How to set the Best Goals and Resolutions, the SMART way

A new year is a perfect time to re-evaluate your goals, think about what worked for the previous year, and brainstorm new goals and hopes for the year ahead.

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Setting and Planning to Achieve Your Goals

An important step in the goal-setting process is to look at the big picture and scale back. Think about where you want to be in life, in business, etc., in the next six months. Think of a handful of areas you want to improve, and how you want to improve on them. Then reduce those areas into 90-day actionable steps.

Use the SMART goals system to list these steps, and track your progress monthly, or more often. See where you are at the end of the first 90-day period and adjust and reassess as necessary.

You may have heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals… people talk about them because they work. Here is an overview that teaches you how to set goals the S.M.A.R.T. way. Don’t forget to grab your goal setting worksheet!

What are SMART goals?

SPECIFIC – Your goal needs to be spelled out very precisely, and you also need to have a reason why behind your goal. You want some benefit or emotional attachment that will keep you focused.

For example, a goal might be to earn $10,000 per month and onboard five new quality clients monthly in the next 90 days.

Using language that leaves no doubt as to what the goal is, why you want to achieve the goal, and how you will accomplish it is very important. If you are not able to be detailed in your description of the goal, it will be hard to meet it. Take the time to do this part right.

 

MEASURABLE – This is where you may wish to use a goal journal – a method to measure what you want to accomplish and what you actually accomplished. If your goal cannot be quantified, then you won’t know how or when you have succeeded.

 You might want to use my lovely notebook journal I have on my Zazzle store. 

 

An example of a measurable goal would be “I want to deposit an additional 500 dollars per week into our bank account. I’ll accomplish this by writing five 500-word articles each week for a life coach.”

 

 

ACTIONABLE / ACHIEVABLE – There are different things that “A” can stand for, but it’s usually actionable or achievable. To achieve anything, you must take action. So, make your goal actionable, where you do something each day that will eventually result in an accomplished goal.

Goals should also be achievable, or you will quickly get frustrated. Be accurate about the time it takes to reach a goal, and what actions it takes to get there. Also, know who will be responsible for doing it.

REALISTIC / RELEVANT – “R” can stand for realistic or relevant, and both are important. If you want your goal to succeed, it should most certainly be realistic, or you will fail.

If you’re currently making $500 a week and your goal is to increase that to $10,000 per month in 90 days, that’s not realistic. However, you may be able to grow it by $300. Once you achieve that goal and are earning $800 a week, you can set a new goal to increase your income by another $500 a week or something similar.

Your goal should also be relevant to your life’s vision and match your values. There’s no point in making or achieving goals that have no relevance to your long-term life goals.

TIME BOUND / TIMELY / TRACKABLE – Various authors refer to the “T” in the S.M.A.R.T. acronym as time-bound, timely or trackable. All of these t’s are essential parts of the goal creating and setting process. If you don’t set a time limit and you can’t track what is happening, your goal will be hard to quantify or show as achieved. Journaling helps with this.

 

Whichever words you use to help you craft your goals, the important thing is to have a process to help you make smart goals. SMART goals are goals that you follow through on achieving and know when you’ve met them.

 

Download Your Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals Worksheet Here

To get started with planning your S.M.A.R.T. Goal, use the setting SMART goals worksheet I have made for you.

 

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This post is part of the 31 Tips for Working Moms series. See the rest of the posts here: