When you’re in the thick of things, I find, the first thing to go out the window is that list of goals you’ve got tacked to the wall. You’re putting out fires, and trying to have a vision of your life as you want it to be is sometimes just altogether too hard to deal with on top of the myriad things that Life wants to throw at you.

The best laid plans and all that jazz.

The biggest problem, at least for me, is that I lose sight of the exercise we did last week -- the Life Vision -- and all of the related goals that end up on the giant mind map. It’s been hammered home to me on several occasions in the past week that YOUR version of your life is completely different than everyone ELSE’s version of it, and if I’m looking at abstract aims rather than very clear Goals, I can very quickly lose myself in what everyone else wants.

This is where having SMART goals helps immensely. Surveying a list of goals that say abstract things like “I want to lose weight.” makes for a broad statement with no real action involved with it. There are steps to get me from 150 pounds to 130 pounds, but it’s left wide open. (Incidentally, that’s not one of my personal goals, but it’s big for a lot of people out there, so I’m using this as an example throughout this article so it’s relatable. Feel free to substitute one of your own goals as we go forward.)

SMART is an acronym that breaks down to:

S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Achievable
R: Realistic
T: Time-Sensitive

These five areas should apply to each and EVERY one of your goals. If a goal doesn’t have these five characteristics, it’s going to be much harder to achieve in the long run, and makes for a weak link in the fence you’re building around your life’s vision.

Let’s take a look at each of these, in the context of the “I want to lose weight” goal.

For a goal to be SPECIFIC, it needs to include enough detail that you know exactly what you mean. It should be clear enough that a random stranger, happening by, could see precisely what you mean, without further explanation. “Losing weight” could mean losing five pounds or fifty, or could mean that you want to clean out your closets and lighten your footprint on the planet, really. So, to make this goal conform to the S guideline, you’d clarify -- for example, “I want to lose fifty pounds at the rate of two pounds per week by eating healthy and exercising three times a week.”, rather than something more general.

MEASURABLE means that it’s a quantifiable variable that lets you record the result of a specific action. How will you know when you’ve reached your goal if you don’t have a system of measurement? “I want to lose fifty pounds,” then, fits the bill, since you have it specific, and there’s a way to measure your progress toward the goal’s end result.

Making a goal ACHIEVABLE is important, too. Saying, “I want to lose fifty pounds so I can learn to fly” might sound good to you, but unless you’ve got a Kryptonite allergy, you might find it hard to get there. Physical, mental, and emotional limitations should be taken into account here.

REALISTIC is where I end up falling down quite often. Sure, I’d love to exercise three hours a day, visit friends every week, make four pieces of art a week, write articles for fifteen magazines a month, write a novel, and have a gorgeous house, but my time, like everyone else’s in this world, is limited. Be realistic about how much time and energy you have when you’re making your goals, or you’ll end up abandoning them all. Therefore, something like “I want to lose fifty pounds by the reunion next month” misses the Achievable AND the Realistic marks, since there’s no possible way you’ll reach that goal, AND it’d be pretty much physically impossible for you to reach it without major surgery and possibly lopping off a leg or two. Keep it real to keep yourself moving.

One thing people never have enough of is TIME. Scheduling is of increasing importance in this society, and your goals should have a time priority, as well. As long as you’re being realistic about what you can achieve, you should always put a timeframe on what you’re doing. That helps you when scheduling, gives them a sense of urgency and priority, and lets you know if you’re on or off track. Making a goal TIME-SENSITIVE means giving yourself a framework, like a ladder to climb to your dreams.

With all of these factors in account, the “I want to lose weight” goal is made over, and becomes “I want to lose fifty pounds by eating healthy and exercising at the gym three times a week, at the rate of two pounds per week. I will weigh on Thursdays, and achieve my goal weight by 1/17/07.” It becomes much easier to plan for your goals when you take a few minutes to craft those goals in a way that’s more likely to motivate you. Look over your own goals, pulled straight from your Life Vision Exercise of last week, and try “making them over” into SMART(er) goals.

Copy the goals onto a page of your planner system, and refer back to them every time you’re doing scheduling for the week, and you’ll find that you’re much more likely to stick to them, since you know what you should be doing, and can turn down actions related to fires that aren’t your own. You’ll be able to see at a glance where you are, and develop planner systems that support you on your quest.

Next week, we’ll look at those calendar and planner systems a little closer, and I’ll give some ideas for progress reporting. We’ll even talk a little bit about rewards, since cutting your own path through the undergrowth means that if anyone deserves a break, it’s you.

Goals! How to Get Everything You Want--Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible author: Brian Tracy asin: 1576753077