There are many experts out there who will tell you to set goals in specific ways. The issue is that you need to set your goals in the best way that will work for you. Achieving challenging goals is not easy and if your goals do not inspire you then you will not achieve them.
SMART Goals
When you are setting goals you need to be as specific as possible. It is no use writing “I want to earn more money in the next 12 months”. What does that mean? If you earn 50 cents more than you did last year does that mean that you achieved your goal? Technically yes it does!
The same goes for losing weight or getting fitter. Just writing a goal to lose weight is meaningless. So is a goal to “get fitter”. There are no specifics here and the goal is not challenging because of this.
We recommend that you use the SMART goal-setting process. This is an acronym that stands for:
Specific
You need to be as specific as possible with all of your goals. So change “I want to earn more money next year” to “I will earn $100,000 in the next 12 months”. The same goes for losing weight. “I will lose weight next year” is useless so change it to “I will lose 60 pounds in the next 12 months” for example.
Measurable
By being more specific with your goals you will be able to measure your progress. It is pointless embarking on any goal that you cannot measure. A goal that states “I want to be more intelligent” is going to be very difficult to measure. But “I want to improve my IQ to 140” is definitely measurable.
Actionable
When you set goals they need to be actionable. A goal that relies on someone else doing something first or something else happening is not an actionable goal. A goal needs to be in your control – you can work on it each day without having to rely on external factors.
Realistic
We do not want to stifle your creativity and free mind here. But if you are in your mid-fifties and somewhat overweight having a goal to be the next world tennis champion is not realistic no matter how good of a tennis player you are. Make all of your goals realistic. Not too easy to achieve but something that you can actually do.
Time
A goal without a time frame is useless. “I will earn $100,000” and “I will lose 60 pounds” will never be achieved. You must add a time frame so that the goal is challenging for you. Without this, you can be working on your goal for an entire lifetime.
Adding Spice to your Goals
The SMART goal-setting process is logical and makes a lot of sense but on its own, it will not push you to achieve your goals. You need to add “spice” to your goals so that you will jump out of bed each morning and be inspired to achieve them.
The best way to do this is to add emotion to every goal. Decide on the real reason that you want more money or want to be in better shape. Think about how this will make you feel and use these feelings to inspire you every day.
Manifest in the Midwest
