SMART Goal Setting For Beginners
Michalis "BIG Mike" Kotzakolios
Kotzakoliou, SSA

Goal setting is an activity often overlooked, especially around the New Year. Sure, people set resolutions, but there's a very good reason why gym memberships skyrocket in January and tail off during the Spring - resolutions don't work! If there is something you really want to accomplish for the New Year, use goal setting techniques.

Goal setting starts with making goals that are SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

Specific means that a goal is not something general. It actually has substance. Specific goals answer the questions who, what, where, when, how, and why. For example, if you set a goal to lose weight, it's not specific. If your goal states that you're going to lose 20 pounds in 3 months, that's specific.

Measurable means that your goal is quantifiable. Again, a goal to lose weight is not measurable. Setting a goal to lose 20 pounds is measurable because you can use the scale to instantly determine whether you are on your way to meeting that goal.

A goal is attainable when you can reach that goal within the boundaries of your skills and resources. If you have a goal to play professional football but you're barely strong enough to carry a suitcase, you might wish to reconsider that goal.

Realistic means that the goal is not some kind of pipe dream. For example, if your goal is to earn one billion dollars by tomorrow and you only have three dollars in your bank account, you might be disappointed with your results. That's not to say that you'll never reach the billion dollar mark, but it might take you 24 years to achieve, not 24 hours.

Time-bound means that your goals have to have an end date. If your goal has no end date, then it's not a goal - it's an activity. A goal to make one million dollars is not a good goal because you can probably make one million total dollars in your working lifetime. A better goal is to make one million dollars in 10 years.

So when you are goal setting, what is an example of a SMART goal? For someone who currently bench presses 100 pounds, a SMART goal would be: I will bench press 200 pounds by August 31, 2006.