What Are SMART Goals?

If you are looking to pursue a goal – it is key to provide an effective description of what you are looking to achieve. Creating ethereal goals such as ‘I want to be successful in my business’ have no substance and are open to interpretation. Creating a defined goal in advance will help you to get to the finishing line (and know that you’ve achieved it). A great way of doing this is to create SMART Goals. The SMART Goals definition / acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic and Time-bound.

A SMART goal gives a sense of purpose and direction to what you want to achieve. It provides clarity to both you and any colleagues involved in achieving the goal and it is highly likely that it can be completed successfully. A well-formulated goal is easy to understand by everyone.

What Does SMART Mean?

SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting. SMART theory is commonly attributed to Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives concept but is a well-known industry standard for goalsetting.
To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:
• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

How To Use SMART

Paul J. Meyer, businessman, author and founder of Success Motivation International, describes the characteristics of SMART goals in his 2003 book, “Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and Beyond.”
Using his definitions, we’ll provide a framework for you to create, develop and achieve your goals:

Specific

When creating your goal it should be clear as to what you are looking to achieve. If you are not clear you won’t be able to focus your efforts on achieving it. When drafting your goal, think of it in light of answering the following five “W” questions:
• What do I want to achieve?
• Why is this goal important to me and my plans?
• Who needs to be involved to achieve this?
• Where is it located?
• What do I need to achieve it?

Measurable

Goals need to be measurable, so that you can monitor your progress and stay on track. A measurable goal should address questions such as:
• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is achieved?

Achievable

When creating a goal it needs to be realistic and possible for you to complete. Whilst we are firm believers in stretching yourself, your goals need to be possible. For example, if you can’t sing, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever win a TV talent show with your voice! When you set an achievable goal, you may be able to identify previously overlooked opportunities or resources that can bring you closer to it.
An achievable goal will usually answer questions such as:
• How can I accomplish it?
• How realistic is the goal?

Relevant

When setting goals, they need to matter and align with your passion. This step is about ensuring that your goals matter to you, and that you retain control over them. Make sure that your plans drive your business or life forward:

A relevant goal can answer “yes” to these questions:
• Does this seem of value?
• Is this timely?
• Is this congruent with our needs?
• Am I the right person to work towards this goal?
• Does it work in the current external environment?

Time-bound

Every goal needs a date, so that you have a deadline to work towards. This helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over your longer-term goals.
A time-bound goal will usually answer these questions:
• When?
• What can I today?
• What can I do in a month?
• What can I do in a year?

Not Just For Business

SMART goals can be applied to every area of your life – not just your business! Perhaps you’ve always dreamed of traveling to Australia, running a marathon or moving into your dream home.Try setting SMART goals to help make your plans specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Don’t make your goals vague or unrealistic. Think about how you can adjust your vision and rephrase it as a SMART goal, so that you can make your personal plans come to fruition.

Establish High Pay Off Activities (80/20 Pareto rule)

Pareto created a principle that identified that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Or in simpler terms – 80% of your results come from 20% of your activity. Likewise, 80% of your problems come from 20% of your clients. The key to success is identifying which 20% of your activity is generating the most results for you and doing more of it! And, likewise reducing or eliminating the activity that is not proving successful.

High Pay Off Activities

Here is the key learning. Each of these tasks may take the same amount of time for you to complete but one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value of the others. Often, one item on a list of ten things that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the one that you should do first.

The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks can be the difference between success and failure. Therefore, you must stop working on tasks in the bottom 80% when you haven’t completed the tasks in the top 20% left to be done.

A great way to start your day is to ask, “Is this task in the top 20% of my activities or in the bottom 80%?”

Managing Your Life

Time management is really life management or personal management. You have control over your day and what you do in it. Your ability to focus on the important and remove the unimportant is the key factor that defines your success.
Effective, productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task that is before them. As a result, they accomplish far more and are much happier and motivated. You can work this way as well.

Take Action

Make a list of all the key goals, activities, projects and responsibilities. Which of them are, or could be, in the top 10% or 20% of tasks that represent, or could represent, 80% or 90% of your results?

Here are a few of the high payoff activities we recommend you consider for your business:

Consistency Of Marketing Approach

Sometimes it’s hard to achieve a balance. So many business owners lack a consistent approach to marketing – they are either working on the business or desperately trying to fulfil orders and look after their customers. By automating where possible your marketing plan and outsourcing routine, lead generation activities, you’ll have an on-going pipeline of new customers that can be converted as you need them.

Encourage Repeat Business

Upselling and repeat selling to existing customers is far more cost effective than marketing to new ones. They will spend more with you and are likely to become ‘raving fans’ and refer you to family, friends and / or colleagues. Think about how your product or service offerings are set up. Remember, repeat business is five times more profitable than new business so a successful retention and repeat business strategy will increase profits.

Plan Your Time

Put aside fixed times each week to undertake set activities. If you can set aside the same time each day on a weekly basis you are much more likely to keep it consistently and therefore succeed. The secret of success is controlling your time – and not time and events controlling you. Keep in mind that these need to be times that work for you! Think about when you usually have time that just goes to waste – and then try to fill that time by scheduling meaningful activities instead.

For example, if you have a project that requires 5 hours of work per week for 8 weeks, you either need to find the time for 1 hour every day or some bigger blocks of time to work on this project every week for 8 weeks. Make sure that you can avoid all distractions, this way you will get the work done and deliver the project on time.

To summarise:

If we can offer you one piece of advice – it is to keep things simple. You will not be a goal setting and time management ninja over night! After all, you’re working against habits you’ve probably had most of your life. Start small – begin by focusing on one goal, consider how you can break it down and then schedule the time necessary. Once you get on a roll with this goal, see if you can start planning other goals and scheduling the time for them. As you keep progressing, the process will become a habit and will lead to significantly improved productivity gains that help you achieve your goals faster!