Goals should be smart and that is how you become smart!

Goals should be smart and that is how you become smart! Did we not hear this or something similar to this all our lives? Honestly, how many of us make goals and follow them as well? Or how many of us struggle to make goals? Well 2023 is just around the corner and many of us would resolve to do what we could not achieve in 2022. But how many of us are actually working towards ensuring that we stick to them when life hits us? Have we devised any mechanism that 2023 would be more productive or abundant than 2022 for us?

Goal setting as concise as it sounds its process is as complex and that is why many of us struggle to set these smart goals and fail to achieve them. It could be of various reasons; not understanding the process, being hasty in setting goals, having goals which looks nice rather than being achievable, not reviewing why we could not achieve previous ones or not having an end result, yet having an understanding how these goals will steer us towards our vision.

I am not saying we should not set goals it is better to have them than not have altogether but at-least try to understand why we want to have Goals and why we could not achieve them in previous year or for so many years? Let me explain you with an example, if you want to revive your reading habits and set a goal for 2023: 'Read 6 books in 12 months!' Ok let’s see how many books or e-books have you read last year or year before that? If you ponder over it, the reason may be due to lack of time, busy schedule etc. In simple terms you don't have a habit. So instead having a Goal of reading books, set a goal of Developing a reading habit in 2023 and then further divide that goal to monthly, weekly and daily goals.

For Instance: Read 10 minutes a day or read 5 pages at night or listen to a book summary. You can also keep a book by your bedside to remind you to read and an alarm saying its reading time. Until you develop a habit or a system to support your habit you are bound to go back to your previous habits. Also it is said it takes 21 days to develop a habit.

Most of us develop goals in haste, please don't do that. Take time and think for at-least 10 minutes for a couple of days to listen to your thought. What has been bothering you? Is it Health, Diet or losing weight, Procrastination, or reducing expensive? Think why you are worried, maybe it’s your eating habit, expenditure patterns and then understand what the Issue is? Why you do what you do? Then work towards that solution. You can read books to understand how habits are formed. My previous post My 2022 reads in 3 mins can be of some help in that. But no matter how much you plan until you take action the problem does not goes way.

Let me know in comments section if you need some help in developing habits.

Till next time.

Inspiration credits @imaadrizvi , Instagram: @baignbegum