Setting Goals for Entrepreneurs: Setting Smart Goals

Exercise #2: Setting SMART goals.

In your last exercise, setting goals you can achieve, you set some out of the box, fun goals that were manageable and had a well-defined beginning, middle and end. You took a “smaller bite” out of a larger, more intimidating goal, and you made a list of those goals.

Now that you have written down your unusual, out of the box, interesting, goals you are going to evaluate your goals against the following “Smart” criteria.

The “SMART” goal system is a simple system to help you set goals, keep them and make them come true. Rather than making vague statements about goals, such as, “I’m going to grow my business”, you make positive, measurable, definitive declarations about your goals. With a smart goal you would say, “I’m going increase my business sales in the next 6 months by $2,000 per month”. What a smart goal!

S — Your goal should be specific:

Your goal should be specific, unambiguous and written so that anyone can read it & have a clear picture of what you are going to accomplish. As in the example above, “I’m going increase my business sales in the next 6 months…”, you set a goal that would be completed in 6 months.

M — Your goal should be measurable:

Your goal should be measurable and/or have a final outcome so you can determine if it has been achieved. As in our previous exercise, you went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant (on a specific date), where you greeted the proprietor in Spanish and ordered your meal in Spanish! This goal was also easily measured because you said, “I’m going to learn 8 conversational phrases in Spanish.”

A — Your goal should be attainable:

Your goal must be attainable and achievable. It must be possible to attain your goal in the time frame stated. Don’t set yourself up for failure with impossible goals. In the previous exercise, we compared learning to speak Spanish fluently with learning 8 conversational phrases. Set a goal for yourself that can be reasonably accomplished, rather than set such a vague goal as, “I’m going to learn to speak Spanish”.

R — Your goal should be risky:

Your goal should be risky and must be a stretch for you. In our Spanish-speaking example, the risk might be sounding foolish, mispronouncing a word or saying something other than you meant to say entirely. In our financial example, the risk might be not reaching increased business sales of $2,000 a month. This is an important criteria — you do not want to set goals that are too easy.

T— Your goal should be have a time limit:

A time limit creates urgency and prevents you from stating open-ended goals. You want enough time to achieve your goal but you do not want to use a timeframe that will adversely affect the performance of a goal. In our Spanish-speaking example you set a specific date for your dinner engagement and in the financial goal you stated that it would be completed in 6 months.

Take 30 minutes to do this exercise.

Engage your family and friends. Take each goal on your list from the previous exercise and check it against the smart goal criteria above. Is your goal specific, measurable, attainable, risky and within a pre-determined timeframe? If so, congratulations on setting a very smart goal! If not, tweak your goal according to the criteria or reevaluate whether or not this is a goal you should further pursue.

In the final exercise in this series you will test your goals against criteria such desirability, order of priority, expectations and potential challenges before you set them in action. When you’ve completed all 3 exercises in this series you will have mastered the art of setting goals, and with some practice, you will be able to handle larger goals with ease! Note: You will find these posts under the category “Setting Goals” at the top of our blog.

Or, follow these links for each goal setting exercise:

Setting Goals for Entrepreneurs: Three Easy Exercises for the Entrepreneur

Exercise #1: Setting goals you can achieve.

Exercise #2: Setting SMART goals.

Exercise #3: Test your goals before you set them into action.

Theresa Bradley-Banta, co-creator of bigfishtopdogs.com, is a musician, award winning graphic artist, blogger and owner of multiple businesses. You can follow her on twitter @bigfishtopdogs.