SMART Actions

So, you want to get from point A to point B, do you? Well, there are some simple tips and tricks you can follow if you’re willing to do the work.

Reports indicate that people who have well-established goals in their life tend to be more successful, confident, motivated and autonomous. Furthermore, people who actually wrote their goals down, as opposed to storing them inside their minds, were 33 per cent more likely to achieve them.

Setting goals is essential to intrinsic motivation, which provides deeper purpose and meaning in our actions. The more ambitious the goal, the more successful people are (generally speaking).

To put it simply, goals can be defined as an aimed or desired result. Each action we take should lead to the result, and that means we may have to change our behaviour, which means changing the way we think.

If you can, recall to memory the last time you tried to change or alter a habit or behaviour of yours? It was probably fairly difficult to do because it was so engrained in your regular routine.

New behaviour, on the other hand, requires an entirely different set of skills, patterns, and knowledge to learn.

There are four primary quadrants of the brain that influence action;

1. Complex-routine (habits — some skill but little motivation)
2. Simple-routine (eating, drinking — little skill and motivation)
3. Simple-novel (changing a diaper — something simple but new or high motivation, and requires little skill)
4. Complex-novel (high skill and high motivation — this is where your truest and most important goals reside)

If your ultimate goal is something that’s not going to fall into your lap, you have to learn the skills required to achieve it and in order to do that you must be highly motivated. For example, obtaining a black belt in martial arts requires years of consistent practice, training and skill development. You will not achieve this rank overnight.

Goal setting is a psychological way of helping yourself accomplish things, and the general rule of thumb is to create SMART goals (acronym). This has been taught by companies and schools for the last forty or so years after being coined in 1981 by George T. Doran.

In general, any goal you establish should be achievable, believable and you should be committed to it. In this theory, each letter represents a rule in achieving your goal:

What does that even mean though?

Specific: this means one particular area to focus on. Don’t be wishy-washy and general. If you want to lose weight, don’t write down, “lose weight” write down, “I will lose ten pounds.”

Measurable: you should be able to measure your progress with some sort of metric so you can monitor your progress. Has it been ten days since you set your goal and not begun? Or has it been ten days since you set your goal and you’ve accomplished part of it?

Attainable: it’s designed for you specifically. It should be enough to challenge you while remaining within your reach. But ensure it’s something you have the resources required. Going back to the weight loss example, you need be sure there’s access to a gym, a trainer, a scale, or workout equipment — whatever it is you personally need.

Realistic: your goal should be something that’s practical and planned, allowing you to achieve it in the real world. You won’t set a goal of being a trillionaire when you have no chance of attaining it (it’s doubtful Bezos thought he’d become a billionaire from his company). If we look back to the weight loss example, if you’re 300-lbs and you decide to lose weight, what’s a realistic expectation? Not fifty pounds in a month, that’s for sure. Create a plan that’s realistic, such as 4-8-lbs a month (that’s a healthy expectation).

Timely: you should have a time-frame established for when you will achieve this goal by. If you want to lose ten pounds before Christmas, and that’s three months away, you have 90 days to lose that weight. This process will allow you to be more focused on the task at hand. It also happens to go hand in hand with being realistic.

There are any number of ways to begin planning out your goals. Some people suggest mapping it out from start to finish. Others suggest taking each step in SMART and breaking it down even further.

If we take that method (breaking it down), then be specific first and foremost and write down to the five Ws (who, what, why, when, where, how). Then map it out: you should understand your strengths and weaknesses so you can create a guide, or route, to implement each action along the way.

Along with each action, you’ll be able to document how far along you’ve come. Thing in terms of how many of something, when will you know you’ve completed the goal, and how will you track your progress? Will you write it down every time you lose two pounds? Will you weigh-in only twice a month?

If we take that method (breaking it down), then be specific first and foremost and write down to the five Ws (who, what, why, when, where, how). Then map it out: you should understand your strengths and weaknesses so you can create a guide, or route, to implement each action along the way.

Along with each action, you’ll be able to document how far along you’ve come. Thing in terms of how many of something, when will you know you’ve completed the goal, and how will you track your progress? Will you write it down every time you lose two pounds? Will you weigh-in only twice a month?

Verify you have all the tools and resources you require in order to reach this goal. Do you currently have the abilities to complete the goal? If you write down that you’ll run 5-km a day, are able to complete that task upfront or do you have to build up to that? What are you lacking, and how can you remedy that? What have other people that have completed a similar goal done? This will make it an attainable goal.

You need to be absolutely honest with yourself here: is your goal actually realistic? In all odds, it’s realistic if you truthfully believe you can achieve it. If you keep telling yourself it will never happen then it probably won’t. Can you commit to reaching your endgame? When your goals come for you, then you better be prepared. Have you given yourself every opportunity? In your timeframe, is it realistic?

Time is money, or so the saying goes. What’s your timeframe to achievement? Is there a deadline? If you don’t give yourself one, odds are you’ll lose motivation because there’s no cap on how long you have. If you feel like you have forever, it’s going to become less urgent.

So, get out there and make some goals!