S.M.A.R.T. Goals CBI 360° Health 2011

Why are S.M.A.R.T. Goals Important? Setting a goal gives you the motivation you need to achieve what you want. Having something to work towards is the first step towards taking action. It’s important to have clarity on what you ultimately want so you are able to reach your highest potential. Goals keep you accountable and help you measure progress.

What is a S.M.A.R.T. Goal? S - Specific M - Measurable A - Attainable R - Relevant T - Timely

Specific Goals should be straight-forward and emphasize what you want to happen. Specifics help us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do. Determine ‘What’, ‘Why’, and ‘How’. – What do you want to ultimately accomplish? – Why is it important at this time? – How are you going to accomplish it? A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

Measurable Choose a goal with measurable progress, so that you can see the change occur. Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience feelings of achievement that gives motivation for the continued effort required to reach your goals.

Attainable When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. Be sure to set goals that you can attain with some effort! Too difficult and you set the stage for failure, but too low makes it hard to stay motivated. Set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement! A realistic project may push the skills and knowledge of the people working on it but it shouldn’t break them..

Relevant The goal must be significant to your life at the moment in order for you to have the motivation to achieve it. Choose something that is important to you and reflects your values as a person. The skills needed to do the work must be available and the project should fit with the overall strategy and goals you have for yourself.

Timely Set a timeframe for the goal: putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards. If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action now. If you anchor your goal within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

How to Set Goals? Follow the steps of S.M.A.R.T. goals and write down the various ways in which you can measure progress. Writing a goal down keeps your more accountable to stick with it. Create mini goals or check-points within your goal so that it is not so overwhelming. Stay positive and try not to get discouraged when you have setbacks!

Conclusion Setting goals is an important step in achieving what it is you want in life and keeping yourself accountable. It is important to make your goals S.M.A.R.T.- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.”- Yogi Berra

References Goal Setting Guide ( guide.com/goal-setting-tutorials/smart-goal- setting) guide.com/goal-setting-tutorials/smart-goal- setting Top Achievement- Self Improvement and Personal Development Community ( Prepared by Stephanie Wiest Bkin- CBI Medicine Hat