Setting (SMART) Goals
I love setting goals for myself. Without them, I wouldn’t accomplish much of anything. In my full time job as the Executive Director of an Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Creativity Center, I have key performance indicators (KPIs) that I set each year. To stay on top of those, I have to check in on them each month and create a plan of action to ensure we’re on the right path.
Psst… want to learn more about why creating that plan is important? Head to my other blog post on goals, here. (Link to increasing likelihood that you’ll reach your goals)
But when it comes to reaching your goals, the first step is making sure that you’re setting the right kinds of goals. That’s where SMART goals come in. You may have already heard about SMART goals. Maybe you’re setting them already. But for those of you who are new to the subject or just need a refresher, here we go…
SMART is an acronym that stands for:
1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Achievable
4. Relevant
5. Time-bound.
Every time you set a goal; you need to make sure that it checks off each of these five boxes.
Specific: By making your goals narrow or specific, you can get more effective in your planning. For example, let’s say you want to launch a creative business. That’s a great place to start but that goal is so vague, it would be hard to put a plan into place to get there. Instead, think about the type of creative business you want to start. What kinds of products/art will you create? Will it be in person or online? Think about how you can get more specific, so you have an easier time mapping out a plan to reach that goal.
Measurable: This is the one that I always see entrepreneurs and creatives skip over but for me, this and time-bound are the two most important letters in the SMART acronym.
Here’s an example of why. Let’s say you want to increase your social media following on Instagram so you write that down as a goal for the month. Great! At the end of the month, you look and see that you gained 100 followers. You achieved your goal! Your accountability buddy wrote down the same goal and they got 2 new followers. Congrats, you both achieved the same goal!
But did you really?
Assigning a number to your goal is a way to both push yourself to accomplish something that feels difficult but obtainable, while being able to track the specific progress that you’re making. So, instead of saying you’ll increase your social follower count, say you’ll increase it by a specific number or percentage.
Attainable: this one may seem easy but it’s a reminder that goals need to be within reach in order to actually reach them. Sometimes we have a tendency to set really big goals that we aren’t able to keep up with. Do that enough and you may give up on them entirely. As you set goals, keep your competing priorities in mind and set something that’s a stretch goal but that you have a shot at reaching.
Relevant: This one is a little easier. Make sure that the goals you’re setting align with your values and long-term objectives. If they don’t, toss them aside. At least for the time being.
Time-bound: Let’s go back to our social media example. You’ve now decided that you’re going to get specific and measurable around your goal by increasing your Instagram follower account by 20%. Awesome! If you end there, you have little motivation to get moving because whether you accomplish that in a week or in two years, you will have met your goal. To make sure you’re pushing yourself to take action, give yourself a short period of time to achieve your goals. My advice is to set monthly goals and break those down into weekly goals. Learn more about how to do that here.
Now it’s your turn. Using this spreadsheet, write three SMART goals that want to achieve by the end of four weeks.