Alistair Horscroft
When it comes to moving towards being emotionally, mentally and physically in tune - everything starts with a goal.
A goal is your chosen outcome and once you have that outcome in mind you need to approach it in a SMART way if you really want to make it a reality.
Let me show you how you can do this using a very simple coaching model that we call the SMART model:
S.M.A.R.T. stands for…
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
Let’s take a look at how each letter provides us with the core information you need to make Smart Goals.
Specific
A specific goal has a far greater chance of being accomplished than a general 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.’
An even more specific goal would be, ‘Join Fitness First in Manly, and workout for 35 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.’
When you get specific about a goal it makes you start to look at the logistics of making it happen, the more specific the more the actual 'how to' becomes evident.
Measurable
When we set a goal, we need to make sure that the accomplishment of it is measureable. For example, if we continue to use the 'get in shape' example, we can make that goal measurable by giving ourselves:
A fitness test objective
A weight loss amount
When you can measure your progress, it keeps you on track and experience the exhilaration of accomplishment as you complete the stages on your way to your success.
Attainable
You can attain pretty much any goal you set for yourself when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps.
Saying that you are going to loose all the weight you want in 2 weeks and then failing to do that will just get you down. Saying that you will do the same in say, 12 weeks and that you have mini-goals for each of those 12 weeks will give you a far greater capacity to actually get the outcome.
It's the brick by brick approach, the one step at a time approach that always leads to the successful accomplishment of our goals.
When we use this wisdom, 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 are using the step by step approach which means your improving and the end result is getting closer at the same time. This provides a push and pull at the same time experience for you.
Realistic
When we set our self a goal, it needs to be realistic. For example many people when they decide to 'get in shape' pick a celebrity body that they want to look like, even though this celebrities body type might be completely different to their own.
If you did this you would always feel frustrated and let down, because what you are asking is impossible, it's simply not a realistic expectation to have of yourself.
To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work.
A good test that your goal is realistic is if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Or that you know of someone who is 'similar' to you who has achieved the same. This way you have evidence that it is actually possible.
Timely
We need to put time frames on our goals if we are to achieve them. With no time frame, there's no sense of urgency.
To achieve goals, we can't put off until tomorrow what actually needs to get done today. Time frames also allow us to make decisions that we are more likely to stand by. If we don't put a time frame on our goals we tend to just either leave things until the last minute - which you can't really do if you want to, for example loose 7 kg the night before your wedding, or you just get either overwhelmed or underwhelmed and nothing at all gets done
So the core 'how to' of setting goals is making them SMART. The smarter you make them the more likely you are to make them happen. The satisfaction of accomplishing goals both small and large is one of the major keys to happiness. So as they say - don't work harder - work SMARTER.
posted 2010 Jun 30 by
Comments