"Goal Getters: Unlocking the Power of Setting Targets Tailored to You"

Have you ever set goals but failed to reach them? Who hasn’t?!

In this article, I will talk about SMART goals.

SMART stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time-bound

I learned about this in a course about learning languages (I will mention it at the end of the article), so I decided to apply it to my goals for this year.

The first parameter of SMART goals is "Specific."

You need to break down your goal into specific tasks that you’re trying to accomplish.

For example, one of my goals is to improve my English accent. To do that, I have to work on my listening and speaking skills. So, I decided on these tasks:

1- Listening to an English podcast

2- Shadowing a professional English speaker

3- Reading English out loud

I will be using this example throughout this article to have a clear idea at the end.

The second parameter of SMART goals is "Measurable."

You want to put a number on each of your?SMART?objectives.

So, one of the goals I have set is to listen to a podcast. How do I make it measurable? I have decided to listen to ONE episode. Or, I can set a goal to practice some mispronounced words. I have to specify the number of words that I want to practice; let's say 10.

Now we have a Specific and Measurable goal.

Now this goal must be "Achievable."

This will help you figure out how you can achieve and work toward that goal. Setting ambitious goals that appear to be challenging is beneficial because it forces you to step outside of your comfort zone. Yet, you don’t want to set goals that you can’t reach because they are meant to inspire motivation, not discouragement.

So, as for me, I have set a goal to listen to one episode of an English podcast per day, and I always choose episodes that are 20 to 30 minutes long. I know I can’t listen to more than one episode per day. I also know that I lose focus if I listen to an episode that is longer than 30 minutes. And that way, I was also able to work on the fourth parameter, "realistic."

Your goal should be Realistic and Relevant: take your lifestyle and your everyday responsibilities into account when setting your objectives.

I know I can’t focus for more than 30 minutes, so I don’t choose long episodes. Also, it is relevant because it is related to improving my listening skills, which will help me improve my English accent.

The final element of SMART goals is making them time-bound, which means setting yourself a deadline for achieving your goal. If the goal is not time-constrained, there will be no sense of urgency and, therefore, less motivation to achieve it. So, I set a deadline to improve my English accent by the end of Q1 2023.

“Why not by the end of the year?” you may ask.

Well, one of my favorite podcasts currently is?Fiercely Freelance?by?Celia Lockley. In the episode about setting goals, Celia encourages freelancers to set goals for the first quarter of the year. It’s not a short period of time, yet it's not too long for us to lose interest.

So now my goal looks like this: listen to one episode of an English podcast, 20-30 min long, each day until the end of March 2023.

Over the years, I have read a lot about setting goals and building habits. There is truly invaluable information out there. One of my favorite books about building habits is Atomic Habits by James Clear, which I really encourage everyone to read. You may have some goals, like losing weight, that need a little extra effort. In this book, the main idea is to build an identity for yourself instead of just setting a goal. So, to lose weight you have to be healthy. When you create this healthy identity for yourself you start putting tasks and habits that help you reach it. And the same with being fluent in another language or building a business. Everything requires consistency, small habits, and goals until you reach your biggest goal.

Now, let’s unlock our full potential with the power of SMART goals!

The course is: How to Learn a Language (OpenLearn)

#SMARTgoals #GoalsSetting #BuildingHabits