SMART Goals

Have you ever made a New Year's Resolution? Did you achieve it or forgot about it a couple of weeks later? It might have been how you wrote your resolutions out. Were you general or specific? Did you give yourself a timeline or again was it general? As 2022 wraps up, you should kick off the New Year with SMART goals. SMART goals will help you stick to and accomplish your New Years' resolutions this 2023 year. So what does this entail? SMART goals are:

• Specific: What will be accomplished? What actions take?

• Measurable: What data will measure the goal? How much? How well?

• Achievable: Is the goal doable? Do you have the necessary skills and resources?

• Results-oriented: How does the goal align with broader goals? Why is the result important?

• Time-bound: What is the time frame for accomplishing the goal?

As you can see below, the goal started out as “I want a job and to graduate.” By working through the SMART method, the goal then became “I want an entry-level part-time job within the next 6 months to support my dad by filling out applications and using my network to find a job.”

The SMART method helps push you further, gives you a sense of direction, and helps you organize and reach your goals. It helps you take your vision from ideas to action. Setting SMART objectives keeps the vision moving forward, helps with accountability and timing, and lets you know that you are accomplishing what you set out to accomplish.