Forming SMART Goals to Crystallize Your Vision

I recently wrote about how positive thoughts and mindset are your most powerful tools in Internet Marketing.

We reviewed the importance of staying in the present moment. If you missed that article, please feel free to either scroll down to below.

Today I'll talk about formulating goals that are S.M.A.R.T.

Before we discuss this, however, please be sure you understand the importance of keeping your thoughts in the present moment. This is critical, because all of your goals MUST use words that keep each goal in the only moment when ANYTHING can be accomplished – and that is now. This very moment. Not yesterday, and not tomorrow. Now. Again, I briefly review this topic in the article mentioned above.

As we move into making S.M.A.R.T. goals for ourselves, I want to point out that there are entire websites dedicated to this well-known and well-used acronym. If this is a topic that resonates with you, I recommend that you visit one of the many excellent sites that cover this in great detail. Simply type in the search term “SMART Goal Setting” or some similar term. You will find numerous variations on the acronym, but, for our purposes, we’ll break it down as follows:
S = Specific.
M = Measurable.
A = Attainable.
R = Relevant or Rewarding (some sources use “Realistic” – we’ll stick with Relevant and Rewarding for our purposes).
T = Time-Based.

Let’s review each term separately:
S = Specific. When we write goals, they should have a razor-sharp focus about what, exactly, you want to have happen. It answers the question “What?” What is it that you want?
Example: Instead of having a goal to “have a lot of money someday,” try “have $10,000 cash flow every single month by October 2009, over and above business expenses.”

M = Measurable. How will you tell whether or not you are making progress toward your goal? Different goals will call for different types of measuring criteria. This answers the question “How?” How is this going to be accomplished?
Example: If your goal is to walk for 30 minutes each day, the way you measure progress towards that goal will be somewhat different than if your goal is to walk 5 miles every day. Your measurement criteria for the goal of walking 30 minutes each day may be to begin with 10 minute increments for the week, 20 minute increments for the second week, etc. If your goal is to walk 5 miles every day, your measurement criteria may be in half-mile increments for each week. In either case, the way you see your progress is easily determined by the criteria you have chosen.

A = Attainable. You want your goal to be something you can commit to reaching without giving up. The goal should push you – but not overwhelm you.
Example: Instead of having an initial goal of running 10 miles without stopping within the next month if you have never been a runner, how about starting out with a goal of running 2 miles without stopping? Again, I’m not saying don’t reach for the stars – I just want to be sure you stick with your commitment towards your goals. If you find yourself running 2 miles without stopping fairly easily, then by all means, up the ante and go for that 10 miles!

R = Relevant (also, Rewarding). Your goal should have meaning to your life and purpose. If it isn’t relevant to your life, or rewarding, you won’t want to spend a whole lot of time or effort on it, will you? It not only needs to impact who you are and what you’re doing – it also needs to be completed by you, and not someone else.
Example: Let’s say you love to sing, and want to find a way to earn some extra money through your singing. As you brainstorm goals to move you in that direction, the goal of “By March 10th, research 10 different venues in town that are open to auditioning new singers” is relevant – because YOU are the one who will need to attend the audition, and singing is important to YOUR life. However, forming the goal: “listen to 10 new CDs of different famous singers by March 10th” isn’t relevant to your desired result. How would committing to listening to some CDs get you closer to earning extra money by singing? Certainly, listening to others can be inspiring, but unless it compels you into taking some action, it’s not relevant – and if you’re not taking action, it’s not a rewarding goal either.

T = Time-based. When will you reach this goal? In a month? 6 months? If you don’t put some kind of time commitment to your goal, when will you actually make any progress toward your goal? Without any sense of urgency and importance to accomplishing your goal, it can get very easy to fall into, “Oh, I’ll start tomorrow,” or “Maybe I’ll get going next week sometime…” Setting a timeframe for your goal will help keep you accountable. It answers the question “When?”
Example: You may have a goal of earning $10,000 per month online. When do you intend to get to work on this goal? If it’s that important to you, you should crystallize your starting point, as well as mid term points where you can account for your activities toward the goal. In what month and year are you anticipating reaching this goal? Without a starting and ending point framing your goal, at what points would you know to do a check up on your progress?

Ok. So that briefly reviews the idea of the SMART goal. Let’s see if we can come up with a goal that meets all the points we just touched on.

NOTE: For purposes of this example, this goal assumes that I am already earning some money through online marketing, and the starting point is December 1, 2008. Here’s the goal statement (notice that the wording is in present tense – it’s happening right now, even though I am using certain calendar timeframes to help define measurement criteria):
GOAL:
“Beginning today, I implement one new strategy from the ABC Training Manual daily until each of the 10 named strategies is in effect – an effort which, monitored and updated on a daily basis, results in my earning an extra $1,500 or more per month from my website’s sales, building up sales each month so that I am earning $5,000 or more from my website’s sales each month by March, 2009.”

S = Specific: Is the goal specific? Yes, it gives an exact figure that we can visualize occurring – for example, we can picture deposits being placed in our checking account as they add up to the goal.

M = Measurable: Is the goal measurable? Yes, it gives us a “ruler” in the form of the method we will use (the strategies of our company’s training module) so we can begin looking at our progress. We also have the measure of progress by days for the 10 strategies – we either implement one each day, or we don’t. At any point, we can stop and examine what it is we are doing and adjust our activities to bring us back into alignment with the goal.

A = Attainable: Is the goal attainable? Yes, because it is something that, due to our plan and right attitude will be well within our reach in the given amount of time. It is definitely going to stretch us – but it isn’t going to overwhelm us. We will feel great as each day we see the progress that keeps us going.

R = Relevant and Rewarding: Is the goal relevant and rewarding? Yes, because once we see ourselves implementing the strategies and seeing the income grow, we will feel that our efforts are rewarding. We have the relevant strategies at hand that will help propel us to the goal. Just because we may not yet have implemented the marketing strategies, they are a critical part of the goal that will prove to be very rewarding as we move forward.

T = Time-Based: Is the goal time-based? Yes, because we have given ourselves a sense of urgency but at the same time have given ourselves a reasonable timeframe in which to accomplish the task. By outlining the initial 10 days of activity (implementing one new strategy per day), and giving ourselves a few months to monitor and update – all of which can be checked and accounted for on a daily basis – we have an excellent starting point as well as a finish line to aim for.

I have one further clarification to make regarding the way I worded this goal. I mention that “I implement one new strategy from the ABC Training Manual daily until each of the 10 named strategies is in effect.” You may be thinking that this is the only vehicle that will result in my earning the extra $1,500 or month per more.

This wording is not meant to limit the ways in which the extra money may come to me – it is a starting point. This goal may well be a “sub goal” – one of several smaller goals that are part of a bigger picture or bigger goal that is not evident in these examples.

I believe it is important to remain open to how goals might be accomplished. Please do not limit yourself to attaining goals through means that you can only perceive with your five senses, because there are possibilities you may not yet have been exposed to or introduced to yet that could far exceed any expectation (again, see the article I wrote earlier about mindset).

There are certain spiritual proclivities that I have when it comes to my own goal setting that may or may not agree with your own ideas or beliefs. In my case, I may indeed word a mini goal as I did in the above example, but I may also add that I am open to receiving the extra $5,000 per month in a way that has yet to be revealed to me.

I believe that it is perfectly acceptable to change goals as circumstances change. But, the important thing is that you have a starting point, and that it is written down. At very least it will help you to crystallize in your mind the picture of what it is you want to achieve!

Ok. If you are feeling up to a little exercise, here are a few hypothetical scenarios and corresponding goal statements that do NOT meet the SMART criteria. What can you do to change them?

Have fun!
Scenario #1: You want to get back into your old jeans which stopped fitting you approximately 20 pounds ago. You want to slim down before your college reunion, which is scheduled for November 2009. It is now July 2009. You know you need to cut back on the junk food, which you indulge in nearly 3 times a week. You also don’t exercise much – there’s just no time.
Ok… here’s the goal:
“On November 1, 2009, I weigh 20 pounds less than I do on July 1, 2009 by eating less junk food and beginning and sticking to an exercise program.”

Scenario #2: You want to start a home based business, preferably online. You don’t know where to begin – but you do have a good computer and high speed internet access. You would like to earn $1,000 extra per month for starters since you are still working full-time. It is April, 2009, and you would like to have something started by June, 2009, and be earning $1,000 extra per month by December, 2009. Some of the things you have decided you could enjoy marketing include luxury travel memberships.
Ok… here’s the goal:
“I have an online business selling luxury travel memberships for XYZ Company, and since each sale brings approximately $1,000 commissions, I am selling one or more memberships each month, beginning in November 2009.”

I hope this goal exercise has been helpful to you! Again, if you want more training regarding the S.M.A.R.T. goal, type the term into your favorite search engine, and study the various sites out there.

Remember the theme of the James Allen book, “As a Man Thinketh:” As you think, so you are, and so you will become. So, let's get SMART with our goals now!