It’s true that human nature is based on goal setting and achievement.
Goals form part of all aspects of life including how we act in relationships, what to achieve at work and how to use your spare time. Without goals or objective setting, life becomes less clear due to the series of events that can’t be controlled. In order to complete your goals, you need clarity on them and the willpower to get them done.
Why the SMART goals method matters
SMART goal setting normally provides structure and accountability into one’s goals and objectives. People should avoid vague resolutions and focus on SMART goal setting because it creates verifiable trajectories based on a certain objective and goal attainability.
With a SMART goal checklist, it’s very easy to evaluate your objectives. Generally, SMART goals setting creates transparency through clarifying how different goals came into existence and their criteria for realization.
How to use the SMART goals method
To set a SMART goal, you must conform to the following criteria:
Specific – This revolves around what one wants to achieve. You need to have a specific description of what you exactly want for instance saying want to make $ 50,000 every month by creating a software product”.
Measurable – This means what you’ll exactly feel, see, and hear when you reach your goals. It’s simply breaking down your goals into measurable elements whereby you need concrete evidence. Being happy isn’t a concrete evidence but stopping the habit of smoking to adopt a healthy lifestyle by eating vegetables and fruits once a week is.
Attainable – This means looking at whether the set goal is acceptable to you. Here, you must weigh the effort, costs involved and time needed against what you’ll get in return for instance profits among other priorities and obligations in life. In case you lack time, money and other resources to reach a particular goal, then failing is very possible.
Relevant – Is there any relevance in reaching your goals? Do you want to be famous, a busy job, to have four kids and also run a multinational? If you lack certain skills to perform a particular task, then you can plan to have training. If you lack some resources, you can find ways of getting them. The main questions to ask here revolve around, why you want to reach the goal, the objective behind the goal, and whether the goal will really achieve that.
Time-bound – You need to make a tentative plan for everything you do. This is because deadlines are what makes people switch actions. Just install deadlines and go after them strictly. Also keep the timeline flexible and realistic, to keep morale high.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SMART Goals
Advantages of the SMART goal method
- They aren’t vague in nature. With vague goals, you won’t be on the right track. Having specific goals will help you focus on whatever you want to achieve. Additionally, this will also assist you in making modifications all along even after you attain your goals.
- Incorporation of multiple plans. You can incorporate multiple activities into a single goal. For instance, when you want to know how to ride a bike, you need the necessary equipment (knee and shoulder padding, a helmet) and also a fitness tracker to track your goals. This translates to multiple tasks coming together.
- Ease of identifying missed targets. You can quickly identify the status of a certain goal. It also becomes easier to recognize who needs assistance and who performs well in the long run. In case you missed a step during the process, you can easily map and identify the step if you have a specific goal.
- Easy to visualize how success looks like. You can easily monitor progress by gauging and evaluating how you perform. This makes it easier to predict the long run results and how they are in the end.
Disadvantages of the SMART goal setting
- Achievement addiction. This means solely focusing on attaining certain goals and ignoring other life aspects like health, spirituality and social relations. This generally leads to isolation and cutting off ties from people.
- Spiritual starvation. While focusing on achieving certain goals, you’ll constantly work under pressure which results in loss of value and purpose in life. This is a form of spiritual starvation.
- Goal setting failure. When you’re used to repeatedly achieving a certain goal, and fail to achieve it once due to certain circumstances, then you might even feel depressed. It can also cause a substantial drop of self-confidence which makes one have a feeling of being useless.
- Goal setting idolatry. This means setting goals for the sake of having goals even in activities that don’t match the task at hand. Some of these activities have negative impacts on the social status of people.
In conclusion, regardless of whether you want to set team or personal goals, you must understand the process of how to set goals.