It is said that S.M.A.R.T. Goals are good theoretical, but practically they create gaps, which are hard to control. S.M.A.R.T. Goals technique is rather useful since it makes goals somehow connected so that it is much easier to have the whole perspective. Writing my goals using S.M.A.R.T. Goals format took some time although I had definite five main goals: to graduate from the current level of college, pay off all debts, become a personal trainer, establish my own gym or fitness club, and retire from the military. Therefore, I fulfilled the main requirement stating that the goals should be clearly defined. In such a way, I could combine them according to connections so that to find answers to the question “what?”.
The next step was to identify how I can measure my achievements. The final result will be the statement of each goal. However, some goals are short-term while others are long-term. Thus, taking into account the time and the volume of work I need to do in order to achieve my goals, I created a kind of a visual map. With its help, I defined categories and subcategories. For example, the goal to graduate from the current level of college requires attending seminars, preparing essays, and other important things, which are obligatory.
However, this category of goal setting must be measurable and very specific. It is better to use the language of numbers. As a result, I know that in order to achieve my goal, I need to attend five seminars, write three essays, and visit at least two conferences. The following goals, pay off all debts, become a personal trainer, start my own gym or fitness club, are closely connected. To understand which of them is the most important, I looked at them in terms of importance and urgency. If I want to pay off all my debts, it is obviously better to become a personal trainer instead of starting my own gym or fitness club. Then there arouse a question what do I need to do to achieve this. The answer is to pass courses, receive certificate, make cards, and find clients. Achievements in this will be a good start for my future business. However, now I can work on idea, vision, and business plan for my club. As for retirement from the military, every year can be a measurement for it.
Therefore, goals are attainable. All set measures and their subdivisions help to define the optimum for the achievement in the definite period. This helps physiologically to overcome the pressing fear of failure and to understand that it is easier to move with small steps instead of galloping once per week.
Other important thing to understand while using goal setting is that goals need to be realistic. This does not mean that they can be easily achieved; this means there are all necessary resources and means for their achievements. In this case, I have everything I need; what is important is the vision how everything is interconnected.
The last and one of the most important things in goal setting is time. Each goal must be framed in time so that it has the status of presence. However, as it was mentioned above, there are long-term and short-term goals. Depending on the purpose, it is better to divide long-term goals into sub-periods with individual achieving goal measurements.