How To Write Smart Goals? Step-By-Step Guide

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals are known as SMART Goals. This framework is used as a guide to set goals and objectives to attain better productivity and achieve desired targets.   

The SMART framework provides a structural approach to attaining personal or professional goals. These SMART Goals are instrumental in monitoring, strategising, and recording the progress of various operations at an organisational level. In this blog, you will understand everything about SMART Goals, their advantages and drawbacks and tips to achieve these Goals for better productivity. 

Table of Contents 

1) How do SMART Goals work? 

2) SMART Goals: Advantages and Drawbacks 

3) Tips for achieving SMART objectives 

4) Conclusion 

How do SMART Goals work? 

Each one of us understands the importance of setting the right goals. However, setting a goal with a relevant objective can be a challenging and confusing task. SMART Goals help you to address the common challenges faced while developing the goals. The following steps will help you understand how these goals work: 


 

Specific 

S in the acronym SMART stands for Specific. This is the first step to begin with the SMART Goals. Being ‘Specific’ while setting your goals will provide clarity and precision in the process from day one till you achieve the goal. Some of the crucial questions which will help you become more specific while setting your goals are: 

a) What: Answering the ‘what’ refers to the ultimate objective of the goal. For example, losing 10 lbs in a month can be a goal; in this goal, losing 10 lbs answers the ‘what’ question. 

b) Who: The ‘who’ answer helps identify the person, team or organisation that will benefit from these goals. For example, losing 10lbs will help you, so ‘you’ are the ultimate beneficiary of these goals. 

c) When: By answering the ‘when’, you can set a deadline to achieve the goal. This will provide urgency and importance to achieving the goal. For example, ‘in the next one month’ can be the answer to this question. 

d) Where: The ‘where’ question is mainly used by organisations and projects as it is not always relevant to personal goals. By answering this question, organisations can set location-based goals for their product based on local preferences and more. 

e) Why: Answering the ‘why’ will help you identify the core purpose of your goals. This is one of the most important questions to answer before setting up your goals. For example, ‘to maintain well-being or health’ can be a relevant answer to this question based on our weight loss example.  

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Measurable  

Quantifying your goals is an essential step to set SMART Goals. The ‘M’ in SMART stands for Measurable. Setting measurable goals helps in tracking the progress of the goals. This criterion of the framework will enable you to identify when the goals can be considered as achieved.  

In context to the example mentioned above of weight loss, losing 10 lbs is the measurable objective of your goal. To apply this to your framework, you can start by measuring your weight at the beginning of goal setting and track your progress throughout the process. 

Achievable 

The ‘A’ in SMART Goals stands for Achievable goals. While setting goals, you need to make sure that the goal is achievable and practical within the capacity of an individual or organisation. These goals draw a fine line between ambitious targets and achievable targets in a fixed time interval.   

For example, setting goals for weight loss can be challenging due to a busy lifestyle or various other factors. Setting ‘30 minutes every day’ as an achievable goal is more practical and realistic in this case. It is important to keep into account the current commitments and other important activities of your daily routine. 

Relevant 

The word ‘R’ in SMART Goals stands for Relevant. The goals you want to set should be relevant to your life in general. By setting an appropriate goal, you can stay focused and disciplined towards the goal.  

Based on the previous example, you can set a relevant goal by targeting a specific muscle or activity like cardio-vascular muscles or swimming. After understanding the relevance of your goal, you can iterate your practices and exercises to achieve the desired objectives. 

Time-bound 

The ‘T’ in the SMART Goals stands for ‘Time-bound’. This step is often ignored while setting important goals in personal life. Setting time-bound goals will bring urgency to achieve the goal in the desired time. It also prevents you from procrastinating and overthinking about the target goals.  

For example, setting a deadline of one month to lose 10 lbs of weight is very important to give you a clear timeline to begin and end the process.



 

SMART Goals: Advantages and Drawbacks 

Setting goals based on the SMART framework is considered an effective exercise to achieve the desired outcomes. Although this framework has a number of benefits, there are certain limitations of this framework as well. Let’s understand some of the most significant advantages and drawbacks of the SMART framework.   

Advantages 

As mentioned earlier, the SMART Goals are very effective in providing clarity and precision to the process of goal setting and meeting those goals. By following the SMART framework, individuals and organisations can keep track of the process and measure their progress on each step. It also helps in keeping the goals realistic and relevant, which in turn helps in maintaining the focus on the objective.   

Drawbacks 

In order to completely understand any concept or strategy, you need to have a good understanding of its drawbacks. One of the most discussed drawbacks of SMART Goals is its over-emphasis on quantitative progress rather than qualitative progress. The SMART framework is also arguably considered to become irrelevant when it comes to long-term goals.  

Tips for achieving SMART objectives 

Now that you know the process and key components of the SMART Goals framework. Some of the tips to help you achieve the objectives with the SMART framework are as follows: 

Setting small goals  

Start by setting small goals. This will help you maintain the momentum and motivation throughout the process. Setting small goals will make the task manageable and reduce the stress of achieving the bigger goal. While setting these small goals, always remember that these smaller goals should align and add up with the bigger goal. 

Set milestones 

Setting milestones keeps the process more engaging and enables you to time frame your goals. These milestones provide a sense of accomplishment and allow you to take feedback on your progress to adjust if required. Once the milestones are reached, you should celebrate the achievement, and it will add more enthusiasm to work for the ultimate goal. 

Time management 

Managing time is one of the most crucial tips while talking about goal setting. Not everyone has the same schedule or routine, which makes time management an essential aspect of successfully achieving your goals. Setting the right time to work on your objectives will help you work on your progress consistently.   

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Conclusion 

SMART Goals are one of the most trusted strategies for effective goal setting. This framework will help individuals and organisations to keep track of the progress and keep an account of the limiting factors to achieve the goal. We hope that this blog helped you understand the SMART Goals framework and ways to implement it. 

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