How to Do SMART Goal Setting | Growth Mindset | Amanda Da Silva

If you've ever struggled with reaching your goals, this tactic will turn you into a productivity and achievement master.

By Amanda Da Silva, B.Hkin, B.Ed, and M.Ed

5-minute read

How have you been doing with your goals this year? If you’re not seeing the results you want, then keep reading. You’ll learn how to make sure your goals are aligned with your true desires and how to chunk them down into achievable nuggets. | photo … — How have you been doing with your goals this year? If you’re not seeing the results you want, then keep reading. You’ll learn how to make sure your goals are aligned with your true desires and how to chunk them down into achievable nuggets. | photo from unsplash

Have you ever set goals and not accomplished them?

Most of us have.

That's because, without the right framework, your goals will be impossible to measure or achieve.

The problem with most goals is that they're:

Not written down
Poorly worded or framed
Vague
Too aggressive

I've made every one of those goal-setting mistakes!

And you probably have too. But once I figured out how to set better goals, I saw myself actually achieving them.

Learn How to Set Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals Today ⤵

Watch the Video ⤴

How to Do S.M.A.R.T. Goals Setting

Creating S.M.A.R.T. goals will eliminate those problems and establish a strong foundation for achieving success!

We don't become skilled and competent in life without a road map. The practice of goal setting should come after you've confronted any fears, limiting beliefs, insecurities, anxieties and tackled the difficult work of knowing yourself. This includes knowing your values and what drives your deepest desires.

Once that work is done, you can take action and set goals that are in direct alignment with your core values and deepest desires.

I don't want you to make the mistake of not connecting these two critical elements: goals and personal values. If you leave this important, yet highly relevant step out, you will find it a struggle to stay motivated by setting the goal. It will be difficult for you to break it down further into smaller actionable steps, and follow through to goal achievement. So make sure you also do a values-setting process alongside your goal-setting.

Professor Gerard Egan, the author of The Skilled Helper, aptly states that people get hurt by their own expectations. We are "not disappointed by what we find, we are only ever disappointed when our expectations DON'T become a reality."

To prevent this disappointment, you can use the process of S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Here's what S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Achievable / Attainable

R = Relevant / Realistic

T = Timely

Make Your Goals Specific

Make your goal specific, not vague.

Narrow down, with precise wording, what the goal is. For example, one of my goals is to ensure I walk at least 30 minutes every day with my dog so that I increase my cardiovascular, physical, and mental health by being outside in nature.

This goal states the frequency with specific language guiding me towards what I want to accomplish and its end. The specificity elements are as follows:

walk
30 minutes
outside
with dog
daily

I know what to do.

Compare that specificity to a vague goal like this one: I'm going to get in shape!

There's nothing specific about that goal, and so it will never happen.

Make Sure You Can Measure Your Goals

The letter "M" stands for the goal being measurable. How will you keep track and know if you are reaching your goal?

Management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, "you can't manage what you can't measure." You cannot know whether you are successful unless what you are doing is defined and tracked!

When you measure something, you bring your focus to that task.

Your goal must be measurable so you can see progress, forward momentum and achievement.

One of my personal goals is "to take our entire family to Disneyland in three years by saving $2,000 per year in a separate "vacation/trip" account. Is this measurable? Yes!

I have it on my vision board, and I can check to make sure that $170 gets transferred every month to the special account through automation.

Make Your Goals Achievable/Attainable

Achievable or attainable are descriptors that you should use as you create smaller goals.

These smaller goals will help you achieve to reach your biggest or dream goals.

Not everything is attainable; however, S.M.A.R.T. goals allow you to break your dreams down into actionable goals that are attainable and realistic over time. These are the stepping stones that will provide the smaller 'wins' along the way.

I do not suggest making "create a colony on Mars" as your first attainable goal. Could this be a reality in the future? Yes! But that is not something you are about to see within the next 6-12 months.

An essential goal like this may very well happen.

Still, it needs some actionable and attainable goals along the way to get there! Don't get me wrong, I love setting impossible goals. That's critical for inspiration and motivation. But then you need to combine that with smaller winnable goals.

Make Your Goals Relevant

The R stands for the relevance of your goals.

This connects to the realistic alignment of your values and longer-term goals, dreams and wishes. I am a huge proponent of this because achieving and working towards your goals must be motivating, not disheartening.

To be a motivating factor, the goals must connect with your "WHY."

What do you wish to achieve, and why are you here?

One of my goals is this: "To achieve my goal of making an impact in the world, I will reach out to 10 new online community platforms and create an audience of 1000 people from at least 20 countries by December 31st of 2020 to share my knowledge, skills and inspiration of leadership, education, and personal and professional development."

Okay, yes, that's a long goal!

But it's a motivating goal for me because I'm driven by the desire to make an impact. Which brings me to the final letter of our S.M.A.R.T. acronym...

Make Your Goals Timely

The "T" stands for timely or a timeline for reaching your goals.

You want to be motivated by your goals; therefore, you need to have a specific end-date in mind for prioritization.

An imminent or impending deadline creates necessity, which is what you want. Keep in mind that you don't want to drive yourself completely mad or crazy if you don't achieve the said goal by a particular timeline.

This is where the realistic piece also fits in. If we've gone through the correct process of establishing our goals as I've suggested, then the goal itself does not change. Still, you may need to change the timeline as necessary.

When you are writing your own script for your life's goals, you can choose and set the timeline by which you will achieve your goals.

Imagine you lost your job during the global pandemic and had no residual income streams, and no banked savings to rely on. You will, out of pure necessity, need to rev up your timelines to create income streams for you and your family to live.

Finding another job or creating your own business would require more immediate short-term deadlines that need to be created and met.

You might write a goal for yourself like this:

"To achieve my goal of being employed in a __________ position, I will update my cover letter and resume within one week, so I can apply to a __________ position in ___________ company."

Find Success with S.M.A.R.T. Goals

With S.M.A.R.T. goals, you are more likely to find success by applying this framework each time you take to goal-setting.

This framework allows you to set boundaries for yourself and check-in to ensure you've included all aspects to achieve your goals most effectively and efficiently.

What goals have you set for yourself? I'd love to hear in the comments section!

Are You Ready to Achieve Your Most Treasured Goals?

If you have a big dream and some big goals and you’re ready to achieve them, join my group coaching program this fall.

You might be playing a smaller game than is necessary to achieve your biggest goals and dreams.

This is usually because your mindset hasn’t caught up to your goals and dreams. Or you might have values that actually don’t align with your goals. Maybe you need a total reset.

If you find that you’re busy working, but aren’t necessarily making the progress you’d love to see, then group coaching will help you get unstuck, so you can stop spinning your wheels and start making an impact.

Get prepared for the next stage in your life. Everything has changed. What’s your next step?

10 WEEK GROUP LIFE COACHING PROGRAM
5 Sessions | October 7th to December 2nd, 2020
Wednesdays at 7 p.m. PST via Zoom

Apply for the Next Session: