5 WAYS TO BE SMART

What makes a smart resolution? 

I asked this question recently in a meeting with college kids and I got interesting answers. I noticed a particularly quiet student who was fidgeting when almost everybody was raising their hands. She probably wasn't sure of what to say or rather scared of getting everybody's attention.

When I pointed to her and asked for her opinion on the issue at hand, she stood up timidly, and with a quiet voice answered, "I think a smart resolution is a resolution that is smart." Funny, you might say.

Amidst the ignorance and the concealed humour in that co-ed's answer, I finally grasped a truth I'd been mulling in my mind for a while before then: the fact that people's resolutions will always be a mirage as long as the vital link needed to actualize such resolution is missing.

What then is the vital link? 

Business 101 main mantra states that "you can only achieve your business objectives if they are consistent with the SMART Principle." Like the student's answer, our resolutions have a greater chance of being actualized if they are smart enough!

Sure enough, your resolutions must be: 

1. Specific

2. Measurable

3. Attainable

4. Realistic, and

5. Timely 

I want to share with you this wonderful piece I got from www.topachievement.com. In the article, 'Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals', the author analysed the S.M.A.R.T. principles in the following way:

Specific-

A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

Measurable-

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable-

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic-

To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Timely-

A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.

When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

What an effective way to be smart!

Whether your resolution is to change yourself or the world, your determination to get it done is the force that will to propel you to its achievement. 

All you need to do is to be smart, and your dream will come true!

Take charge!