Today is the first day of school in our community and even though I don’t have children in school any longer, (all graduated from college and almost paying all their own bills!) I still love this time of year. It always feels like a new start. It makes me look at my year so far and hit the accelerator toward the goals I’ve laid out. I thought we’d relook at an article I did some time ago on S.M.A.R.T. Goals, so that you too can hit the accelerator to reach your goals by year end.
About five years ago, I was looking for a better way to set my goals and achieve them. I discovered S.M.A.R.T. Goals. The acronym S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Realistic-Timely. SMART goals first appeared in an issue of Management Review (vol. 70, issue 11, November 1981) in an article titled “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.” By George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunnigham. Individuals and companies have since adopted this process to help identify goals and the necessary steps needed to accomplish those goals. Below you’ll find the basic outline for S.M.A.R.T. goals.
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… Continue Reading
