Becoming SMART with your Goals

How many of you struggle following through with a goal or a plan that you created? Well, your girl is definitely a victim of letting great ideas go into my great idea box. There are many reasons that goals may never come to light, but today I am here to give your practical steps to help achieve your goals. The first step is having a goal in mind. This may seem obvious, but sometimes you may not know what you would like the ultimate goal to be. I’ll use me for example, I know I want to leave a legacy for my family, but that is a pretty broad goal. I now have to consider how I can achieve that goal. I know that God has placed many talents and desires inside of me just waiting to be brought to light. This is where I would start to make a list of potential goals that I would like to achieve. A great way to obtain a list of goals is by starting with something you are passionate about. Now that you have made a list of potential goals it is a great way to choose a specific goal to go after. Something that I noticed when I made my list was that all my passions were different, but could be meshed together later on in life. So I decided that I wanted to master one goal at a time and when I have learned the ins and out's of that goal I can move on to the next goal and eventually mesh those goals together. Once I picked which goal that I wanted to work on I had to figure out the steps it would take to get there. That is where the SMART goal comes into play. A SMART Goal is a great tool to have to stay on track.

SMART Goal stands for:

1. Specific: Make sure your goal is clearly defined

2. Measurable: your goal is quantifiable to track progress or success

3. Attainable: Set challenging, but attainable goals

4. Realistic: Make goals that are related to your life plan

5. Time: Make sure to set a deadline to finish your goals

Now that you have created your SMART Goal it is time to work backward. This may seem strange to work from back to front but this method works because you will have a timeline to follow while working towards your goals. One of the main reasons people never follow through with their goals is because they have no clear vision of what they are working towards. Working backward allows you to have something to visually work towards and once you completed that milestone you can check that mini-goal off the list. It can be rewarding to see another task marked off your list. It gives you a chance to know that all this hard work you put in is pushing you one step closer to your goal.

Okay, the foundation is laid, what next? This is the time you put all that goal-setting work into action. Creating a goal is just as important as putting your goals into action. Now, this where you take the time to figure out what you will need. Taking inventory is an eye-opening experience. Many times we dwell on what we don’t have and not on what resources that we currently have. Right now you are just starting, you do not need the latest gear to reach your goals all you need is yourself and your imagination. So go look around and see what you have laying around in your house. I bet you had plenty of resources to help kickstart your goal.

Now that you have done your research and took inventory the only thing left to do is to get started. This is where most people get stuck because this is the time where you have to take that mental jump to go forth with your goal. At this point, you are the only one holding yourself back. Trust me if you followed these steps you are more than prepared to take that next step. It just takes you letting go of fear and embracing the unknown. If you don’t start then you’ll never be able to witness your goal being accomplished. Failure is okay, this is something new that you’re trying. Like the great prophet, Aaliyah said "just dust yourself off and try again." Take those losses and turn them into lessons.