There are a lot of people who work very hard in life, but, for some reason, don't seem to get anywhere worthwhile
A big reason for this is because they haven't spent much time thinking about what they actually want to achieve in their life.
In other words, they haven't set any goals for themselves.
As a result, they work hard, but not towards any desired outcome.
Unfortunately, for us, it's not enough to just set a goal either.
Instead, in order to get the most out of your goals, you need to know how to properly set your goals.
This is what best selling author and entrepreneur Michael Hyatt talks about in his book “Your Best Year Ever.”
Hyatt explains that in order to formulate effective goals that will inspire you to take action and that will motivate you to persist when things get tough, you need to check off 7 boxes.
They are:
Specific
Measurable
Actionable
Risky
Time Keyed
Exciting and
Relevant. Or SMARTER as he calls it.
SPECIFIC
To formulate a SMARTER goal, you've got to identify exactly what you want to accomplish.
The more specific your goal, the more likely you'll be to engage your focus, creativity, and persistence in achieving that goal.
For example, you could have the goal to “Learn email marketing,” but that’s too vague.
A better goal would be to “Complete Lynda.com’s Mailchimp marketing 101 course.”
That’s specific. Specific goals will help channel your focus towards your desired outcome, while vague goals will always lack the inspiration to get us to take any action at all.
MEASURABLE
Your goals need to be measurable. If they’re not, how else would you know you’ve reached your goal? It’s not very helpful or inspiring, for example, to say that you simply want to “read more books this year."
Well, how many more books do you want to read? There’s a big difference between having the goal to “read more books this year” and having the goal to “read 52 books this year.”
Saying you want to read more doesn’t do much because there's no clear objective.
When the goal you set for yourself is measurable, you know the criteria for success.
ACTIONABLE
Goals are essentially what you want to do. Therefore, your goals need to be actionable.
The best way to make your goals actionable is to start with a verb that prompts action. You can use verbs such as run, read, or finish. You don’t want to write goals that use words like am, be, or have. For example, having the goal to “be a better runner” isn’t actionable. Having the goal “to run 4 times a week,” however, is.
You want to write your goals that are clear and direct about the action that needs to be taken.
RISKY
Don’t set goals that are realistic. Instead, set goals that are just a bit risky.
Why? Because if you set goals that are realistic, you’re likely to set the bar low.
In life, underachievement will always be the result of setting your goals too low.
This is why you need to set goals that are challenging and that require you to stretch a little. Having just a bit of risk in your goal setting will help drive results. If you go the safe route, you will likely accomplish a lot less.
In other words, we rise to a challenge, but we lay back when it’s easy.
TIME KEYED
Having a deadline is essential in achieving your goals. Without a deadline, there’s a lack of urgency. If you have the goal “to read more books,” for example, then you'll think that you have so much time to accomplish it. As a result, you'll most likely just put it off and not do it.
However, saying you want “to read one new book by the end of the week,” sets you up to succeed. Deadlines help spur action, while goals without a deadline discourage action.
EXCITING
Your goal needs to be exciting. In other words, they need to inspire you.
If you don't feel personally compelled to achieve your goals, then you won't have the internal motivation to push through when times get tough. So ask yourself, “Is this goal inspiring?”
Remember, only exciting goals will give you the motivation to persist and achieve your goal whenever you feel like quitting.
RELEVANT
In order to formulate effective goals, you need to set goals that are relevant to your actual circumstances. You also need goals that align with your values. Setting goals that conflict with your values will only create friction and frustration. If you’re working against yourself, you’ll experience more heartburn than progress.
PARTING THOUGHTS
So there you go. In summary, SMARTER goals are specific, measurable, actionable, risky, time keyed, exciting and relevant.
And now that you know how to properly formulate your goals, I suggest you take some time today to make a list of your most important goals. When you do this, don't just make goals in relation to your career. Try to include goals from all aspects of your life as well.
SET UP SMARTER GOALS TODAY AND NEVER LER SMARTER GOALS SET YOU UP!