Table of contents:
Video: SMART: Criteria For A Well-set Goal - Self-development
A ship that does not know which harbor it is heading for
has no fair wind.
Instead of an epigraph
Perhaps I'll start with an anecdote. Once upon a time there were mice, and all of them offended. Once they went to a wise owl and asked for advice on how to live on. The owl thought and said: "And you become hedgehogs, they do not offend." The mice ran home, but on the way they realized that they did not know how to do it. We came back and asked the owl how to become hedgehogs. And he answered them: “You don’t load me with nonsense, this is a tactic. I am engaged in strategy. "
Setting goals for SMART
Tactics, of course, are not nonsense at all. Especially in light of the topic of our article - setting goals for SMART. Tactics here are the art of small steps, broken down into stages. Steps for every day: you take - and do, take - and do again.
True, it is not always possible to walk easily, and one must understand why the failure occurs. One of the most common reasons is that the strategy is lame
Well, I'll try to be a wise owl and talk about the strategy, namely, what criteria the goal must meet so that it ceases to be a dream and turns into an achievement.
Let's check ourselves. Ask yourself the following questions right now:
- What do I want?
- How long have I wanted this?
- How important is it to me that what I want becomes reality?
Choose from the list that is most relevant to you now, especially if you have wanted it for a long time.
If you have thought about doing something for a long time, but are still far from making what you want into reality, ask yourself an additional question: "What have I already done or am doing for this?"
SMART goal setting technique
Let's check - is your goal formulated correctly, does it motivate you to take action?
One of the most famous and convenient tools for this is the so-called SMART goal setting. If we turn to the direct translation of this word, then it will mean "smart", but in fact it is an acronym - the name of a technique in which each letter denotes a separate word.
S - Specific - Specific
See how specific your goal is. “I want to be happy” - not specifically. How is your happiness measured?
If “I want a car”, then what brand, color, equipment should it be? And what are my “important clients”?
To elaborate on your goal, ask yourself additional questions: “What does this mean specifically for me? What is it like? How else? Who else is involved in the task? What are the additional conditions for achieving it?"
Example: not “I want to travel”, but “I want to spend one month a year abroad” (it would be nice to include the name of the country or countries that suit you here)
M - Measurable - Measurable
Think and check - how will the result be measured, "how much to weigh in grams"?
If the indicator is quantitative
It is necessary to identify the units of measurement (“I want a salary equivalent to this amount”, “I want a house” - this is also measurable in some way, if you had an apartment - one piece, now a house - one piece).
If the indicator is qualitative
It is important to determine his attitude to something. For example, "increase the profit of my company by 25% compared to the profit of the previous year."
If you are puzzled by diet and healthy lifestyle - what will be your desired weight, waist measurements, clothing size? Where in the body will you feel lightness?
Ask yourself the questions without which goal setting is impossible:
- What happens when this happens?
- What will I see, hear and feel?
For example: I am awarded the diploma "manager of the year", calling my name in front of a large crowd of people. My loved ones are sitting in the first rows, I see joy in their eyes and feel pride and excitement as I rise for my award.
Expose not only the final, but also intermediate evaluation criteria. Remember that in order to achieve some goals, it is important to indicate the stages (an elephant cannot be eaten whole at once, but you can in parts!)
A - Attainable, Achievable - Reach, Achievable
Clarify for yourself how you plan to achieve the goal and is it possible to achieve it at all?
This is an important step in setting a goal for SMART (sometimes the name of the system is also written in Russian letters).
For example, as in the previous case - "to increase the profit of your own enterprise by 25% relative to the net profit of the current year by reducing the cost of production, automating complex operations."
I propose to practice the SMART goal setting system right now. Describe how you will achieve recovery. Hint: going to a specific gym, the number of hours per week for this event, following a specific nutritional system, health monitoring - examination, analyzes and consultations with doctors, a support group
Check if your goal has limitations: time resources, investments, labor resources, knowledge and experience. And then you will understand whether it is possible to increase the estimated profit, as opposed to, for example, the goal of becoming the president of the country, flying into space in the near future, and simply getting a foot size instead of 42 - 38.
R - Relevant, Realistic - Relevance, Realism
Determine the truth of the goal. Will the completion of this task really achieve the desired goal? It is important to make sure that the completion of the task is necessary
See how your goal aligns with other goals. If you set yourself the goal of making a million, no matter what, and in the process of realization it turns out that you are left alone, without your adored household members, your wife left, and the children grew up without you and do not understand why this stranger is trying to communicate with them, - this is unlikely to please you.
An important question for understanding the relevance: what benefits will the solution of the task bring? If, when achieving a goal, you do not receive bonuses in your piggy bank, such a goal is considered useless and means a waste of resources and time
T - Time-bound - Time bound
Determine the date or time frame when your goal should be realized. Setting time limits for achieving a goal makes the process controllable.
Set a timeline based on the possibility of achieving the goal. "One woman can give birth to a child in nine months, but even nine women cannot give birth to a child in a month," the thought is attributed to Confucius
And finally, the promised additional conditions (Last, but not least, as the British say, is the last but not least).
- Define a target without "not" particles. For example, not “what I don’t want”, but “what I want”.
- Set goals that you can control.
- Choose sustainable goals that will not harm you or your environment.
