The Future is Coming, Part II

In my previous blog post, we talked about preparing for the future by setting goals. This initial phase involved reflection, brainstorming, and desire. If you’ve gone through this process, you will have 2 or 3 goals you’d like work on during the next year, and it’s time to move on to the next step.

Once you’ve identified your top goals, it’s time to refine them using the following three criteria.

Specific

Goals should be specific so that you’ve mentally defined what you actually want. If your goal is “start working out,” that is fairly undefined and thus less likely to be done. Is your goal really to “workout 3 times per week” or “train to run a marathon” or “fit into a smaller shirt size?” Take time to think more specifically about what you are trying to achieve.

Measurable

Goals should be measurable so that you can tell that you are making progress. The measurement can be cumulative, building a new habit, or single-instance. For this criteria, you want to focus on the end result and ask yourself how you will measure that you’ve accomplished the goal. Single instance goals are easy to measure, but for cumulative and habit-forming goals, you’ll want to consider incremental milestones related to demonstrating overall progress (for example, if your goal is to run 600 miles in the year, your monthly measurement may be 50 miles).

Attainable

Attainability is key to achievement. You don’t want your goals to be a “gimme,” but you also don’t want them to be completely out of reach. Evaluate the refinements you made with respect to addressing specificity and measurability, and honestly assess whether you can fit each goal into your life. If the goal doesn’t work but is still your desire and thus worth striving for, evaluate how you can change the goal so that it will be attainable for you.

If you already have goals you are working on, evaluate whether they are Specific, Measurable, and Attainable. If they aren’t, work on revising them until they are!