SMART Goals

SMART Goals
Get the PDF VersionBy Duncan Haughey, PMP

Once you have planned your project, turn your attention to developing several goals that will enable you to be successful. Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.

A goal might be to hold a weekly project meeting with the key members of your team or to organise and run a continuous test programme throughout the project.

The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:

S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

This provides a broader definition that will help you to be successful in both your business and personal life.

When you next run a project take a moment to consider whether your goals are SMART goals.
To quote renowned American philanthropist Elbert Hubbard:

"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organised their energies around a goal."

SMART Goals

Specific
Well defined
Clear to anyone that has a basic knowledge of the project

Measurable
Know if the goal is obtainable and how far away completion is
Know when it has been achieved

Agreed Upon
Agreement with all the stakeholders what the goals should be

Realistic
Within the availability of resources, knowledge and time

Time Based
Enough time to achieve the goal
Not too much time, which can affect project performance

Creating and designing goals

Creating and designing goals is one of the best steps someone can take in their life to reach their dreams. These goals and dreams can be work related, personal, financial, etc. To make goal setting easier, it is best to follow a framework. The framework is setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. This guide will show you exactly how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals to get where you want to go.

SPECIFIC
Your goals should first be specific. This means they should not be some abstract concept, like I want to lose weight. They need to be concrete, such as I will lose 10 pounds. They should also answer the W-questions; who, what, when, where, why. The who is who is involved. The what is what your goal is. The where is a location. The why is your reason for wanting to reach the goal.

MEASURABLE
This is how you know that your goals are on track. You need to measure your progress to see how you are doing and if you should change anything. To make this easier, you should focus on how you will know if and when you reach your goals.

ATTAINABLE
Your goals should be something that you really want to achieve. These should come after some thought about what is truly important in your life. Goals that seem to far to reach will become more attainable if it is something you truly believe in.

REALISTIC
Your goals should be something that you are willing and able to do. This does not mean that you should not set the bar low. This means that you need to make sure the goals is actually something you truly believe you can reach and you are motivated to reach that goal.

TIMELY
Finally, your goals should be timely. This means establishing a time frame for when you want to meet your goals. This could be a few weeks, months or even years into the future. Just have a date set for when you want to achieve your goal.
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You now know how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) This criteria can be used for any goals that you want to achieve. One final bit of adivce would be to write your goals down. This helps you to see on paper what you want to achieve. You can also tell people about your goals so they can hold you accountable. Another good strategy is to write your goals down on paper and put the paper where you will see it every day to help motivate you.Read more: How to create and design SMART goals eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4768896_create-design-smart-goals.html#ixzz1A6fs5sMt

How to Set SMART Goals

Goal setting is absolutely crucial to your long-term success. Almost everyone agrees that you should set goals, but the question that normally follows is "How do I do it?". This article will provide insight on how to set goals the S.M.A.R.T. way, using a very handy acronym that will make the goal-setting process much easier and much more concrete

The S.M.A.R.T. goals system is a very useful method for setting goals. As an overview, the "S" stands for Specific, the "M" stands for Measurable, the "A" stands for Attainable, the "R" stands for Realistic, and the "T" stands for Timely. Below are the steps explaied in detail.

"S" - Your goals have to be SPECIFIC. If you want to achieve any type of goal, it has to be something that is not a generality or a poorly-thought-through idea, but something that you can put definite parameters around. For instance, it's no good to say that your goal is "to be a better husband", "to lose weight", or other generic ideas. How much weight do you want to lose? When would you like to arrive at this weight-loss goal? Those are the specifics necessary to really get your mind thinking in the right direction. When writing down your goals, make them as specific as possible. If your goal is to one day have a dream home, what would it look like? How many bedrooms would it have? Would it have a two, three, or four-car garage? Clarity is essential when writing down your goals.

"M" - Your goals have to be MEASURABLE. As it has often been said, "You can't manage what you can't measure". You have to have definite points of progress mapped out so that you can have some measure of how close to (or far away from) your goals you are. Included in the "Measurable" step is establishing milestones. For instance, if your income goal is to be making six figures, have you made it even halfway there yet? If your goal is to lose 50 pounds, have you lost 10 pounds yet? You have to have certain "checkpoints" established so that you can have a measure of your progress.

"A" - Your goals have to be ATTAINABLE. It's nice to have a goal such as "I want to bring peace to the world", but trust me, it may not happen in this lifetime. Idealistic goals are very difficult to attain. Add a healthy dose of concrete reality to your goals.

"R" - Your goals must be REALISTIC. You can set a goal to become a billionaire in one week, but don't be surprised if it doesn't happen. Now I'm a big advocate for believing that "all things are possible" (Mark 9:23), but that doesn't mean that all things are likely to happen. Don't frustrate yourself and shoot yourself in the foot by being too unrealistic with your goals. Thoroughly examine the type of process you will have to go through to realistically arrive at your goal, and commit to that process.

"T" - Your goals must be TIMELY. In other words, you must establish a time frame for achieving your goals. Don't keep your goals in an "abstract" state by not setting definite points in time for them to be achieved. Remember: "A goal is a dream with a deadline".

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Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely
  
  

Specific - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:
*Who: Who is involved? *What: What do I want to accomplish? *Where: Identify a location. *When: Establish a time frame. *Which: Identify requirements and constraints. *Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
EXAMPLE: 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 - 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 the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

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. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

Timely - A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
T can also stand for Tangible - A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

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