SMARTER Goals: How to Take High Energy Action Steps

SMARTER Goals add the secret ingredient that makes any goal you have ultra-successful.

They add a level of experimentation to the formula, allowing you to take a good look at your results during the goal and after to ensure increased progress and extraordinary results.

What if your original goal involves more variables than just you? 

How do you react when life throws a curve ball in your plan that you never saw coming?

Being able to adjust mid goal, and respond appropriately is the secret weapon that adding the E and R, to the already powerful SMART goals has to offer.

What are SMARTER Goals?

Smarter goals are the same SMART Goal Setting system invented in 1981, with the missing ingredient of experimentation added. 

There are several ways define SMARTER goals. Some would define the E and R as ethical and recorded, but honestly, do you really need those OBVIOUS steps to be in the acronym?

Setting smarter goals is for those who’ve already got some experience with goals in the past, and are interested in taking their achievement to the next level. 

So this post will not be for anyone who needs to be taught to write their goals down, or to make sure their goal sits well with them ethically (something you should have figured out before trying to set this goal in the first place if I’m completely honest)…

The E stands for EVALUATE. You had a plan right? How did everything go? 

• What obstacles arose that you didn’t predict?
• What advantages did you have that you weren’t aware of?
• What opportunities came up that allowed you to advance faster?

Evaluation allows us to spring forward with a new and better plan next time.

The R stands for READJUST. Double down on what works, discarding what doesn’t work. 

How to set SMARTER Goals

1. Make your goal SPECIFIC
2. Ensure that you can MEASURE it
3. Ask yourself whether it’s ACHIEVABLE
4. Is the goal even RELEVANT?
5. How will you make the TIMELINE appropriate?
6. When is a good time to EVALUATE your progress?
7. How quickly can you READJUST?

Specific

Answer Who, what, where, why and when?

Measurable

How much, how many?

Achievable

Does the amount or type of result seem reasonable to you in the amount of time you’ve allotted?

Relevant

Does this goal actually help you achieve your primary aim?

Time-bound

There should always be a timeline. Give yourself a reasonable amount of time, and then subtract a few percentages to add some incentive to move quickly and innovate.

Evaluate

You are evaluating the S, M, A, R and T.

• How accurate where your assessments and guesses?
• Did the timeline work out for you? 
• Are you getting results when you should be?

Readjust

Adjust per the conclusions in the EVALUATION phase.

Examples of SMARTER Goals

More money in a company

1. Specific: To bring in more home appliance clients
2. Measurable: 20 new clients each month for an entire year, paying 10k per month
3. Achievable: Perfectly. This is only 15% increase on last years growth.
4. Relevant: Home appliance clients are our highest paying, most desired clients.
5. Time-Bound: have a starting a finishing point. A schedule.
6. Evaluate: We exceeded our goal by 45%. 
7. Readjust: We know next year we can shoot for a higher increase

Achieving a personal goal

1. Specific: Lose weight and feel good about myself
2. Measurable: To lose 5% body fat in 9 months.
3. Achievable: This is an average amount of body fat percentage to lose in that amount of time.
4. Relevant: Losing body fat percentage is precisely what I’m after.
5. Time-Bound: have a starting a finishing point. A schedule.
6. Evaluate: Lost the weight faster than expected. Found out You can build muscle while losing weight. 
7. Readjust: My next weight goals will include building muscle, instead of thinking I’ve got to lose weight, and build muscle separately.

How to set SMARTER Goals: Personal Goals

STEP ONE

Understand precisely what you want. Your goal must be specific enough to work and to do that you must understand your wants and desires clearly. Use the “why” technique where you ask yourself why over and over again.

• Why do I want this? – Because of this.
• Why that? Because of this.
• Why this then? Because of this

Slowly, you’ll refine your reason for pursuing the goal to a seed form that cannot be reduced any further, and you might find that you actually want something else.

STEP TWO

Give yourself a precise amount. The worst thing you could do is to tell yourself that “you want to lose weight.”

• how much weight?
• by when?
• for what reason?
• what would your body shape be then? Skinny fat? Shredded? Lean? Accentuated?

Specific, and measurable give you a clear road map. There is nothing more detrimental to setting goals that being confused and unclear about the road ahead. You must have a step one, and a finishing point.

STEP THREE

Make sure you’re being reasonable! Not reasonable in terms of “Do I have the right stuff for this?”, but reasonable in relation to the amount, quality and type of results you want relative to the amount of time you have.

Generally speaking, more and bigger results merit more time. Lesser results merit less time.

• Giving yourself too much time could make you lazy in your approach, not to mention waste time
• Not enough time will stress you out, and lead to disappointment.

STEP FOUR

Is the goal even related? Will this goal really help you accomplish the results you want? How? Make sure, so you aren’t wasting time.

STEP FIVE

How much time should it take? Create a starting and finishing point, with objectives along the way to mark your progress.

STEP SIX

Did you miss your mark? What did your results show you? Are you happy with them? Were they less or more? If less, you could serious benefit from some analysis.

• Go to your daily and weekly results, and pinpoint the reasons for getting less than you should have in those time periods.

If more, you could use a few moments of introspection as to why you sold yourself short during the goal setting process. Why did you think you would achieve less? What happened that caused you to achieve more?

STEP SEVEN

Adapt, revise and make a new plan! Results (goals) are a combination of the right variables (time, planning effort etc..) combined at the right proportions…

Not getting the results you wanted, means you didn’t combine those variables properly.

• You didn’t put in the right amount of effort, for the right amount of time, in the right order.

If everything went as planned, what will your next goal look like?

S.M.A.R.T.E.R Goals Template

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