So… What the heck does all of this have to do with goal setting?

Smart Goal Setting Strategy

Good solid goal planning must be based on where you'll be when you actually achieve them… i.e. from your perspective, in the future. You need to consider it from that point of view, and ask yourself the question, “in order for this outcome to be true, standing here in the future, what needed to be true back and then in what I am referring to as the present?” This is a decidedly different orientation from, “what do I need to do now to get there?” The difference is very important. It is the difference between those that are highly successful in setting and achieving goals and those who are not.

Achieving personal goals as well as career goals has become big business for the life coaches and educational planning mentors advertising online. What makes for an achievable goal? What is the proper goal or "right" goal for a young person entering the work force to have? How do you measure performance goals? When planning long term goals, how far away is long term?

An example of a good goal is one set forth with the acronym by author Paul J. Myers. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Tangible makes for SMART advice.

Let's break those down into understandable examples, shall we? Specific is fairly obvious, or is it? It is easy to have a general goal (graduate school, on to more educational goals, etc.) but can you break it down into a more specific goal? How about graduate school with a 3.5 GPA, or setting the goal of exactly how to get into a higher branch of education before graduating? That is a specific goal which can be broken down in chunks.

Measurable is knowing how long it will take to complete each task. Let's continue to use the example of getting into college. A good task here would be to check in with your guidance counselor to measure how well you are currently doing in school and take the steps necessary to ensure that you will graduate, including a math tutor or some help with English. That way there will be no surprises when you take a look at your year end grades.

Attainable is where you get into whether or not the college you want is right for you. What kind of grades do you need to get in? Can you do it? Maybe you could set your sights higher? In life we often set our expectations too high in personal areas, and too low in academic ones.

Realistic is easy. You've probably got someone over your shoulder telling you if your goals are realistic. Writing out the time line and showing it to a friend or counselor can be a big help in determining how to set up realistic goals. A word of caution here: do not confuse realistic with mediocre. You may have goals, which on the surface looked to be outrageous, but if they are realistic to you they may very well be attainable. It was never “realistic” for Thomas Edison to invent the electric light bulb in the sense of what was known were easily achievable-- yet for him it was "realistic" based on what he wanted to accomplish.

Tangible is about being able to measure your performance and see the results. Celebrate when you get to this part of your goal setting. Put a picture of what your future could look like when you meet your goals on your wall and look at it with optimism every day.

You can do it!