Blogmas Day 16: How to Create SMART Goals

Welcome to another blogmas post! Today I’m doing another slightly different post for me. Today I’m sharing how to create SMART goals. You may be sat there wondering what that means but I will get to that soon. I love to set goals in all aspects of my life. However, setting SMART goals is something I always do for career aspirations, and my university life. Let’s get to it!

Why SMART Goals?

Firstly, I think it’s good to address why you would use SMART goals. SMART goals are brilliant goals to use for a variety of reasons. I find that these goals are more achievable due to the way they are structured. They also can push you further and give a sense of direction, especially when breaking the goals down into smaller steps. I find them very motivating to use!

What are SMART Goals?

SMART goals are based on following this acronym

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Relevant

T – Time-bound

Let’s go through each of these in turn to help you understand how to set SMART goals.

How To Create These Goals

Specific

A specific goal is clear and unambiguous, so you know exactly what you’re working toward. A good way to think about this step is asking the five W’s.

• Who – Who is this goal for? Who is involved?
• What? – What is the goal? What are you looking to accomplish with this goal?
• Where – Where is this goal located?
• When – When would you like to achieve this goal? How long will it take?
• Why – Why do you want to achieve this goal? Why is it important to achieve?

Measurable

A measurable goal means you can track your progress and know when you’ve achieved it. Create small steps within the goal, essentially a goal within a goal to create, to make the overall goal measurable.

Achievable

Your goal should be realistic. Whilst it can be nice to set goals that are big, the disappointment when you don’t achieve it is not nice to experience. If you want to create a big goal, like I mentioned in the measurable section previously, try making smaller goals or goals within a goal.

Relevant

This seems like a fairly obvious thing to say but make sure your goal is relevant to you and your needs. It needs to align with your values, your life and your aspirations. Setting a goal that isn’t relevant to you will make you less motivated to want to achieve it.

Time-Bound

Every goal should have an endpoint or deadline. Without a timeframe in mind, there’s a chance of procrastination. A deadline creates a sense of urgency and helps you stay committed to achieving your goal!

And that’s it! I hope this post was useful to you and gave you some guidance for future goal-setting. As always, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read this post and I will see you tomorrow for another one!

Beth