Goal Setting

Whether in your personal, academic or professional life goal setting can be a beneficial way to ensure you stay motivated to complete a task. Goal setting goes hand-in hand with time management, as goals outline the tasks that need to be accomplished and often reveal the priority and schedule for a given project. The beginning of a new semester is a great time to set some goals for the upcoming months. It is important to be SMART about setting goals that are not too daunting or vague.  

Specific  - A smart goal will answer the questions who?, what?, where?, when? , why?, which?, and how?  This ensures there is no ambiguity how the goal will be achieved. 

Measureable – A smart goal will establish clear criteria to measure progress toward goal attainment.  This will help you stay on track and know when your goal is accomplished. 

Attainable – A smart goal must be important to you so it will encourage you to consider all of your abilities, attitudes, opportunities, and resources which will allow you to reach your goal.  Goals are made attainable by breaking the goal into steps and pairing each step with capacities for completion. 

Realistic – A smart goal must be an objective that you are willing and able to work toward.  Even high goals can be realistic if you plan steps, allow enough time, utilize capacities, and represents substantial progress.

Timely – A smart goal should be given a time frame.  This allows for the planning to take real precedence in your life and schedule.  The end goal should definitely be given a time constraint but each step can be given a time line as well to motivate and progress toward goal achievement. 

Keep track of where you are in your goal progress.  It is okay to review your goals and make changes to the SMART outline you have created for a goal, just don’t use goal review as an excuse for not making progress. 

A SMART goal example and template can be found from Stanford University at: http://www.google.ca/url?url=http://hrg.stanford.edu/documents/SMARTGOALSTemplate2012.doc&rct=j&sa=U&ei=onu2UJHfNqWEygHNoIGoDw&ved=0CB0QFjAB&q=smart+goal+planner+outline&usg=AFQjCNFNgZRxE7OLwCGQ7lpvaKXhrGwD3Q 

Long-term goals are often more broad, but by breaking them down into more short term steps or goals, the SMART goal setting technique can be used to achieve even your biggest projects and aspirations! 

This content has been adapted from Top Achievement - Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals: http://topachievement.com/smart.html , Grad Share -  Job Searching and Goal Setting the SMART Way: http://www.gradshare.com/blog/grad_currents/2010/11/12/1289605676572.html, and the University of Guelph Learning Services Guide to Time Management: http://www.learningcommons.uoguelph.ca/guides/time_management/