SMART goals: how to achieve and maintain them over time

Sometimes we want something, but we still can't clearly understand what.

Other times, however, the view is much clearer: we know what we want and we can't wait to reach it. The problem is to understand if, how and when we will succeed.

If you find yourself in this second situation and therefore already have clearly in mind what is the result you want to achieve, know that no method is more effective than the construction of a SMART goal.

Where the acronym SMART (coined by the American writer and entrepreneur Paul J. Meyer in the 2003 book "Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and Beyond") defines the 5 fundamental characteristics that a lens should possess, namely:

• SPECIFIC (specific)
• MEASURABLE (measurable)
• ACHIEVABLE (reachable)
• RELEVANT (relevant)
• TIME-BASED (based on time)

Before analyzing these 5 characteristics in detail, however, I want to briefly tell you something that happened to me a few years ago, and that often happens when it comes to goals to be achieved.

My DUKAN diet - part 1

In 2017 I was feeling a little out of shape and at the time the DUKAN diet was all the rage.

So I decided to follow it to the letter, suffering and spending - really - hundreds of euros in bresaola (in theory it would not be necessary, but I challenge anyone who approaches this diet not to literally break down with bresaola and little else ;-)).

I did everything right: I bought the book, read it, downloaded the APP where I could constantly monitor what I ate, the weight trend and, above all, I could see, at the end of the graph, a point, that magic point that marked my ideal weight, and close to which a date was marked, the date when I would reach my goal.

In short, in about 3 months I made it.

Happiness.

I had reached the goal and my abs had reappeared as if by magic under my shirt, after years of inaction.

But that didn't end there, and so I'll tell you the rest shortly ... before explaining what all this has to do with Smart lenses, let's go into a little more detail about what exactly a SMART lens is.

The SMART goal in detail

You know that acronyms are an excellent way to remember things and communicate them quickly.

Here then is a SMART goal:

S as SPECIFIC

Here we mean the fact that the goal must be as precise as possible.

To be clear, not things like "lose a little weight", "study more", or "increase customers", which are vague promises made to oneself rather than objectives.

But precisely "lose 5 kilos", "study 6 hours more", "get 2 new customers".

It is also important to try to prosecute one (maximum 2) important goal at a time and concentrate the vast majority of our effort on it.

If you are one who struggles to understand what is a priority and to dedicate yourself only to that, I suggest you read my article Learn to do what really matters. 

If you are one of those who believe in multitasking - there are still many - go to this article where I explain why multitasking is one of the worst strategies for your productivity.

M come Measurable

This second characteristic of SMART objectives perfectly complements the previous point: to be specific, in fact, a goal must also be measurable.

In the case of weight loss, this is certainly not a big problem: a scale or a tape measure is enough.

But in many other kinds of lenses, the effort will be a little higher.

For example, if you aim to improve your skills, such as knowledge of a certain language, things already get a little complicated, and you may have to decide in advance to undergo periodic tests.

And if it comes to things like your relationship with your children, your tolerance for frustration, or other very intangible goals, figuring out how to measure them will be even more complicated, but equally fundamental.

It is very important, then, establish intermediate micro-goals: we talked about it often, remember? Particularly about why our good intentions almost always fail. 

When the goal is too big and too far, it is almost inevitable not to reach it.

While if you break it up into many smaller and closer goals, you will maintain high concentration and motivation, multiplying your chances of success by 10.

A for ACHIEVABLE, i.e. reachable

This is, in my opinion, the most problematic point in defining a SMART goal.

In fact, you find yourself having to find a difficult compromise between two different needs:

• on the one hand, in fact, you must absolutely be ambitious in bringing your challenges.
• at the same time, however, you must keep your feet firmly planted on the ground, especially taking into consideration any obstacles you may encounter, the setbacks, the resources available.

The risk of aiming too short or too long is really great.

So I advise you to start from a really ambitious goal, and then understand if it is achievable by looking for examples of people who have made it before you.

You will find that, in most cases, they have nothing that you do not have, apart from perhaps an uncommon tenacity (in this article, find out how you can develop it too).

R come RELEVANT

Relevance, or the importance that the achievement of a certain goal has for you, would seem at first glance a foregone trait, therefore not worthy of being included in a SMART goal.

But in reality it is not at all.

In fact, you have no idea how many write to me why absolutely bogged down in goals which are not theirs.

It is clear that, if you leave to do something demanding to please someone else (quit smoking because your girlfriend asks you to, graduate in medicine because your father cares so much, etc.) it may also be that you will succeed (it will be however very hard), but for what purpose?

And for whose benefit? Certainly not yours, since without the right motivation the goal in question will cost you immense effort.

And it will take valuable time away from goals that really matter to you.

Remember: learning to say NO, especially then to the goals of others, is one of the most important productivity tools out there.

A SMART goal must be a priority for you first and foremost.

And if it is also for someone else, so be it, but put yourself first, especially when it comes to serious flings.

T come TIME-BASED.

With time-based or time-based, we see another rather obvious but very often overlooked aspect when setting SMART goals: the need to set a deadline, a dead-line, a time limit within which our goal must be achieved.

For some objectives (such as taking a certain university exam or a competition), deadlines are by definition very stringent, categorical.

For other objectives, however, it is clear that if we go beyond the world by a few days ... and this is where the trap lies!

There is a risk, in fact, of continually procrastinating the actions necessary to achieve them.

The natural consequence is that the novel you want to write so much will not come out of the drawer, the time to stop eating junk will not come, you won't find the time to go for a run in the morning.

So learn to define a deadline, and carefully plan all the necessary steps not to find yourself racing against time at the end.

Now that we have seen how to define a SMART goal, however, I want to tell you the continuation of the story with which I started the article.

My DUKAN diet - part 2

Let's go back to 2017 and my physique in great shape.

Everyone more or less knows what they have to do to lose weight, and then they choose this or that diet according to personal inclination or fashion of the moment.

We all also know that, once a diet is over, we cannot return to the diet that preceded it, on pain of returning with the interests of the lost kilos.

Here, that's exactly what happened to me after the Dukan.

I closed the book, relegated the APP to a somewhat hidden place on my Smart Phone, and enjoyed the result for a while. But it did not last long.

And do you know why?

Because I had lived through the period of the diet with determination, sure, but then I had acted as if it all ended there.

Having achieved the desired goal, almost unconsciously I had then pulled the oars into the boat, because I had never seriously thought about the “after”.

It was as if, in the effort to reach my goal, I lived in a bubble that was not my real life, but a kind of other life momentarily upset.

Simply put, I hadn't acquired any new habits, I hadn't changed my relationship with food, I hadn't changed my mindset. 

If you think about it, this is a mistake we make in many areas of our life: we reach a goal, perhaps even with great effort, but then we don't really capitalize on it. getting a real transformation.

Indeed, we can't wait to reach it and then be able to go back to what we did before.

Instead, at the end of SMART, an additional T is needed: that of transformational, or transformative, if you prefer Spanish.

Or, in other words, a goal is truly SMART when in pursuing it you are able to incorporate real and lasting changes into your life.

Because the great efforts are always appreciable, but the real results, constant, repeated over time, are always the children not only of a good construction of your goals but also of a profound rethinking of your habits.