else instead.

Here is an example that will help you understand the factor of relevancy when planning on achieving a goal:

• You have your assessments next week, and in a few months, you have your finals. Instead of preparing for your assessment tests, you start preparing for your finals; then, it means that you are working on an irrelevant goal for now. For sure, you need to prepare for your finals, but until you are done with your assessments, the final stand is irrelevant to you.

Time-bound

Set a certain time frame for your goals. There can be two different types of time frames that you can keep, i.e. short-term and long-term. Whatever you are planning on achieving, you need to tell yourself how long you will take to reach where you want to go, or in between, you can set short-term goals that will aid you in reaching the ultimate main goal.

Here are some examples that will help you to understand how keeping a time frame for your goals will help you greatly:

MAIN GOAL:
Biology exam preparation
Long-term goal:
"I have to prepare for the biology exam in two weeks' time."

Short-term goals:
"I will complete chapter 1 today and half of chapter 2."
"Tomorrow, I will cover chapter 3 and the remaining part of chapter 2."

In this way, you will have a time frame for your goals, and you will know better about what pace and approaches you need to take in order to reach your goal in the best way possible. Not a time frame will lead you to an unassembled process that you will have to assemble, and eventually, you will get lazy because you won't have an idea about the time you need to get things done.

Get started with your goals.

Whatever goal you are planning on achieving, the SMART goals approach is the best way to efficiently achieve your goals in the best way possible. If you are still unable to work on your goals on your own, you can get help from our online or private tutors to get the most out of your goal. So what's holding you back? Let's get started with the goals to be achieved.