Work SMARTer Not Harder

Work smarter, not harder by setting timely goals you can reasonably achieve.

Whether you’re setting goals for work or your personal life, making sure you have a plan for how to reach what you’d like to achieve is always worth while. It takes you past the what you’d like to do to the how you’re going to do it. An easy tool to help you make a strong plan: SMART goals.

I always hated SMART goals. Whenever I had to go through the exercise of creating them, I’d say, “Why am I spending time writing all this out when I could just be out achieving the goal.” Well, the truth is, I was way less likely to meet my goal without the road map offered by sitting down to write out clear goals and establish a plan for reaching them.

SMART goals were originally introduced by George T. Doran in a 1981 issue of Management Review. The approach has been adapted and reused by countless organizations. Let start with a break down of each step:

• Specific: Be clear about what you want to achieve. The narrower the better.
• Measurable: Break your goal into smaller, measurable steps. These milestones will help measure your progress.
• Achievable: Make sure the goal is something you can reasonably accomplish. Do you have the skillset to accomplish what you want to achieve? Is your timeline realistic?
• Relevant: Align your short-term goal with your long-term aspirations. Be sure it fits with your personal and/or professional values.
• Time-based: Set an end date to provide motivation. (And don’t forget to include deadlines for milestones along the way.)

Now for an example:

Are you feeling behind on your goals? If so, take a few minutes to walk through the five elements of SMART goals – you may just find a better way to achieve.

For additional resources on S.M.A.R.T. goals and how to incorporate them into a job search, I recommend Indeed.com. And for a laugh (with me or at me), see my IGTV for a more humorous outline of this approach. (And give @britt.et.al a follow while you’re there!)