While listening to Sales Lead Management Radio this week, I was reminded of one of the most important lessons I took away from high school about setting goals and how to make them possible.

My teachers and parents always told me to be smart. As I walked out the door to a party, before I took my ACT, when I drove alone for the first time, they told me to “be smart.” But until my senior year, I never had thought to “be smart” when setting goals for myself. I was known for not having much of a plan ever, letting things happen without much thought or interference, and then complaining about the outcome. My idea of setting a goal was “I’ll clean my room sometime when I’m bored”, or “I’ll get my homework done eventually.” Looking back, I should have known this would lead to a messy room, plummeting grades, and an overall procrastinative lifestyle that wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Senior year comes around, I’m legally an adult, but feel like a very lost little kid. I didn’t know where to start when it came to college applications and graduation requirements. I was drowning in homework and high expectations, and needed a ladder to climb out. That ladder, surprisingly, came to me in the form of a presentation from our counselors in a humid auditorium. The lack of motivation and structure within my class had become apparent to the faculty early on, and they were determined to fix that the day senior year began. We could tell they were serious about getting us into shape, so we paid attention. For possibly the first time in four years, I saw my class sit and focus through an entire presentation. Two years into college, I am still thankful I paid attention, and chose to turn things around when they told us to “be smart” that day. But not the “be smart” I heard from my mom when I left for DisneyWorld with 25 of my friends and no parents. This was different. This was SMART, an acronym that would change my mentality towards my future, and help me get where I am today.

S.M.A.R.T is an acronym created to help you set and achieve goals. As my curly-haired, very tolerant, and very patient counselor explained it, this method will not only help you set your goals, but also hold you accountable to completing them. So let’s break it down visually, as they did for teenagers with their eye on the clock and the attention span of a gnat.

Specific
Measureable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-based

The idea is that you run your goal through that acronym to make sure it is SMART. For example, if your goal is “I’ll do the dishes eventually”, let’s see if it’s smart

Specific: What dishes? When will you do them? Where will this happen?
Measurable: This is a pretty simple task, and completion can be measured easily. But what about a way to keep track of how often to do this task?
Attainable: Yes, doing the dishes is an attainable goal. But without a deadline or specifics, it becomes much less likely to be done. Technically, winning the lottery is an attainable goal if you do not set a deadline or parameters.
Relevant: Without creating a timeline of when this task needs to be done, it practically becomes irrelevant. It is merely a thought in your head that you’ll get to later, not something of importance.
Time-based: Again, when will you do those dishes? Before dinner today? Next month? To your brain, it doesn’t matter if they get done, because there is no deadline.

Setting a SMART goal ensures that you get things done, and have a way of holding yourself accountable.

The first step is creating a specific goal. Not just “I will get better grades”, but perhaps “I will raise my grade in math from a C to a B. Now you know what you are working towards. Next, you find a way to measure this goal. To stick with the grades example, you could measure this through test scores and report cards. Check and make sure your goal is attainable. Jumping from a C to an A within the term might not be possible, and that would make it not a SMART goal. But a C to a B is possible. Look for the relevancy/importance behind your goal. Remind yourself of why you want to achieve this. In the case of grades, the importance could come from upcoming college applications or a grade check for sports. Finally, create a timeline/deadline for yourself. Set a realistic time that you want to complete this goal.

Put this all together, and you go from “I will get better grades”, to “I will raise my math grade from a C to a B by the end of November to get into more colleges. I will keep track of my grades by reviewing test scores and finally receiving my report card.” You now have control over your goal, and are determined to complete it.

We’ve talked a lot about high school since that is where I learned this phenomenal technique. But thankfully for you and me, high school is not our peak, and these skills can continue to be applied as we further our education and lives. Not only have I frequently used the SMART Goal method as I work to obtain my bachelor’s degree, but this is something I have used in my professional life and shared with my colleagues. I overheard a conversation the other day in which a person said “we’re going to do better with marketing.” And that was the end of the statement. Great idea, but is it SMART? That goal leaves many questions, such as:

What will you be marketing better?

Who will be working on this?

How will you measure if you were successful or not?

Is this possible for your company and its budget?

When do you want to complete this goal?

Answering those questions can help your business work as a team to achieve something great.

Since I’ve moved out of my parents’ home to another state, I still get those texts from my dad every weekend reminding me to “be smart.” He might not know it, but that really does cross my mind as I make my own decisions for the first time. That day in the auditorium in 2019, our counselors probably thought we weren’t paying attention to a word they said. But similarly to how my dad’s texts stick with me, so did their presentation. I find myself setting SMART goals without thinking twice about it now. If you could see the color-coded spreadsheet to-do list I make every morning, you’d see SMART goals for even the most meaningless tasks. “I will get paper plates at Safeway before 4:00 pm so we can use them for dinner, and mark it off on the calendar when I am done.” This helps me ensure that on a crazy day, even the smallest tasks hold importance and get completed.

Whether it be vacuuming your living room, buying your niece a birthday present, or your largest ad campaign in company history, setting a specific goal is necessary. Our brains have a 24/7 to-do list to sort through and somehow complete. Taking the time to write out your goals and how you’ll attain them not only makes them more likely to be completed, but also makes your life a little more organized. Leave chance to the lottery, and ensure you achieve your goals. Some things are out of our control, but reaching our goals shouldn’t be.

Photo by Chris Leipelt on Unsplash