What is a ‘smart’ goal, anyway?

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym listing five attributes for goal-setting. Lots of variations have been created, but the main idea is specificity and accountability. 

Smart goals provide focus to goals: what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it, and when you’ll start and stop. For people that want to do everything all the time (myself included) these parameters can be really helpful.

Take New Year’s Resolutions for example. Have you ever said “I’m going to go to the gym every day!” and then, well, you didn’t? Going to the gym is an admirable goal, but it fails the Smart test.

Here’s why. 

‘Smart’ stands for the following:

• Specific – not too narrow, not too broad
• Measurable – the goal must have a measurable outcome
• Achievable – the goal can actually be achieved
• Relevant – does the goal fulfill match your priorities
• Time – a specific start- and stop-point for the goal

Let’s look at the “going to the gym every day” resolution again.  

Specific? Fail. What does “going to the gym” actually mean? Working out? Walking in the door? Driving by, feeling guilty while sipping your iced coffee?

Measurable? Fail. Again, what will you be doing at the gym? Running? Lifting weights?

Achievable? Fail. It would be amazing if we could go to the gym everyday, but let’s face it, something will come up. You’ll get sick, you’ll go out of town, you’ll be tired. This goal is setting yourself up for failure, most likely.

Relevant? Check! If you’d like to exercise more or get stronger, going to the gym is certainly a relevant goal.

Time? Fail. Are you going to the gym every day for the whole year? Or are you going to start small and go once a week? Are you going in the afternoon, or after dinner? The morning? How long will you go for? Other than the unrealistic “every day,” this goal has no time-measurement at all!

Now, let’s try this same idea of going to the gym, but we’ll use the smart goal idea:

Specific – I’d like to ride the bike at the gym or walk on the treadmill. Let’s say treadmill.

Measurable – The treadmill has a timer on it, so we can use that for a measurement. Maybe I’ll aim for 30 minutes of walking?

Achievable – What is my current fitness level? Can I walk for 30 minutes, or do I need to make the goal more achievable? Yes, I can walk for 30 minutes.

Relevant – Walking for 30 minutes on the treadmill is relevant to going to the gym or getting fit, whatever the larger purpose of this goal is.

Time – Realistically, I can’t go to the gym every day. I could go on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, after dinner. I’ll do that. I’ll try it for a month and see if this is working for me. If not, I’ll adjust.

So, if we put this all together, we now get the following New Year’s Resolution:

“I’d like to go the gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after dinner. While there, I will walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I’ll try this for a month and then reassess.”

See how this goal is much more achievable? It makes me way less anxious to read than the first one, too.

If you struggle with setting goals, GoalKeeprs may be your solution! Each session has you set a goal and submit proof at the end. This provides the specificity, measurement, and time are all built in – all you need to bring is your goal!

Did I mention you get money back at the end, too?

Click here to see the goals other people have set using GoalKeeprs.