How to Reach Your Goals: Make Them Smart

by Dee Jones

According to one study, over 90% of all New Year’s resolutions fail.

This is something I’d figured out by the time I was eight years old.

Every year, I watched the adults around me say things like:

• “This year, I’m going to eat healthier.”
• “This year, I’m going to really start saving money.”
• “This year, I’m going to the gym three times a week.”

And, every year, I watched those people "fall off the wagon," usually before January was over.

Back then, I figured the best way to make sure you wouldn’t do something was to make it your New Year’s resolution. And that’s probably why I’ve never been big on making resolutions of my own.

These days, I know that goals set on January 1^st aren’t any more likely to fail than goals set at other times of the year. In fact, no matter when you make them, most goals fail for one reason.

They aren’t SMART.

What Is a SMART Goal?

SMART is an acronym that can help you remember the characteristics of a “good” goal.

What’s a good goal?

One you stand a real chance of reaching.

A SMART goal is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-Based

Most of us set goals that aren’t very motivating. We might be enthusiastic about the goal at first, but enthusiasm tends to fade. And your motivation can fade right along with it.

Making your goals SMART will help you stay motivated for the long haul, and drastically increase your chances of succeeding.

How to Make Your Goals SMART

You can make almost any goal SMART. All you need to do is follow a few fast and easy steps.

Step 1: Make Your Goal Specific.

“I’m going to start eating healthier.”

That’s a good idea, but it’s not really a goal. It’s more of a vague, undefined wish. It doesn’t tell you how you’re going to start eating healthier, or for how long. Are you going to stop eating junk food for a week? Two weeks? Forever?

That’s another thing. Saying you’re going to start eating more healthier doesn’t give you a real finish line to shoot for. Well, we can imagine that you want to eat healthy forever. But if you love double cheeseburgers, and you tell yourself you can never have another one for as long as you live, that’s going to be a hard goal to stick to.

A SMART goal is concrete and specific. For example:

 “I’m going to lose 20 pounds by eating healthier.”

That’s a goal with a clear end in sight. You’re going to eat healthier until you have lost 20 pounds. That’s a clear, reachable destination, rather than some vague, nebulous desire.

For various reasons, our brains don’t balk so hard at doing something with an end point. So if you’re subconscious believes you can go back to pigging out on burgers and fries as soon as you’ve lost those 20 pounds, you’re more likely to stick to eating healthy.

And, hopefully, you’ll be used eating healthier by then, and will stick with your new diet.

Step 2: Make Your Goal Measurable

Let’s look at our vague goal again.

“I’m going to start eating healthier.”

Okay, how can you measure that? How will you know when you are halfway there? How will you know when you’re almost finished?

When you give yourself a goal that isn’t measurable, it’s hard to track your progress. And tracking your progress is one of the most effective ways to stay motivated enough to reach a goal and cross the finish line.

Luckily, making a goal more specific usually makes it measurable. For example, if you change, “I’m going to save some money,” to the more specific, “I’m going to save $500,” you’ll always know how close you are to reaching your goal.

And when you reach the halfway point, you’ll start to feel psyched. With the finish line so close, there’s no way you’re stopping now!

Making your goal measurable also means you can set milestones (or celebration points) along the way. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds, you can make every 5 pounds you lose a milestone that you celebrate with some kind of reward. And those milestones (and the rewards) will help pull you towards your ultimate goal.  

Step 3: Make Your Goal Achievable?

Setting a goal to lose 20 pounds in 4 months?

It might be a challenge but it’s not impossible. It’s something you can actually believe, deep down, that you can do.

Setting a goal to lose 20 pounds in one month? Now that’s unrealistic.

When you give yourself a goal that isn’t realistic, you’re setting yourself up for failure. And that has two downsides.

First, if you don’t truly believe you can reach a goal. A small yet powerful voice will be constantly whispering in your ear, “It’s impossible. I can’t do it. It’s a waste of time to even try.”

And those little voices are motivation killers.

Secondly, human beings hate failure. In fact, we like to avoid failing as much as possible.

If you fail to save $500 in 2 weeks (something you’d have to take drastic measures to do) it will be harder to make another attempt to save money later on. You already failed at it, after all, and that’s not something you want to repeat.

It’s better to set a goal that almost seems too easy. Losing 20 pounds in 4 months is pretty realistic. However, if you’re not quite sure you can do it, set a goal to lose 20 pounds in 6 months, or even a year, instead.  

Step 4: Make Your Goal Relevant.

Why do you want to reach your goal? Your reasons can have a huge effect on your motivation.

Why do you want to lose 20 pounds? If you don’t pin down a specific reason, you’ll have a hard time motivating yourself to change your eating habits and shed that extra weight.

But what if you want to lose those 20 pounds because you want to have enough energy to keep up with your kids? Or you want to look great come swimsuit season?

If your goal is connected to something that matters to you, something you really care about, that’s a goal you’re more likely to reach.

5. Make Your Goal Time-Based.

Studies show that you’re more likely to finish a project if you have a deadline, even if that deadline is self-imposed.

If you tell yourself “I’m going to paint my bedroom by March 1^st,” you’re more likely to pick up a brush and start painting.

Maybe it’s that competitive spirit we humans seem to have. When we have a deadline, we are setting up a “win condition.” If we meet the deadline, we “win.”

And who doesn’t like winning?

Just setting a goal to lose 20 pounds is open-ended. Since there’s no concrete finish time, you can start whenever you want.  Unfortunately, when we can start working on something whenever we want, we often never get around to working on it at all.

However, if you decide to lose 20 pounds by May 30^th, you have given yourself a concrete deadline. And a chance to win.  

Having a deadline also allows you to break your goals into chunks that seem less daunting.

If you give yourself 4 months to lose 20 pounds, that equates to losing 5 pounds a month. And losing 5 pounds sounds a lot easier than losing 20.

SMART In Action

So, let’s see if we’ve managed to make our goal SMART.

We started with this goal:

“I’m going to start eating healthier.”

Now, our goal looks more like this:

“I’m going to lose 20 pounds by May 30^th, which is 4 months away. I’ll do it by eating less junk food. When I lose those 20 pounds, I’ll have a lot more energy, and will be able to keep up with my kids.”

Which of those goals actually sounds like something you can do, and not just a vague wish or desire?

Have doubts that rephrasing your goals can increase your chances for success? Well, try it for yourself. Take one of your goals and see if you can make it SMART. Sometimes, that’s enough to make your goals easier to reach.

Do you set SMART goals? Or do you do something else to make your goals more achievable? Leave a comment below and let us know.