After the holidays are over and you find yourself in a brand new year, it's time to reflect on what you can do to change your life for the better. That's where New Year's resolutions and goals come into play. But how do you know where to start?
Goal setting is one of the most basic
and essential skills you can develop. Whether it’s a career, finance, writing, or a weight
loss goal, any of these can be accomplished by first setting the goal and second sticking to
it. The rest is up to you to make it happen.
As an administrative professional for nearly
forty years and mystery writer in twelve books, I’ve learned to set SMART goals
to manage dual careers. Meaning, they’re specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Below is a breakdown of how to set each goal.
Specific goals answer the who, what, when, where, and why of the goal. To make it specific, take “I want to learn Excel” to
“I will register for an Excel class to build my skills to track and manage my budget.”
Or “I need to improve my book research skills” to “I will use my library
resources, the internet, and the historical society to improve my research
skills for my book.” This way, you know exactly what you need to do
and how you’re going to do it.
Measurable is the metric or progress of where you
are now versus where you want to end up. This way, at any point throughout the
goal-achieving timeline, you will know how far you’ve come and how far you have
left to go to reach your goal.
Attainable ensures you have the skills and
resources to accomplish within the given time frame. If you set lofty and
challenging goals that aren’t attainable, you’ll end up frustrated and possibly
give up in the end. Keeping bigger goals in mind and breaking them into
bite-sized pieces will achieve the ultimate win bit by bit.
Relevant is the purpose of the goal to keep you
motivated to achieve it. When goals are relevant, it means you’re spending your
time wisely to make progress toward the bigger picture. There are probably a
lot of things you want to get done in life with all types of goals but being
passionate about something requires staying focused and picky about your time.
Time-based requires a deadline so you do not lose a
sense of urgency. Having a completion date in mind will set your pace along the way
and hold you accountable.
Good luck with achieving your goals. Click here to access a SMART goals worksheet to help you begin your journey.
