SMARTER GOALS INTRODUCTION(BY EKTA)What is goal?

Goal or objective consists of a projected state of affairs which a person or a system plans or intends to achieve or bring about—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.A desire or an intention becomes a goal if and only if one activates an action for achieving it .

Some examples of goals in different areas include:

Family goals. Do you want to spend more quality time with your family? What sort of parent or partner do you want to be?

Education goals.Do you want to learn something new, or become and expert in a particular area? What new skills do you want to acquire?

Diet and fitness goals. Are you wanting to lose weight or become fitter? Perhaps you want to improve your game or remain motivated to keep training. Do you want to remain healthy as you get older? What steps do you need to take?

Mindset and behavior goals.Do you want to maintain a positive mindset? Are there behaviors that you want to improve upon? Do you want to have more pleasure and happiness in your life?

Financial goals. What sort of money do you want to earn? Do you want to achieve financial freedom? If so, how?

Career goals. Where do you want to be in your career? What type of job do you want to work in?

Set SMART goals to maximize goal setting success

(BY DIVYA BODDU)

When we examine the goals that some athletes, students and work professionals set, a common error is that the do not set SMART goals.

SMART goals is an acronym for maximizing your chances of goal setting success.

Your SMART long term goals are made up of many smaller details. Research suggests that to maximize goal setting success, you need a combination of short and long-term goals.

This is one area that people often come unstuck in their goal setting plan. Often software can be beneficial as it goal setting software emphasizes a plan and then provides the tools to work your plan.

If you can picture a ladder with the top step being the achievement of your long term goal.

Each step on the ladder can be thought of as one of your short-term goals. As you progress up the ladder, you complete each short-term goal which moves you closer to your ultimate success.

It can be easy to lose sight of your long term goal, so it is really important to set short-term goals that keep you focused on your lifetime plan.

You may have already heard of SMART goals, well SMARTER goals just include 2 extra elements to ensure the goals you’re setting are personalized to you.

The main benefit in using this process is that your goal gets written down – sounds a bit simplistic we know, but time after time it has been proven that people who only set goals in their mind, don’t achieve them in the end [ie new years resolutions]. The simple act of writing down your goal is so important because it takes it out of your thoughts and into your reality.

(BY BHARASA)

SMARTER is an acronym used to describe the essential elements of a goal:

But goals need to be SMARTER in order to be most successful.

It can be acronymed as:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time bound

Evaluate

Resourced

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.

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.

(BY BRITIKA)

Timebound: By setting a deadline to achieve your goal you create a sense of urgency to take action today! Whether your time frame is today, tomorrow or in 5 years time, setting a time to achieve you make your goal a priority.

Evaluate - Your goals are not set in stone and will change from time to time. Constant evaluation of your goals is essential to reaching your goals. Change factors must be taken into consideration during your evaluation. Factors such as change in volunteer status, change in family or job responsibilities, or change in available resources may affect your stated goals.

RESOURCED-You will need to commit some resources to achieving your goals –this may be time,money,external support,information resources etc. You may even have to make some sacrifices to achieve your goals , but f uyour goal is truly what you want to achieve, then a few personal sacrifices shouldn’t deter you…or we can say no pain no gain!

The SMARTer goal process is highly effective at allowing you to set and achieve specific goals that have definable steps and actions. They are not so useful at directly achieving your long-term goals, other than for achieving the milestone goals that ultimately lead towards your big-picture.

So your SMART goals which you are passionate about and reviewed on a regular basis become SMARTer goals.

SMART or SMARTer goals an important part of your goal setting toolkit. They provide the framework to maximize the chances of making today's dreams into tomorrow's reality.

CONCLUSION (BY DIVYA SEKAR)How do you feel about the goal? Goals should have a Wow factor.Many people, especially in business, don’t feel anyemotional commitment to their goals. The task aheadlooks like a chore rather than something that reallyresonates with them. A lot of goals are set by a managerrather than by the person who carries them out. In thissituation it’s important that the manager checks in withhow the person feels about the goals and engages withthe values and emotional side of the goal. This needs tobe from the perspective of the employee not thebusiness rational.If you are setting your goals yourself think through whyyou are setting the goal. For example in our weight lossexample it could be to lose weight for a specific eventsuch as a wedding. How are you going to feel when yousucceed? What will that give you?

SucceedingSo now you have set some powerful goals how canyou make sure you succeed?Write out your goal and keep it somewhere whereyou can refer to it every day.Cultivate a support network. Publicly state your goalto someone you trust who can support you and helpyou. We all have rough times and having someonearound who can help can make all the difference.Regularly visualise what it is going to feel like whenyou succeed.Keep track of progress.All projects go wrong sometimes. Don’t beat yourselfup. Go back to reasons why you are committed to thegoal and move forward. Re-plan how you are going toachieve your goal and go for it!