S.M.A.R.T. Goal-Setting: A Review

Before you actually start working on your goals list,  you may want to review the S.M.A.R.T. acronym that many use for goal setting. There are five parts to this. They are: S- Specific; M- Measurable; A- Attainable; R- Relevant; and T- Time Sensitive.

Specific: Goals need to be specific. In order for you to take action on or even be inspired to work toward a goal, it must have a sufficient degree of specificity. The word specific is defined as “having a specific application, bearing, or reference; specifying, explicit, or definite.” To set high quality goals, there needs to be clarity as to EXACTLY what you are aiming to accomplish. For example, instead of writing: "Improve health," you could write: “Lose weight and exercise consistently.”

Measurable: Once we have a specific goal, we can now make sure that it is measurable. So we could take the last goal and modify it: "Lose 10 pounds of body fat and exercise four days per week.”

Attainable: There is a level of subjectivity to this criteria. What you may think is attainable, others may say is not. So it is best to go with your heart with this and review the section “How to Set and Believe in Big Goals.” In using the foregoing example, the goal of losing 10 pounds in a given period of time. May seem like a stretch to you. On the other hand, it may seem to be too easy. So at this point, you could modify the goal to be sure that it is attainable, while still causing you to stretch and grow.

Relevant: This could very possibly be the most overlooked criteria when it comes to goal-setting. Sometimes people set goals – weight loss especially – that they don't really care that much about. It isn’t really that important to them because there is nothing else in their lives that is weighing (no pun intended) on it with any level of importance. So you may be excited about losing 10 pounds because you would look and feel better. However, that may not be great enough motivation when it gets challenging for you to stick to your nutrition or training plan. However, if you have a beach vacation plan with your significant other, it would have a greater level of relevance to you. Or if you have a bet with a friend, THAT would get you going!

Time Sensitive: The more specific you can be on this, the better. For example, your goal could be to “lose 10 lbs by breakfast time on New Year’s Day (6:00 AM, Thursday, January 1, 2015).” This is more motivating than: “lose 10 lbs this year.” Having a time parameter on your goal also enables you to pair multiple goals together if they have the same deadline. For example, you could have a goal to complete writing a book on “How I Transformed My Body In 12 Weeks” that is tied to the same timeline as your weight loss goal. In addition to this, having time sensitivity helps you in the planning you need to do in order to reach your goals. Planning with the end in mind makes a solid deadline a necessity.