SMART Goals Revisited: Taking Your Goal Setting to the Next Level
Hi Team,
When we first wrote about SMART goals, we set out the basics of this principle, exploring the essential elements to build efficient targets. You can check that article out here. Now we’re going to be taking a deeper dive into each of the components that will provide a more sophisticated goal setting principle.
SMART goals are great for personal or profession development, providing the tools to push past common goal setting pitfalls and enable continued motivation. Let’s take a look at how to elevate our SMART goal setting.
Fine-Tuning Specificity
Rather than defining what you want to achieve, you can elevate this principle by asking why you want to reach this goal. Pinpointing your motivation will bring clarity and drive commitment, beyond just knowing the end goal.
To practice this element, create a “Why Statement” for each goal, to encourage you to connect with the purpose of your goal. For example, if you want to read two books per month, the why behind this might be to expand your industry knowledge, helping you to connect with peers and stay competitive.
Making Measurable Milestones Measurable
It pays to have more than just a standard metric for your measurable goals, to track progress. Break your main goal into sub-goals, containing all of the milestones you need to achieve your desired target. A great way to log this is through a progress journal or a tracking app. Every week reflect on what has been working and any areas that you feel could be improved to stay on the right path.
Enhanced Actionable Steps
In the fast-paced world in which we live, flexibility is the key to enhancing the actionable steps we take. When you set your actions, the reassessment of this list enables you to review and adjust as required. Take the time to check in with your action steps and update your roadmap accordingly. This approach ensures that your actions stay relevant and feasible.
Realistic with a Challenge
Consider setting challenges around the three-tiered pathway, which was discussed here. To avoid stagnation, your goals should feel challenging yet achievable. The problem is that sometimes it is difficult to gauge a goal’s difficulty level, which can lead to frustration when initial targets are missed. By utilising the three-tiered pathway of setting three sets of targets, your goals should always remain realistic, whilst keeping a realistic challenge, with the actions on the middle and higher ground to aim for.
Adding Layers to Time-Based Goals
Typically, a goal might be a larger target with a determined deadline. You can take the time-based focus further by creating a “Time Ladder”, setting primary deadlines, sub-deadlines, and micro-deadlines. For example, if you have a project due for completion in six months, you can further break this down into monthly, weekly and daily deadlines.
SMART goal setting is a constant journey of refinement and realignment. Each layer that you can add to this framework offers a deeper level of commitment and clarity. With these advanced strategies, you have the tools to track your progress, whilst always keeping in mind that adjustment may be required along the way to keep you aligned to your end destination.
Did you enjoy what you read? Don’t miss out on weekly tips like these—subscribe now to stay on top of your personal growth journey.