one of the most recommended way of setting goals is to make them SMART Goals.
SMART Goals means
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time bound
Let us consider a very common goal many people set, mostly at the beginning of the year.
“I want to reduce 10 kg of my body weight this year”.
Is it not a SMART Goal? Let us take it through the SMART Goals measures.
S – Specific (Yes it is specific. It is 10 kg in an year)
M – Measurable (Yes it is measurable. I can weigh the body weight at regular intervals to see the progress and measure)
A – Achievable (Yes. So many people have reduced much more weight in lesser period. So it is for sure, achievable)
R – Realistic (Yes, it is very realistic goal. It is just 10 kg in a full year time. It can be achieved easily)
T – Time Bound (Yes, It is really time bound. I have to achieve it by the end of this year)
But what really happens to this type of goals most of the times. Even though, it is a well-defined SMART Goal, many of the time I have experienced, it miserably fails. I have seen many people giving up the goal after a short span of time. The biggest problem here is, even though you start with full energy and make some good progress in the initial days, if you derail from your track on the goal, it is highly difficult to come back to the track.
How to overcome this challenge with the SMART Goals. My recommendation is, instead of SMART, set SMARTEST Goals, which has much higher success probability.
Let me explain what is SMARTEST Goal. SMART remains the same.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time Bound
E – Exciting, Empowering, Emotionally Attached
S – Short Enough
T – Tenacious
Let me elaborate it little more.
E – Exciting/Empowering/Emotionally Connected
Is this goal Exciting for you? When thinking about the Goal how do you feel? Is it giving you more energy or the thought about the goal drains your energy? Is the Goal Empowering you?. If the answer is NO, then mostly you are setting this goal for failure.
How much emotionally you are connected to the goal? Is there a burning desire in you to achieve this goal or is it because of the external pressure you are setting this goal?
S- Short Enough
Is the goal short enough to achieve? Many of the times the problem is we set big goals and looking at the slow progress, we give up. Never look at the big goals if we really want to achieve them. Break it down to smaller chunks and target only that. If your goal is to reduce 10 kg body weight, then break it down to probably 1 Kg per month and fully focus only on this shorter goal at any time.
T – Tenacious
Do you have the tenacity to consistently work on the goal? Many a times we are good in starting phase, but slowly will lose the momentum and will give up. Before setting the goal ask this question “Do I have the tenacity/determination to be consistent in taking actions on meeting my goal”. What are the plans to get back to track if you derail due to any unforeseen situations? If you are not ready with these, don’t set that goal. That is going to fail and you will end up adding one more failure to your goal list, which slowly creates a pattern, and you start believing that you are not good in achieving your goals.
SMART is positive, SMARTER is comparatively better than something and SMARTEST is the best. Then why to go for SMART Goals when you can set SMARTEST Goals.
“Set SMARTEST Goals and achieve them and be the BEST version of Yourself “