Goal setting

Goal Setting

Every individual have some or the other goals in their life. These goals may be small or big. Have you ever thought how far you are successful to achieve these goals?  Goal making is not just important but what are the criteria based on which you make the goal and how much you stick to achieve these goals is much more important. Many people fail with their goal achievement, because they hope that simply setting a goal is enough and once you have set a goal, the rest will magically happen without any action or any change.

To quote renowned American philanthropist Elbert Hubbard:

"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal."

Just having a goal is not important. You should have smart goals. What are SMART goals….? The SMART in smart goals is an acrostic to help people remember the important points that make personal goal setting effective. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Every goal that you make should be smart. Let us look each of these terms in detail.

·         Specific: The goals that you make should be specific and not vague. They should be clear. A goal is specific when it give clear answers to questions like when, where, what, who, which and why. When your goal is specific, you know how to proceed and you are clear about what are the challenges that would come in your way to reach the goal. Your goal should not be general. It should be specific, significant and well-defined. For e.g.  if you have a goal of buying a new vehicle then you should be clear what are your requirements in buying the vehicle, why you want to buy the vehicle, what is your budget in buying the vehicle etc.

·         Measurable: The goals that you make should be measurable. When you set a goal see to it that they answer the questions like how much, how many etc. The term stresses the need of concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of the goal. If the goal is not measurable then you may not know how much progress has you made to achieve your goal.

·         Attainable: When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals. There is meaning to keep goals only if it is attainable.

·         Realistic: A goal is realistic if it represents an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. The goal should be within the availability of resources, knowledge and time. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. In order to check whether the goal is realistic ask a question to yourself that what conditions need to exist to achieve the goal.

·      Time-Bound: Every goal should be time bound and should be achieved in the time limit that you give. If you have a time-frame then the achievement of goal will be easier for you. Set a very clear date of achieving your goal. Only then will you be pressurized and will be motivated to work hard towards its achievement. Also when you keep a time frame it should be neither too long nor too short. This is because if the time is too long then your performance will deteriorate with time as you will lose interest with more time. If the time allotted is too short then you won’t be able to achieve the goal and this would further add to your frustration.