2024 is upon us. Like everyone else I take new year resolutions. Though, they are more like goals for the next year rather than some exotic resolution that you I am sure I will not fulfil.
To be honest I was not so pragmatic always. I have had my shares of new year resolutions I never achieved. Like losing 5 pounds, going for a vacation every 6 months, reading 100 books, not sweating just at the thought of having to speak to a gathering, etc. etc. etc.
But now all my resolutions and goals are SMART. That is, they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. In fact, everything that I decide to do, I try to make it measurable and time bound.
Because I realised that creating list of things to do, setting long-term and short-term goals do not help make much progress towards attaining the goal if the goals are not SMART.
Specific
If your goals are not specific, you will find it difficult to work towards it. For example, you say that you will increase your income this year versus you say you will sign up 3 new clients this year. Which one will be easier to work towards? The latter, of course.
Always set specific targets, so that everything is clear in your mind and it’s not something vague towards which you have to work.
Measurable
You must be able to measure your goal. This will help you at the end to see whether you have achieved what you set out to do. Continuing the previous example, don’t you think it is easier to see if you have signed up 3 new clients rather than checking if you have increased your income.
Trying to find if you have increased your income is such a vague concept. For example, if you increased your income by 10% and there was same increase in inflation rate, all you have managed is factor in the inflation into your income. That’s not really an increase!!
Actionable
You must be able to break down the goal into actionable steps. Basically, you should be able to list out that if I do these 3, 5 or 7 things, you will attain this goal.
Setting goals for which you do not know what needs to be done to achieve them is a sure shot formula for stress, unhappiness and disaster. Maybe your goal could be finding out how that specific thing is done.
Realistic
Are you a fan of the saying think big to achieve big? If you don’t mind taking my advice, you would do well to forget this when you are setting your goals. Of course, you will feel good when you set lofty goals like climbing the Alps or making a million dollars in a year. But what will happen when you find that you are never going to meet your targets?
It is better to be conservative and set goals that are realistic, according to your current abilities and resources. Or maybe what you are confident of managing. You need to build on what you already have to succeed.
Say, you are fascinated by landscape drawings, but haven’t picked up a paintbrush for the past two decades. It will be more prudent to set your goal as starting to paint, rather than painting that awesome sunrise visible from your rooftop.
Time bound
Remember we started this discussion with setting a goal for the new year? The goal that you set must always have a fixed time frame within which you will finish it.
The one example that comes to my mind is the way my self-published my first book on Amazon this October.
I had been planning to self-publish for the past so many years. But at the beginning of 2019 I put it as a goal to self-publish at least one book by the end of the year.
When I took stock of my goals against what I had achieved after 8 months of the Year had gone by, I realised I had done nothing about self-publishing my book, except maybe writing the stories.
Next, I set a date for publishing and started working towards it every day. Even if it was only half an hour. I did not meet my target for the date I has set initially, but I was able to publish a week later.
So always put a date against whatever goal you have. In fact, you should put a date against the steps you need to take to achieve that goal.
Conclusion
I hope I have convinced you sufficiently to set only smart goals. Believe me, it will save lots of heart aches and wasted efforts at the end of the day or the year, whatever your time frame.
What is the goal that you are currently working towards? Is it a smart goal?
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