For example, putting onto paper your goal of lose weight – such as “I want to lose my weight by Christmas” – would be described as a basic non-descriptive and non-committing goal. To be like the Harvard graduates you want to emulate – the 3% who achieved the greatest result because of the detail behind their goal setting – you need to create S.M.A.R.T goals, which are more specific and provide detail about how you will achieve the goal.
So what are S.M.A.R.T goals? These types of goals are:
- Specific. They describe what, who, why and how things will be achieved.
- Measurable. They describe how your goal will be measured.
- Achievable. The goal must be realistic.
- Relevant. The goal must support your ultimate end result.
- Time limited. Create a timeline for each smaller goal including the final due date.
So for a basic goal of “I want to lose my weight by Christmas” written as a S.M.A.R.T goal would change to “I want to lose 1–2 kg per calendar month by controlling my emotional eating and following the three-step process to deal with non-hungry eating at all times of the day. This will work towards a 10–12 kilogram weight loss in a 6-month period.”
You can now download smart-goals-template handout and create your own S.M.A.R.T goals and amend them as you achieve each goal. You can break these goals down to a daily or weekly time frame and as simple and trivial as you find you can manage to create baby steps to achieve. All at your pace.