Set and achieve goals with SMART

Whether you can reach your goal sooner depends on whether you describe it precisely and examine its compatibility with your life. Here you will discover with concrete examples how it works in a simple and systematic way.

Do you know the difference between a wish and a goal? A wish is a soap bubble: beautiful to look at, floating, dreamlike, but difficult to grasp. These things explode as soon as you touch them.

A goal is more like a golf ball: hard, focused, tangible. And you can tackle it and then pierce it. Bam!

You can see: with the soap bubble you won’t get very far. If you want to achieve a goal, you need the golf ball! This is easy to do with the SMART framework.

Examine and formulate your goal according to these 5 aspects.

S for Specific: Describe your goal precisely.

Do you want more orders? Would you like to look good in a bikini? Would you like to become self-employed? Here you are clearly still in the realm of dreams. Without complete clarity on the nature and scope of your goal, you will always find a reason to postpone implementation. Because you don’t yet concretely see the goal in front of you.

So ask yourself first: what exactly do you want to achieve? What should the result be? Do you want more orders of a certain type to increase your sales by 20%? Want to fit in your favorite pair of jeans? And are you planning to start your own coaching business?

This is much more precise, now you can better see the result in front of you. So it’s best to start… complete clarity on the nature of your goal supply.

M for measurable: These numbers tell you that you have achieved your goal.

If you want to know when you’ve really reached your goal, you need concrete numbers with which you can determine it. So ask yourself, for example, how many additional orders you need to reach your sales goal. And how much each order must bring. Exactly how many kilos separate you from your favorite trousers? And after how many first clients can you say with a clear conscience that your coaching business has started successfully?

Then make your goal measurable with these questions:

• How many (customers do you need)?
• How much more (orders, sales)?
• How much less (pounds on the scale)?

If you feel like your goal has no numbers in it, you should look deeper because a goal without measurable numbers is not specific enough. And because in this case you will not be able to set intermediate goals or measurable milestones along the way.

A for attractive: how attractive does your target seem to you?

That’s all Why to find out behind your goal. This is where your true motivation lies: to invest energy and other resources into this goal. You need this motivation to reach your goal too, because getting there usually takes time and is sometimes arduous.

With a powerful, effective because Once you reach your goal, you can overcome the dry spells and motivate yourself every day to stick to it. So put it like this:

• “I process 8 additional type orders
• «I’m achieving my bikini body by losing 10 pounds, so I can wear my favorite clothes again and feel attractive on beach vacation.»
• “I’m starting my own coaching business with my first 5 clients to build a self-determined life with financial freedom.”

It looks really appetizing. In one phrase phrased in a positive way packaged, you can immortalize your goal as a motto, for example on your desktop or noticeboard, so you can see it in front of you every day. This is a simple way to support your motivation so that you can reliably spring into action.

A for reachable: What do your resources look like?

In my SMART framework there is a second A (from the English version). Reachable = reachable. Think carefully about what your goal requires of you so you can achieve it. It’s about your resources:

• Time
• Energy
• Money
• Know
• Self-discipline
• Health

What do you have to distribute here? And where do you possibly need to renovate? If your capacity is already at 100%, you will hardly be able to fit 8 new orders into your daily workload. Unless you get rid of the less good customers and focus on marketing your more profitable offerings. If you have no start-up capital or little prior knowledge, your first consideration before becoming self-employed should be where you can get it. Or whether you should invest some money in courses to improve your knowledge.

Then check your destination here, if your resources are enough for this. And which ones you might need to rearrange.

R for realistic: Are you willing to pay for your goal?

You are not alone in the world: your partner, your boss, your children, colleagues, the tax office and the nursery with their opening hours can hinder your goal with their often justified or pressing demands.

And you also have an idea of ​​how you live with your environment. Then check which obstacles may contradict your goal. And what the solution might look like.

• Less time with the partner or different distribution of care work
• Discussion with your boss or colleagues if you want to increase your independence with a part-time job. Or do you prefer to cancel immediately?
• Less MeTime for you or just relax while doing sports instead of on the couch
• Less revenue in the startup or loan application phase
• Cooking an extra diet for yourself or accustoming the family to different foods

These are: Are you willing to pay the bill or do you have a plan B?reconcile your goal with your environment and your current life? You should also check this before committing to your goal.

T for scheduled: when do you want to arrive at your destination?

Have you ever thought about learning Spanish, cleaning out your garage or reorganizing your marketing sometime? I bet it hasn’t happened yet, because a true achievement worthy of the name needs a deadline. And only you can give it to him.

So make your project binding and give it a deadline:

• “I am fulfilling 8 additional XY orders for 20% more sales than 2022 by the end of next year”
• “I will achieve my bikini body by losing 5kg before the June holidays.”
• “I am starting my coaching business with the first 5 clients I have by March 31, 2022.”

Once you know the deadline, you can divide your goal into intermediate goals (milestones). By when will you have the first 2 orders, the first kilo, the first customer?

How do you make sure you reach your goal?

Congratulations, you now know exactly when you have achieved your goal and what it will look like. You have made a binding decision to carry out your plan and succeed. However, that goal is broad and seems confusing. Despite all your motivation and determination, this may seem intimidating or scary.

What are you missing now: A first concrete step to start from. He has to do it

• crystalline formula,
• not too extensive,
• easy to implement,
• but don’t be boring.

And he must do it bring a concrete resultthat shows you the next step or makes it possible. Trivial things like «I’ll plan first…» don’t apply. Because he doesn’t even tell you that what exactly needs to be done. Better:

• “I check to see if profitable offer XY is prominently displayed or advertised on my website. And I make sure it isn’t here yet.”
• “I choose my personal sweet spot (like a sweet breakfast) and find a low-calorie substitute.”
• “I find out where my potential customers are and start my acquisition there.”