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Are you thinking of setting a goal for yourself? Kudos to you!
It’s important to note that goals should be concrete. If a goal is vague, you wouldn’t really know what you are striving for, and it would thus be difficult to achieve. For instance, setting a goal to exercise more is a bit nebulous. How will you know when you have accomplished it?
This highlights the importance of setting precise goals.
A commonly taught tool called SMART goals is enormously helpful in doing this. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-connected. Allow me to illustrate using our exercise example once again.
Let’s say you wish to become healthier, and you intend to incorporate exercise into your lifestyle to help do this. Let’s set a SMART exercise goal.
Specific: What type of exercise? Jogging
Measurable: How much do you want to jog? The goal is to jog thirty minutes three times each week.
Achievable: Your goal should stretch and challenge you but not be so difficult that it is overwhelming. I think that, for most people, jogging thirty minutes three times each week is achievable.
Relevant: Your goal should be aligned with your values. If you wish to become healthier, then jogging is definitely in alignment with that.
Time-connected: There has to be a deadline for your goal. For instance, your goal is to be able to jog thirty minutes three times per week within two months.
This is an excellent example of a SMART goal.
The next time you want to improve something about yourself and set a goal, be intelligent about it and set a SMART goal.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and found it informative. If you have and know of anyone else that might benefit, please feel free to share it.