Are Your Goals SMART?

Whether you’re preparing for your annual review or identifying success metrics for a project, it’s important to understand how to write goals that are challenging but also achievable. And perhaps most important, a key component of goal writing is being able to identify IF you’ve actually achieved it. What’s a way to ensure that’s the case? By making sure your goals are SMART!

SMART goal writing is something I learned as a physical therapist when developing long and short-term goals with my patients. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based. It goes something like this…

Specific

Be specific. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast, let alone what I had for dinner last night. If I set a goal in January, as December rolls around if it wasn’t specific, I can assure you I won’t know what it meant.

Non-specific: I will run more. (More than what? – How will I know if ‘more’ has been achieved?)

Specific: I will complete a race. (It’s pretty clear if I did or didn’t complete a race.)

Measurable

How will you measure your progress? What data points will you use to ensure you can identify if you have or haven’t achieved success?

Non-measurable: I will complete a race. (If I can already run 1mi without issue, is it a challenge for me to sign up for a 1mi race? What distance will challenge me?)

Measurable: I will complete a 5k race. (If I run a mile race, I’ve run a race but I haven’t met my goal. I’ll know my goal has been met when I complete a 5k race.)

Achievable (sometimes stated as Attainable)

Do I have the skillset/resources to accomplish this goal? It’s important to challenge yourself, but you need to make sure you’re not setting yourself up for failure. Make sure the goal you’re setting is within reach, but also requires you to move beyond your current state.

Unachievable (for me): I will complete a 5k race in under 10min.

Achievable (for me): I will complete a 5k race in under 30min.

Realistic (sometimes stated as Relevant)

Does this goal mean something to me? Is it in alignment with my mission or my values? Will achieving this goal be of true benefit to me?

Unrealistic (for me): I will complete a 10k race in under an hour. (Running more than 5mi at a time elicits severe right knee pain for me. Training for and completing a 10k race could cause damage to my right knee and staying safe is more important to me than risking my health to achieve that goal.)

Realistic (for me): I will complete a 5k race in under 30min.

Time-based

Without putting a time stamp on it, how do you know if you were successful at meeting your goal? What is your timeline? By when you do you hope to achieve your goal?

Non-time-based: I will complete a 5k race in under 30min. (If you complete it 10years from now, will you have met your goal?)

Time-based: I will complete a 5k race in under 30min by 8/31/2021.

Now, if 8/31/2021 rolls around and I have trained for and successfully completed a 5k race in less than 30min I will know that my goal was achieved. If I have not completed a 5k race in less than 30min by that time, I will not have achieved my goal.

Below are a few more examples to compare:

Now I’d like to challenge you to come up with some goals of your own.

What SMART things do you plan to achieve in 2021?

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