SMART Goals

Setting achievable goals starts with understanding your strengths and core values.

By Tricia Schleper

goals going to become part of who you are and habits you have without thinking?

Once you’re ready to start putting your goals on paper, keep in mind these words of advice:

1 Start with small steps that are specific, achievable, and time-bound so you can measure how you are doing each day or week.

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Creating a plan, attaining and sustaining goals, measuring success – these are all things we desire and strive to do in our personal lives and at our workplaces. But what exactly does it look like? How do we decide what goals to set? How do we create a path to get there? What does it look like to pivot, rather than quit? At the end of the day, how do we measure success?

You probably have heard of SMART goals – goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound. Setting SMART goals is a great strategy once you know where you are going and what you want, but there are some steps you should take first.

Start by deciding who or what you want to be known for. When we try to set goals before first understanding this, it gets tricky. This can be applied to both your business and personal life.

Ask yourself questions such as:

How do I view myself? What is true of me?

How do I want to view myself? What do I want to be true of me?

What do people say about me? What do I want people to say about me?

What are my strengths?

What are my core values?

To reach our goals, we first have to believe we are capable of getting the results we want. That’s why it’s important to know your strengths and core values. Most decisions you make are based on your core values and beliefs. If you want to move toward your goals, you must know and understand what you believe about yourself, and be aware of your personal challenges.

What is going to be different this time than when you’ve set goals in the past? How do you create sizable steps that make your goals not just attainable, but sustainable for years to come? How are your

2 Address the obstacles, challenges, and beliefs that are slowing you down, holding you back, and keeping you from moving forward.

3.Find accountability and support so when you come across challenges and obstacles you don’t quit, but can figure out how to pivot, adjust, and keep going.

In the end, the most important thing to remember when setting goals is to start with you.

Business and life strategist Tony Robbins says “We only invest energy into taking action when we believe it will produce results. When we don’t believe we can get results – when we don’t have a deep belief in ourselves –we give up before we start. We don’t put in our full effort. We sabotage our own success.” It starts with what you believe about yourself.