The SMART Way To Success

A Quick Preamble:

Success doesn't just happen because you expect it to if you wait around long enough, it happens ONLY when you make it so…It has been said by more than one wise-man (and wise-woman);

"If You Don't Know Where You Are Going, There Is A Fair Chance You Will End Up Somewhere Else..!"

A 'Goal' is like the steering-wheel of a car…if you have no steering-wheel, you'll just be putting your life into the hands of fate because you'll have extremely limited or no steering at all and where you'll end up is simply anybodys' guess – you may get lucky…you very likely won't..!

Cutting To The Chase:

Ambitions are the driving force of a life wanting to live to it's fullest…if you have ambition you'll respond to the daily challenges of your life in a positive and purposeful manner.

If you have no ambition – as indeed, many people do not, you will only wander from one challenge or situation to the next, like the car without its steering-wheel – with no properly defined or controlled direction – with no clear purpose for the direction in which your life is heading toward.

Copious amounts of research has proven beyond a doubt that people who have ambition and the persistence to drive toward their ambition are usually a whole lot physically and mentally healthier than those who have none, because an ambitious person has a stronger sense of purpose and meaning for being…

…and setting goals is their way of ensuring that that purpose and meaning stays alive and further ensures that their life gains stronger and more meaningful direction as they plough through and achieve the goals they have set..!

The SMART Method Of Goal Setting Explained…

Setting a goal is not just simply a single statement for something you wish for…you have to take all the necessary actions, the necessary steps and make all the required sacrifices to reach and then surpass that goal and the SMART goal setting method is a great way to focus your sites on all your goal objectives – all the steps you need to take to reach your goal.

The S.M.A.R.T. method has been around for while now, since the early 80's actually, and the definition of the acronym – the initials, vary from house to house and person to person i.e. "A" could be Action, Achievable, Assignable etc., while the "T" could be Time-based, Time-lined or Trackable…i shan't go into the many different variables here, but needless to say, they all work…i however, prefer the acronyms as shown at the top of this post:

S – Specific

What exactly do you hope to achieve and why..?..you must be very specific and write down the exact detail about your goal i.e. "lose weight" is not specific enough…"lose 30 pounds so that i can get into a size smaller pair of pants and can play with my kids without being exhausted after only 2 minutes" would be more like it…

M – Measurable

To stay on track and reach your target dates, you need solid criteria i.e. "It will take 6 weeks to lose the 30 pounds – i'll ensure a loss of 5 pounds per week and weigh myself once per week, at the same time on the same day, each week"…if you're measuring your progress, you'll always know sooner rather than later, whether you need to "tweak" your plan if you're original target looks like it's may be a little off-track…

A – Action Oriented

What are all the necessary steps – the minor goals that you need to complete on the way to reaching your prime goal…what exactly are your daily, weekly and/or monthly tasks – you must have an action plan i.e. "i will purchase a small set of free weights by end of this week"…"i'll spend a minimum of 20 min's exercising each day"…"i'll begin each day with lemon juice and water, before i exercise, before breakfast"…

R – Realistic

Your goals must be achievable…they can even be difficult to achieve, but setting impossible-to-achieve goals will have a negative effect on your aspirations and your desires and could even be dangerous to your health and well-being i.e. "i'll lose 60 pounds in one week" is plain silly and impossible, unless you're doing something dangerous…"i'll ensure a loss of 5 pounds per week" is likely to be a more achievable goal…

T – Time-Stamped

Keep yourself accountable by ensuring you have a goal completion date for each of your minor goals as well as your prime goal – again though, make sure your dates and times for your goals and required task completions are achievable…

A Final Anecdote:

The SMART method of goal setting is a simple yet effective method of controlling, monitoring and guiding your ambitions to their ultimate conclusion and if you're a goal-setting first-timer you may find that although there are several variations of the theme as you trawl around the net…i've always found the acronyms i describe here as the easiest and most comfortable to use…

…and if you go to the Self-Help Sniper site, there's a complimentary S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting PDF template waiting for you to download, which you are more than welcome to use "as-is" or use as a guide to create something else that is more personal to your requirements.

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Source : articlesbase.com