Set SMARTER goals to achieve more

Projects, products and profits don’t just happen by themselves. They aren’t handed to you and they aren’t magical. They all take hard work to achieve.

To finish projects, create products and drive profits, you need to set and reach goals. They must be the right goals, though, or you’re just racing toward the finish line on a hamster wheel. Let’s work to find a way to make your days more productive. Here are three ways you can increase productivity and achieve your goals.

Set Your SMARTER Goals

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals, but if you haven’t, we’ll go over what they are and how to set them. If you’re already familiar with SMART goals, you still might want to review the outline below to make sure you’re setting the right goals for YOU.

A SMART goal is one that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Focused and Time-Bound.

Specific goals should clearly define what you are going to do. They should be outlined as simply as possible using clarifying words like What, Why and How.

What are you going to do?

Measurable goals are ones that you can track the results of. There should be tangible evidence that you reached your goal, that what you were trying to impact has changed in some way. Depending on your goals, there may be several metrics by which you can measure the results.

How will you know you’ve succeeded?

Achievable goals should be challenging but attainable. If your goals are unattainable, they should be broken down into parts that are either achievable or can be contracted out to someone else who can complete a task.

When will you know your task is complete?

Results-Focused goals have specific outcomes to reach, not just activities to do.

What are your expected results?

Time-Bound goals should be exactly that — limited to a timeframe to ensure they get prioritized appropriately.

What is the deadline for completing this task?

So what is a SMARTER goal?

Take those SMART goals a step further. Make your professional goals even smarter by adding two more parameters. Goals should be:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Results-Focused
Time-Bound
Enjoyable
Reviewed

Enjoyable goals should be ones that you can work toward without it feeling like a tremendous struggle. If you don’t truly want to get up and start working toward the goal every day, it’s going to be that much harder to reach success.

In what ways can you make working toward your goals more enjoyable?

Reviewed goals are both recognized and rewarded. Leveling up in a video game is rewarding, because you knew what you had to do to reach it, and you did the work to get to that point. It might only be level 10 out of a possible 100 levels, but you know what is needed and when to celebrate success.

When can you review progress toward your goals and reward yourself for reaching them?

If you enjoyed this, feel free to click that clap button — it makes my heart happy. More importantly, if you applied this practice, please let me know in the comments! I love to see you succeed!