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How to Set SMART Goals

By Charlie Gilkey on May 3, 2010 15 Comments
Last updated on December 30, 2020

Man wearing a white shirt in an office looking into the distance. Text overlay: How to Set Smart Goals

Take a quick look at some of the goals you’ve made for yourself. A goal could be as broad as your bucket list or as narrow as your daily To-Do list. Are you setting yourself up for success with smart goals?

One of the things that trips many of us up is that the way we’re writing our lists and plans isn’t as effective as it could be. I’ve written a good bit about writing effective To-Do lists, but today I’d like to share the SMART framework that I use and help others implement.

Being stuck with an idea that’s not yet a goal keeps you swimming in the ocean of possibility, which is fun for a little while but exhausting over the long term. Converting that idea into a goal gives you a safe shore to swim to.

 

Before I begin, though, I want to be clear that this framework floats around all over the place and different SMART-goal advocates attach different meanings to each letter. The way I use it is focused on creative types — though our challenges aren’t that unique, the way we approach our work often is. So, even if you’ve seen another discussion of making SMART goals, there might be something here to think about.

SMART is an acronym that helps you evaluate whether your goals or action items have enough information in them to actually be useful. Here’s the framework I use:

Thinking about your goals using this framework has two major benefits: 1) it ensures that you’re thinking in a considered way about the commitments you’re making to yourself, and 2) it helps you express your goals in a way that makes it more likely that you’ll complete them.

I’ll discuss each component in turn.

Is Your Goal Simple?

A goal is simple when you can look at it without wondering. You shouldn’t have to look up something else to understand its meaning.

Simple doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy, but simply stated goals help you look at a list and know exactly what you need to do. If you look at a goal and have to think about what you need to do to count that goal as done, your goal isn’t simple.

When we set a complicated goal for the future, it may be difficult to hold on to its meaning over time. A complicated goal made when we’re in the zone may be harder to understand when we’re not — the last thing we want to do first thing in the morning is struggle to figure out what we’re supposed to be doing, and knowing that we’re retreading ground we’ve already trod makes it more frustrating. Simple goals help set us up for success.

As we’ll see in a moment, simple and actionable are often related: actionable goals tend to be simple. That said, it’s entirely possible and normal to have a goal that’s simple but not actionable, or a goal that’s actionable but not simple.

Is Your Goal Meaningful?

A smart goal is meaningful when you can look at it and quickly understand the importance of completing that goal.

What often trips people up is that they equate meaning and desire, but that’s an unnecessary relationship: you might not want to do something that’s meaningful, yet it still might be meaningful to do. For instance, you may not want to do your taxes, do the back-to-school shopping for the kids, or help transition your aging parent to assisted living, but these projects have meaning in the broader context of your life.

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Is Your Goal Actionable?

A smart goal is actionable when it’s immediately clear what action needs to be taken to accomplish the goal.

If there’s nothing you can do to bring about your goal, it’s not a goal — it’s a wish. A wish is granted by someone or something other than you and is thus out of your control. You can’t plan for it or work toward it by clearing space on your calendar. I’m all for wish lists; combining wish lists and action lists, not so much.

Making a goal actionable is perhaps the simplest criterion to meet because it’s just a matter of thinking of the actions that will bring about that goal. The simplest way to make a goal actionable is to begin the phrase with a verb. Instead of “Chapter 1,” phrase the goal as“Write Chapter 1.”

Is Your Goal Realistic?

A smart goal is realistic when the endpoint is achievable with the resources you have available.

We creative folks have a lot of friction with this one, as we have that peculiar ability to change the world in important ways. To be creative is often to see parts of reality as tentative.

However, just because we can change the way things are doesn’t mean we can do it all at once or do so without regard to the basic constraints of reality. Try as you might, you can’t change the fact that it takes time to do things well or that you need sleep. You also can’t change social reality overnight — or, if you do, it will probably be accidental.

Rather than put your head in the sand and try to deny the way things are, asking whether your goals are realistic helps you figure out ways to make it more likely that you’ll succeed. Identifying drag points — those places and elements where your goal is likely to go sideways — allows you to plan ways to overcome them. Better to beat the dragon you already know is there than pretend as if it’s not there and then be surprised by it.

Realistic goals and trackable goals are often heavily interrelated, especially when the way you track your goals is based on time. An unrealistic goal can often be made realistic and doable by changing your expectation of how long you think it would and should take.

Is Your Goal Trackable?

A smart goal is trackable, quantitatively or qualitatively, when it’s clear what progress means.

Most SMART-goal advocates use the “T” for time-specific, but I prefer to leave it more open. Some goals don’t fit into a temporal framework as easily as others, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t actively do things to bring about those goals.

Consider the broad goal of being a better friend. Setting a goal to become a better friend by June 1st is neither meaningful nor simple. However, it can be a recurring broad goal that you can check in about every once in a while by asking yourself what you’re doing to be a better friend to specific people. Understanding a goals in this way makes plenty of room other kinds of uniquely human activities such as contemplation, intuition, mindfulness, and unstructured learning in ways that setting rigid time frames can unhelpfully constrain.

Most goals are best formulated with time specificity: assigning a time line to a goal can help us identify the simple actions we can take to bring about that goal at the same time that it makes the goal feel more real.

Keep Things at the Appropriate Level of Perspective

Throughout this post, I’ve used goals at different levels of perspective to illustrate that items at different levels might have different presentations. Though this is obvious, many people start wheel-spinning precisely because they’ve made a list that has items at different levels of perspective and it’s blurring the clarity they might otherwise have.

Take a daily To-Do list, for instance. On such a list, you don’t necessarily have to have a time specified for each item if every item needs to be done today — it’s implied from its being a daily To-Do list. However, what many people do is place a bunch of items that don’t need to be done today on that list, and because it’s not clear what’s what, every time they look at the list, they have to evaluate whether that thing actually needs to be done today.

Even worse is when they put projects on a daily task list, because then they’re trying to evaluate each related task of that project at the same time that they’re scanning the rest of the list. That’s a lot of mental gears turning just to see what you need to be doing right now.

If you’ve ever wondered why I have a place for Projects and Tasks on the planners, now you know why. By separating the different levels of perspective, you can have some clarity for each one, as well as having some idea of why those tasks are important; in that sense, the SMART framework is baked right into the design of the planners.

I mention lists and levels of perspective here because many of us look at goals in the context of plans and lists rather than one at a time, or in other cases, as soon as we start thinking about a given goal, we start thinking about the lower-level actions required to complete it or the higher-level domains that give that particular goal a context. So, for many of us, asking whether our goals are SMART is effectively asking us whether our lists are SMART, too.

The next time you’re planning, ask yourself two questions:

  1. Are these goals or action items SMART?
  2. Would this process be easier if the items were split out and grouped according to the appropriate level of perspective required to process them?

To learn how to measure the success of your SMART goals, dive into Chapter 4 of Start Finishing. We cover this, and how to choose the people to surround you as you move forward towards your goal.

SMART is an acronym that helps you evaluate whether your goals are concrete enough to be useful. Are you setting yourself up for success with smart goals? https://productiveflourishing.com/smart-goals/ #productiveflourishing #goals #smartgoals #productivity #timemanagement

PRODUCTIVE FLOURISHING

Learn how to set goals that are SMART - simple, meaningful, actionable, realistic, and trackable. SMART goals are essential to moving forward as an entrepreneur and small business. #smartgoals #goalsetting #productiveflourishing #entrepreneurs
Are you setting SMART goals in your business? How to set and achieve goals as a creative entrepreneur to see results in your business. #smartgoals #productiveflourishing #smallbusiness #goalsetting #entrepreneurs
If you're new to goal setting for your business - start with SMART goals. Learn what they are and how to set and achieve them for your small business. #productiveflourishing #goalsetting #goals #smartgoals #entrepreneurs
Click here to learn about SMART, an acronym that helps you evaluate whether your business goals or action items have enough information in them to actually be useful. A goal could be as broad as your bucket list or as narrow as your entrepreneur daily To-Do list. Are you setting yourself up for business success with smart goals? #goalsetting #businessplanning #productiveflourishing
Click here to find out about SMART, an acronym that helps you evaluate whether your business goals or action items have enough information in them to actually be useful. A goal could be as broad as your bucket list or as narrow as your entrepreneur daily To-Do list. Are you setting yourself up for business success with smart goals? #goalsetting #businessplanning #productiveflourishing
Find out about SMART, an acronym that helps you evaluate whether your business goals or action items have enough information in them to actually be useful. A goal could be as broad as your bucket list or as narrow as your entrepreneur daily To-Do list. Are you setting yourself up for business success with smart goals? #goalsetting #businessplanning #productiveflourishing
Learn about SMART, an acronym that helps you evaluate whether your business goals or action items have enough information in them to actually be useful. A goal could be as broad as your bucket list or as narrow as your entrepreneur daily To-Do list. Are you setting yourself up for business success with smart goals? #goalsetting #businessplanning #productiveflourishing

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brooke says

    May 3, 2010 at 5:01 pm

    What a timely post or me — thanks. I’ve been working on new marketing materials to expand my small business, and every time I think I’ve broken down the tasks into something manageable, I get to the “I don’t know where to start!!” phase — which clearly indicates, to me, that my tasks are still too big, and I need to regroup into smaller portions.

    Unfortunately, this leaves me disappointed, in the end, because I don’t have the creative energy to accomplish as much as I’d thought over the coming months, because I didn’t realize my projects were so big. I have to remind myself, though, that a project done slap-shod the first time will inevitably have to be redone in the future!

    Right, off to break down my task list for the week… 🙂

    Reply
  2. Thekla Richter says

    May 3, 2010 at 11:23 pm

    Charlie, I really like your spin on the SMART acronym… especially including “meaningful” instead of the more usual “measurable.” It’s so easy to get caught up in how to make a goal achievable without stopping to think for a minute about whether it’s actually the right goal for you.

    Reply
  3. Vanessa says

    May 4, 2010 at 5:37 am

    Charlie- What an excellent, excellent post. Far too often people rush into goal attainment without a plan. This is a terrific roadmap for them to follow. Just as often, people will start to attain some goal and not think about what happens AFTER they achieve it…is it SUSTAINABLE? I’m a professional organizer and on my site at http://GetSimplifized.com I address attaining goals from an organizational perspective but also try to ensure I hit the sustainability piece too. Kinda like mountain climbing…”OK, I got to the top…now what?” Thanks Charlie, I look forward to every new post in my Google Reader!

    Reply
  4. Srinivas Rao says

    May 4, 2010 at 10:03 am

    Thanks for sharing this Charlie. I’ve found that having goals that are measurable and can be tracked is really essential to making progress. I think your point about being realistic is also an important one. While we want to reach for the stars when it comes to our goals, if we set the bar so high that it seems impossible, we’ll lose motivation to go for the goal. My personal example would be growing subscribers to my blog. To make a jump from 600-10000 while it might be nice, might end up being so far away that I’d give up. But 1000 is not that far off, so I think breaking up the goal of 10,000 into mini goals is another way to make progress and measure it.

    Reply
  5. Karl Staib - Work Happy Now says

    May 4, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    I need to do a better job of tracking my progress. I have goals that I accomplish then just cross them off my list and move on to the next item. There needs to be more accountability in my goals.

    I’ve recently implemented a monthly review to track my progress and this has helped me stay more focused. As I build on this habit I’m beginning to see many holes in my productivity. It hurts, but it’s a much needed system.

    Reply
  6. Megan Zuniga says

    May 5, 2010 at 4:19 am

    Good job! It’s a great and detailed post. And it’s applicable to any goals you wish to set up. Not just daily to-do lists or life goals. But for business people as well when setting up business plans, marketing campaigns. It’s the standard framework for every little thing we do. Even if we don’t write it down. We can do this mentally. Like say, you wish to lose 10 lbs in a month. Or even if you just want a new habit. Simply thinking about the SMARTs in your goal can help you tremendously.
    Although you’re probably right about creativity and reality rarely exist together as reality sets the limitations for creativity. Of course, there are ways around it. Now, the important thing after setting goals is to have the drive/vision to see it through.

    Reply
  7. Liz Curry says

    May 5, 2010 at 9:21 am

    This was a great article in The Globe that I caught while visiting Montreal from VT:
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/managing/morning-manager/forget-smart-goals-go-for-the-hard-ones/article1546926/

    “Forget SMART goals; go for the HARD ones.” by Harvey Schachter

    Check it out!

    Reply
  8. Archan Mehta says

    May 8, 2010 at 7:42 am

    Charlie,

    I enjoyed reading this post about SMART goals. You arguments and opinions are well-intentioned and appreciated. Thanks.

    However, there are plenty of people out there–exceptions to this rule–who have done well even without such complicated formulas, instruments and techniques.

    For example, I have to write things down and maintain a to-do list. By contrast, I know a few people who can keep track of things inside their own minds. They remember and take it one step at a time.

    One elderly gentleman I know even berated me for SMART goals, because he processes information differently and acts on it at his own time and pace–on his own terms and conditions.

    Such old-timers, me thinks, were raised in a different time zone. Back in the old days, they didn’t have the fancy tools and techniques you have come up with. And they have done just fine with their lives.

    (Just something to think about, that’s all…)

    For example, I know several people who can expertly calculate complicated mathematical formula and equations inside their own heads without the use of fancy gadgets, such as calculators, computers, etc.

    In short, your post may be useful to a lot of people out there, me included, but not for everybody out there. Cheers!

    Reply
  9. Amanda says

    May 11, 2010 at 5:07 am

    SMART goals were an integral part of teaching when I was a full-time teacher. M for measurable was essential. I much prefer your take on it with M for meaningful.

    Reply
  10. Farnoosh says

    May 25, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    Corporations use the SMART goal technique to help their employees set the right goals but it seems so much more motivating for me to apply it to my personal goals. Thank you for the clear explanations!!!!

    Reply

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