SMART Goals – Clearly Define Your Objectives

Do you have any goals? How do you set your goals? Any important part of being successful in life is to set goals. Without them, you may find yourself wandering back and forth between a project or task with no clear direction.

Goals can come in all different forms and not all of them are positive. Just because you create a list of objectives you want to achieve, does not mean that they will help you get to where you want to be. For example if you want to lose weight, saying “I want to be skinnier” does not really give you any guidance into obtaining that goal.

So how can we set goals that will actually help us? Establishing SMART Goals is one strategy that can help you design a set of guidelines that give clear direction. If you are interested in learning more about smart goal setting, I urge you to keep reading. There are 5 key attributes that make up a SMART goal that are defined below.

SMART Goal Setting

Specific – Any goal that you set should be a clear statement that describes what you plan to accomplish and defines an outcome. The goal should also state why this is important to you and how you plan to achieve it. Setting vague and unclear goals will not give you clear direction and will make it hard for you to meet your objectives.

Tip - Try answering Why?, What?, and How? in order to have a Specific goal. It is important to use action words in your smart goal setting such as – “Lead a project …”, “Manage a group of employees …”, “Create new revenue streams …”, etc.

Measurable – A successful goal needs to be quantified or “measured” in order to let you know if you have succeeded. If a goal can’t be measured, then how will you know if you have met it? Be sure to establish criteria that can be used to achieve a desired result.

Tip - Measurable goals should include attributes like quantity, quality, and cost. It may also benefit you to break down your goals into smaller shorter term measurements or milestones. This will help to keep you focused and on track.

Attainable – Is your goal achievable in the amount of time that you define? Setting a goal that is too far out of your reach because of lack of resources and time will probably not be attainable. It is very important not to over commit yourself if you know a goal will be hard to reach. If you continually set goals that you cannot attain, it may do yourself more harm than good. Having a sense of accomplishment from meeting a goal is a huge motivator.

Tip - Try taking a larger goal and breaking it down into smaller parts that may be more attainable. For example, instead of saying – “I plan to lose 50 lbs. by the end of next year”, try saying “I plan to lose 5 lbs. this month”. Once you have hit that achievable goal, set another one that is attainable.

Relevant – Creating goals that are not realistic or relevant to you are worthless. This doesn’t mean that you can’t think big and set a goal to reach your dreams. As long as you “believe” you can achieve something, then it is a realistic goal. It is only when you don’t believe in yourself that the goal becomes unrealistic.

Tip - Decide if you have the time, money, skills, and resources available to achieve your goal. If you don’t, then think about how you can get these resources to make your goal more realistic and achievable.

Timely – Every SMART goal should include a reference to time. Without this attribute, you may not meet your goal as you have not defined when it needs to be accomplished by. Having a set deadline to your goal will make it clear and give you a target to work from. Having no deadline to a goal will allow you to continuously put it off so that it may never be met.

Tip - Try answering When? you plan to reach your goal by in order for it to be Time Bound. For example, a time frame for a goal could look like – “… in 1 year…”, “… by the end of the third quarter…”, “… before the age of 40…”.

Setting SMART Passive Income Goals

Smart goal setting is often used by businesses to help their employees meet objectives. These objectives not only help the employee with their professional development and career building, but SMART goals can also align with a companies overall objectives and strategies.

SMART goals can also be used by those who run their own business. This can include individuals who create passive income streams. If you can set realistic and attainable goals centered around your passive income building, then you will have a plan and guide to work from which will lead to success.

Be sure to check back for a list of my passive income SMART Goals I will be publishing very soon!

Do you set SMART Goals for your at home business? What about your passive income streams?

Tagged as: goal setting, management by objectives, set your goals, setting goals, smart criteria, smart goal, smart goals setting, strategic planning