SMART Goals

I recently facilitated a class on SMART Goals at the Life Learning Center (my favorite place to volunteer).  I love to see people add this skill to their lives.

My informal survey says that goal setting is not common in our personal lives.  That both surprises and saddens me.  Goal setting in the corporate world was a fact of life.  That’s probably a key reason why it comes so naturally for me now.  I believe we should set goals to support our growth of mind, body, heart and soul. It should address our careers, families, ourselves and more.

The image at the top of this blog provides my context for goal setting.  It implies that goals should flow from our life purpose and that our daily tasks should flow from our goals.  A life lived with this in mind can very enriching and purposeful.

By the way, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based (but I have seen alternate but close words).  These descriptors help us evaluate and improve our goal statements.  A great article on setting SMART goals is at this link.  I hope you take 5 minutes to read it.

“A goal without a plan is just a dream.”  Capture your goals on paper, share them with someone important to you, review and modify them from time-to-time.  Work on one important task related to your goals each day then watch your future come alive.