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Jay Mandel
Jay is an Entrepreneur and the Founder of Your Brand Coach Read full profile

If you are making slow progress on a goal you've set, maybe it is the wrong goal in the first place. Perhaps factors, including your attitude or environment, do not allow you to make your desired progress. However, it is easy to blame timing and luck; if you set a goal, you and only you are accountable for achieving it (read the achieve my goals guide). The question is, how?

Start With Why

On my career path, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to explore and learn things practically. After a successful corporate career, I spent two years trying to establish an entrepreneurial consultancy, only to realize marginal success.

The consultancy formed based on my core values, candor, curiosity, and collaboration, but unfortunately, my customer base and projects were seemingly random and disjointed. While I understood I needed to establish a consistent and repeatable approach to content marketing to drive my clients' results, that approach was not apparent in the brand I had built. Things got so rough that I had to resort to collecting unemployment at the onset of the pandemic.
"I am adding value, and I can charge for this!"
At the beginning of the pandemic, I delivered a webinar called earning trust in uncertain times: coronavirus edition. Afterward, I received an email from a participant. He shared some thoughts on a campaign for his jewelry company and asked for feedback. When I read his email, I realized I could quickly help him to gain clarity, so I sent him a note with an offer to get his message on track. He offered to pay me for my time, and I said to myself,

This first client needed to shift my offerings from general marketing consulting to a more diversified career that focuses on personal brand building.

It took a global pandemic to realize I needed to shift my goals to align with the change I was trying to make in the world, to a new business, coaching that applies my skills in an authentic way to me and valuable to prospects and customers.

Start With Your Identity

James Clear discusses identity-based habits as deeply rooted in a person's outlook toward life. As a businessperson, identity-based practices are what impact business goals and your approaches towards achieving them. Identity is what you believe in, and outcomes determine what you seek to achieve. A permanent change comes from transforming the who part of behavior-the character.

Whether it is a coaching program I develop, a class I teach, or a marketing campaign I create, I always start identity. According to The Brookings Institute:

Identity is a unique, inherited collection of assets, history, traits, and culture that distinguishes it internally and externally and can unite people and places.

Is it to be more healthy?

Did you get some lousy test results at the doctor?

Are you at risk of severe health problems?

But this logic also applies to personal goals. If losing weight is your goal, your focus is on an outcome rather than an identity-based plan, and you may lose motivation. Think, "Why am I trying to lose weight?"

It may help reframe your goal around a positive statement like, I am working to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Motivation has to come from a place of confidence and belief in yourself. You know what they say about the air mask on the airplane - put it on yourself first.

It is ok to set goals for others; for example, "I am losing weight so I can live for my kids;" however, if you don't set goals around themes that you can own, and you don't do it for yourself first, then the people in your life will not receive any benefit.

Think about what you achieve from your efforts - the outcomes. The reality that you are looking at right now must also allude to the fact you promise to create for your clientele, and that is not possible unless you believe in it and make it believable for others.

Be Specific About What, How, and When

Your values need to align with other people and systems to engage in meeting your desired outcome, so make sure to put in place a process that accounts for what motivates you, that you can reliably complete until you achieve your goal.

If you are not specific and clear about how many pounds you are trying to lose and when you will lose then, then how will you know if you met your goal in the first place?

Floss one tooth

Read one sentence in a book.

Take one deep breath.

BJ FOGG, the author of Tiny Habits, suggests that you start small. In the Tiny Habits method, you always start with a tiny behavior. Some examples:

takes less than 30 seconds (even better: just 5 seconds)

requires no real effort

doesn't create pain or destructive emotions

According to Fogg, an excellent tiny behavior has these qualities:

Make sure it's a habit you want to have in your life. Don't pick something that's a "should," choose new behaviors you wish to.

The next thing to learn is where to place the further tiny action in your life. Just like planting a seed, you want the right spot for it, a place where it fits naturally and where it can thrive.

Be flexible and adaptable. We are in a complicated and volatile world, and things change on a dime, so don't be too hard on yourself if you need to change how you go about achieving your goal or even what goals you are trying to accomplish first place.

Confirmation bias: People tend to listen more often to information that confirms the beliefs they already have.

Selection bias: Selecting individuals, groups that do not provide diverse perspectives for you to consider.

Self-serving bias: People tend to give themselves credit for successes but blame failures on external causes.

Be aware of bias. As you set out to achieve your goals, it is critical to be aware of the bias that can sneak in and sabotage your thinking. Yes, it is essential to collaborate with others to achieve your goals, but you need to understand yourself and make sure you are not getting in your way before doing that. Here are some common forms of bias.

What about serendipity? Many of us believe that the great turning points and opportunities in our lives happen by chance, that they're out of our control.

Dr. Christian Busch, author of The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck, spent a decade exploring how, if acted upon, unexpected encounters can expand our random social encounters can enhance our worldview, expand our social circles, and create new professional opportunities.

Serendipity is usually about connecting dots that have previously remained elusive. Busch's findings suggest that Good luck isn't just chance-it can be learned and leveraged. When you are perceptive, curious, open-minded, and eager to see opportunities, others might see only negatively. If you notice something unusual but can connect that bit of information with something else, you are in the right mindset for achieving serendipity.

Motivation and a Realistic Plan

Only you can choose the goals you set. Motivation is critical in meeting your goals. But choosing goals is not enough; you need to select the right goals and define a plan that keeps you accountable for meeting your goals.

Author Gabriele Oettingen defined a methodology you can use to get better at achieving your hopes and dreams. It's called WOOMP!

WOOP stands for:

WOOMP, there it is! WOOMP will force you to be hyper-realistic about your goals and be action-minded in your approach to achieving them.

Show up Consistently

In order to turn your vision into reality, you will have to regularly show up by consistently organizing, leading, and building to get to your goals.

"Some people show up when they need something. Some people show up before they need something, knowing that it will pay off later when they need something. And some people merely show up. Not needing anything, not in anticipation of needing something, but merely because they can." - Seth Godin

Final Thoughts

While I would be happy to be your trusted advisor and coach, the answer has to start with you. My process will help you to define and document an ownable set of values and marketing frameworks that will make you more appealing to clients/ employers, especially on LinkedIn. These values will translate beyond work, as well.

More on Making Progress

Featured photo credit: Aj Alao via unsplash.com

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7 Best Goal Tracking Apps to Help You Reach Your Goals

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Jay Mandel Jay is an Entrepreneur and the Founder of Your Brand Coach Read full profile If you are making slow progress on a goal you've set, maybe it is the wrong goal in the first place. Perhaps factors, including your attitude or environment, do not allow you to make your desired progress.

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How often do you set goals? How often do you revisit your list?

We all know that setting goals is important, but we often don't realize how important they are as we continue to move through life.

Goal setting does not have to be boring. There are many benefits and advantages to having a set of goals to work towards.

Setting goals helps trigger new behaviors, helps guides your focus and helps you sustain that momentum in life.

Goals also help align your focus and promote a sense of self-mastery. In the end, you can't manage what you don't measure and you can't improve upon something that you don't properly manage. Setting goals can help you do all of that and more.

In this article, we will review the importance and value of goal setting as well as the many benefits.

We will also look at how goal setting can lead to greater success and performance. Setting goals not only motivates us, but can also improve our mental health and our level of personal and professional success.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

The Importance and Value of Goal Setting

Up until 2001, goals were divided into three types or groups (Elliot & McGregor, 2001):

1. Mastery goals

2. Performance-approach goals

3. Performance-avoidance goals

A mastery goal is a goal someone sets to accomplish or master something such as " I will score higher in this event next time."

A performance-approach goal is a goal where someone tries to do better than his or her peers. This type of goal could be a goal to look better by losing 5 pounds or getting a better performance review.

A performance-avoidance goal is a goal where someone tries to avoid doing worse than their peers such as a goal to avoid negative feedback.

Research done by Elliot and McGregor in 2001 changed these assumptions. Until this study was published, it was assumed that mastery goals were the best and performance-approach goals were at times good, and other times bad. Performance-avoidance goals were deemed the worst, and, in fact, bad.

The implied assumption, as a result of this, was that there were no bad mastery goals or mastery-avoidance goals.

Elliot and McGregor's study challenged those assumptions by proving that master-avoidance goals do exist and proving that each type of goal can, in fact, be useful depending on the circumstances.

Elliot and McGregor's research utilized a 2 x 2 achievement goal framework comprised of:

1. Mastery-approach

2. Mastery-avoidance

3. Performance-approach

4. Performance-avoidance

These variables were tested in 3 studies. In experiments one and two, explanatory factor analysis was used to break down 12 goal-setting questions into 4 factors, as seen in the diagram below.

Confirmatory factor analysis was used at a later date to show that mastery-avoidance and mastery-approach fit the data better than mastery alone.

The questions for these studies were created from a series of pilot studies and prior questionnaires. Once all of the questions were combined, a factor-analysis was utilized to confirm that each set of questions expressed different goal-setting components.

Results of these studies showed that those with a high motive to achieve were much more likely to use approach goals. Those with a high motive to avoid failure, on the other hand, were much more likely to use avoidance goals.

The third experiment examined the same four achievement goal variables and revealed that those more likely to use performance-approach goals were more likely to have higher exam scores, while those who used performance-avoidance goals were more likely to have lower exam scores.

According to the research, motivation in achievement settings is complex, and achievement goals are but one of several types of operative variables to be considered.

Achievement goal regulation, or the actual pursuit of the goal, implicates both the achievement goal itself as well as some other typically higher order factors such as motivationally relevant variables, according to the research done by Elliot and McGregor.

As we can clearly see, the research on goal setting is quite robust.

Why Set Goals in Life?

The truth is that some goals are achieved while others are not and it's important to understand why.

Mark Murphy the founder and CEO of LeadershipIQ.com and author of the book "Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be," has gone through years of research in science and how the brain works and how we are wired as a human being as it pertains to goal setting.

Murphy's book " Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be" combines the latest research in psychology and brain science on goal-setting as well as the law of attraction to help fine-tune the process.

A HARD goal is an achieved goal, according to Murphy (2010). Murphy tells us to put our present cost into the future and our future benefit into the present.

What this really means is don't put off until tomorrow what you could do today. We tend to value things in the present moment much more than we value things in the future.

Setting goals is a process that changes over time. The goals you set in your twenties will most likely be very different from the goals you set in your forties.

Whatever your age doesn't really matter in the end, as long as you continually revisit your life goals and work to update them.

What are the Benefits of Goal Setting?

Edward Locke and Gary Latham (1990) are leaders in goal-setting theory. According to their research, goals not only affect behavior as well as job performance, but they also help mobilize energy which leads to a higher effort overall. Higher effort leads to an increase in persistent effort.

Goals help motivate us to develop strategies that will enable us to perform at the required goal level.

Accomplishing the goal can either lead to satisfaction and further motivation or frustration and lower motivation if the goal is not accomplished.

Goal setting can be a very powerful technique, under the right conditions according to the research (Locke & Latham, 1991).

According to Lunenburg (2011), the motivational impact of goals may, in fact, be affected by moderators such as self-efficacy and ability as well.

5 Proven Ways Goal Setting is Effective

Locke and Latham's research have shown us that goal setting is indeed very effective.

In the 1968 article " Toward a Theory of Task Motivation " Locke showed us that clear goals and appropriate feedback served as a good motivator for employees (Locke, 1968).

Locke's research also revealed that working toward a goal is a major source of motivation, which, in turn, improves performance.

Locke reviewed over a decade of research of laboratory and field studies on the effects of goal setting and performance. Locke found that over 90% of the time, goals that were specific and challenging, but not overly challenging, led to higher performance when compared to easy goals or goals that were too generic such as a goal to do your best.

Dr. Gary Latham also studied the effects of goal setting in the workplace. Latham's results supported Locke's findings and showed there is indeed a link that is inseparable between goal setting and workplace performance.

Locke and Latham published work together in 1990 with their work " A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance " stressing the importance of setting goals that were both specific and difficult.

Locke and Latham also stated that there are five goal-setting principles that can help improve your chances of success.

Clarity is important when it comes to goals. Setting goals that are clear and specific eliminate the confusion that occurs when a goal is set in a more generic manner.

Challenging goals stretch your mind and cause you to think bigger. This helps you accomplish more. Each success you achieve helps you build a winning mindset.

Commitment is also important. If you don't commit to your goal with everything you have it is less likely you will achieve it.

Feedback helps you know what you are doing right and how you are doing. This allows you to adjust your expectations and your plan of action going forward.

Task Complexity is the final factor. It's important to set goals that are aligned with the goal's complexity.

How Can Goal Setting Improve Performance?

Goal setting and task performance were studied by Locke and Latham (1991). Goal setting theory is based upon the simplest of introspective observations, specifically, that conscious human behavior is purposeful.

This behavior is regulated by one's goals. The directedness of those goals characterizes the actions of all living organisms including things like plants.

Goal-setting theory, according to the research, states that the simplest and most direct motivational explanation on why some people perform better than others is because they have different performance goals.

Two attributes have been studied in relation to performance:

In regard to content, the two aspects that have been focused on include specificity and difficulty. Goal content can range from vague to very specific as well as difficult or not as difficult.

Difficulty depends upon the relationship someone has to the task. The same task or goal can be easy for one person, and more challenging for the next, so it's all relative.

On average though the higher the absolute level is of a goal, the more difficult it is to achieve. According to research, there have been more than 400 studies that have examined the relationship of goal attributes to task performance.

According to Locke and Latham (1991), it has been consistently found that performance is a linear function of a goal's difficulty.

Given an adequate level of ability and commitment, the harder a goal, the higher the performance.

What the researchers discovered was that people normally adjust their level of effort to the difficulty of the goal. As a result, they try harder for difficult goals when compared to easier goals.

The principle of goal-directed action is not restricted to conscious action, according to the research.

Goal-directed action is defined by three attributes, according to Lock & Latham.

1. Self-generation

2. Value-significance

3. Goal-causation

Self-generation refers to the source of energy integral to the organism. Value-significance refers to the idea that the actions not only make it possible but necessary to the organism's survival. Goal-causation means the resulting action is caused by a goal.

While we can see that all living organisms experience some kind of goal-related action, humans are the only organisms that possess a higher form of consciousness, at least according to what we know at this point in time.

When humans take purposeful action, they set goals in order to achieve them.

How Goal Setting Motivates Individuals

Research tells us that goal setting is important on both an individual and a group basis.

Locke and Latham have also shown us that there is an important relationship between goals and performance.

Locke and Latham's research supports the idea that the most effective performance seems to be the result of goals being both specific and challenging. When goals are used to evaluate performance and linked to feedback on results, they create a sense of commitment and acceptance.

The researchers also found that the motivational impact of goals may be affected by ability and self-efficacy, or one's belief that they can achieve something.

It was also found that deadlines helped improve the effectiveness of a goal and a learning goal orientation leads to higher performance when compared to a performance goal orientation.

Why is Goal Setting Important for Students?

Research done by Moeller, Theiler, and Wu (2012) examined the relationship between goal setting and student achievement at the classroom level.

This research examined a 5-year quasi-experimental study, which looked at goal setting and student achievement in the high school Spanish language classroom.

A tool known as LinguaFolio was used, and introduced into 23 high schools with a total of 1,273 students.

The study portfolio focused on student goal setting, self-assessment and a collection of evidence of language achievement.

Researchers used a hierarchical linear model, and then analyzed the relationship between goal setting and student achievement. This research was done at both the individual student and teacher levels.

A correlational analysis of the goal-setting process as well as language proficiency scores revealed a statistically significant relationship between the process of setting goals and language achievement (p < .01).

The research also looked at the importance of autonomy or one's ability to take responsibility for their learning. Autonomy is a long-term aim of education, according to the study as well as a key factor in learning a language successfully.

There has been a paradigm shift in language education from teacher to student-centered learning, which makes the idea of autonomy even more important.

Goal setting in language learning is commonly regarded as one of the strategies that encourage a student's sense of autonomy (Moeller, Theiler & Wu, 2012)

The results of the study revealed that there was a consistent increase over time in the main goal, plan of action and reflection scores of high school Spanish learners.

This trend held true for all levels except for the progression from third to fourth year Spanish for action plan writing and goal setting. The greatest improvement in goal setting occurred between the second and third levels of Spanish.

A Look at the Importance of Goal Setting in Mental Health

Goal setting is also an important part of mental health.

In one study, that looked at goal setting and wellbeing, people participated in three short one-hour sessions where they set goals.

The researchers compared those who set goals to a control group, that didn't complete the goal-setting exercise. The results showed a causal relationship between goal setting and subjective wellbeing.

Weinberger, Mateo, and Sirey (2009) also looked at perceived barriers to mental health care and goal setting amongst depressed, community-dwelling older adults.

Forty-seven participants completed the study, which examined various barriers to mental health and goal setting. These barriers include:

1. Psychological barriers such as social attitudes, beliefs about depression and stigmas.

2. Logistical barriers such as transportation and availability of services.

3. Illness-related barriers that are either modifiable or not such as depression severity, comorbid anxiety, cognitive status, etc.

For individuals who perceive a large number of barriers to be overcome, a mental health referral can seem burdensome as opposed to helpful.

Defining a personal goal for treatment may be something that is helpful and even something that can increase the relevance of seeking help and improving access to care according to the study.

Goal setting has been shown to help improve the outcome in treatment, amongst studies done in adults with depression. (Weinberger, Mateo, & Sirey, 2009)

The process of goal setting has even become a major focus in several of the current psychotherapies used to treat depression. Some of the therapies that have used goal setting include:

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)

Cognitive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CT, CBT)

Problem-Solving Therapy (PST)

Participants who set goals, according to the study, were more likely to accept a mental health referral. Goal setting seems to be a necessary and good first step when it comes to helping a depressed older adult take control of their wellbeing.

The Importance of Goal Setting in Business and Organizations

Setting goals is vitally important for everyone, especially those in the business world.

Most of us have been taught from a young age that setting goals can help us accomplish more and get better organized.

Goals help motivate us and help us organize our thoughts. Throughout evolutionary psychology, however, a conscious activity like goal setting has often been downplayed.

Psychoanalysis put the focus on the unconscious part of the mind, while cognitive behaviorists argue that external factors are of greater importance.

In 1968, Edward A. Locke formally developed something he called goal-setting theory, as an alternative to all of this.

Goal-setting theory helps us understand that setting goals are a conscious process and a very effective and efficient means when it comes to increasing productivity and motivation, especially in the workplace.

According to Gary P. Latham, the former President of the Canadian Psychological Association, the underlying premise of goal-setting theory is that our conscious goals affect what we achieve. Our goals are the object or the aim of our action.

This viewpoint is not aligned with the traditional cognitive behaviorism, which looks at human behavior as something that is conducted by external stimuli.

This view tells us that just like a mechanic works on a car, other people often work on our brains, without us even realizing it, and this, in turn, determines how we behave.

Goal setting theory goes beyond this assumption, telling us that our internal cognitive functions are equally important, if not more, when determining our behavior.

In order for our conscious cognition to be effective, we must direct and orient our behavior toward the world. That is the real purpose of a goal.

According to Locke and Latham, there is an important relationship between goals and performance.

Research supports the prediction that the most effective performance often results when goals are both specific and challenging in nature.

A learning goal orientation often leads to higher performance when compared to a performance goal orientation, according to the research.

Deadlines also improve the effectiveness of a goal. Goals have a pervasive influence on both employee behaviors and performance in organizations and management practice according to Locke and Latham (2002).

According to the research, nearly every modern organization has some type of psychological goal setting program in its operation.

Programs like management by objectives, (MBO), high-performance work practices (HPWP) and management information systems (MIS) all use benchmarking to stretch targets and plan strategically, all of which involve goal setting to some extent.

Fred C. Lunenburg, a professor at Sam Houston State University, summarized these points in the International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration journal article "Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation" (Lunenburg, 2011).

Specific: Specificity tells us that in order for a goal to be successful, it must also be specific. Goals such as I will do better next time are much too vague and general to motivate us.

Something more specific would be to state: I will spend at least 2 hours a day this week in order to finish the report by the deadline. This goal motivates us into action and holds us accountable.

Difficult but still attainable: Goals must, of course, be attainable, but they shouldn't be too easy. Goals that are too simple may even cause us to give up. Goals should be challenging enough to motivate us without causing us undue stress.

Process of Acceptance: If we are continually given goals by other people, and we don't truly accept them, we will most likely continue to fail. Accepting a goal and owning a goal is the key to success.

One way to do this on an organizational level is to bring team members together to discuss and set goals.

Feedback and evaluation: When a goal is accomplished, it makes us feel good. It gives us a sense of satisfaction. If we don't get any feedback, this sense of pleasure will quickly go away and the accomplishment may even be meaningless.

In the workplace, continuous feedback helps give us a sense that our work and contributions matter. This goes beyond measuring a single goal.

When goals are used for performance evaluation, they are often much more effective.

Learning beyond our performance: While goals can be used as a means by which to give us feedback and evaluate our performance, the real beauty of goal setting is the fact that it helps us learn something new.

When we learn something new, we develop new skills and this helps us move up in the workplace.

Learning-oriented goals can also be very helpful when it comes to helping us discover life-meaning which can help increase productivity.

Performance-oriented goals, on the other hand, force an employee to prove what he or she can or cannot do, which is often counterproductive.

These types of goals are also less likely to produce a sense of meaning and pleasure. If we lack that sense of satisfaction, when it comes to setting and achieving a goal, we are less likely to learn and grow and explore.

Group goals: Setting group goals is also vitally important for companies. Just as individuals have goals, so too must groups and teams, and even committees. Group goals help bring people together and allow them to develop and work on the same goals.

This helps create a sense of community, as well as a deeper sense of meaning, and a greater feeling of belonging and satisfaction.

10 Quotes on the Value and Importance of Setting Goals

A goal properly set is halfway reached.

Zig Ziglar

Everybody has their own Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

Seth Godin

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

Jim Rohn

It's better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than at the top of the one you don't.

Stephen Kellogg

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

Jim Rohn

All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.

Orison Swett Marden

The greater danger for most of us isn't that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Michelangelo

Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk.

J.C. Penney

Intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.

Andy Andrews

This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything.

Scott Reed

A Take-Home Message

Setting goals can help us move forward in life. Goals give us a roadmap to follow. Goals are a great way to hold ourselves accountable, even if we fail. Setting goals and working to achieving them helps us define what we truly want in life.

Setting goals also helps us prioritize things. If we choose to simply wander through life, without a goal or a plan, that's certainly our choice. However, setting goals can help us live the life we truly want to live.

Having said that, we don't have to live every single moment of our lives planned out because we all need those days when we have nothing to accomplish.

However, those who have clearly defined goals might just enjoy their downtime even more than those who don't set goals.

For more insightful reading, check out our selection of goal-setting books.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free.

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The Importance, Benefits, and Value of Goal Setting

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We review the importance, value, and benefits of goal setting to explain how it can lead to greater success and performance.

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DAPPS is used in our On Course text.

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Summary

Every team that's accomplished something phenomenal first had to set goals to get there. Teams that set goals can do great things like cure diseases, build more efficient and sustainable appliances, or make our oceans safer for whales and dolphins. When we set goals, we can visualize where we want to go and put our best foot forward to get there.

But hitting an ambitious goal isn't just about reaching for the stars-you also need a path to get there. That's where SMART goals come in. SMART is an acronym that can help you define and set great goals. With SMART, you can make sure every goal-from project goals all the way to larger company objectives-has everything you need to achieve it. Here's how.

What is a SMART goal?

SMART is an acronym to help you create defined, falsifiable, and attainable goals. SMART stands for:

The SMART acronym is a shortcut to setting great goals because it includes all of the ingredients you need for success. Here's how to break down and approach each piece:

Specific

Keep in mind that you're setting your SMART goal to attain a specific objective-not a broad one. You don't just want any initiative to succeed, you want your specific project to succeed. To make sure you can achieve them, make sure your goals are specific to what you're working on.

For example, instead of creating a goal to raise more money, you might create a goal to raise $20,000 by the end of the year. This is much more specific, and gives you a roadmap to work off of. In this case, you can break down how much you need to raise each day to hit your goal, and then create an action plan that enables you to hit that number every day.

Measurable

The "M" in SMART stands for measurable, which helps you evaluate the success or failure of your project. Your goals should have some sort of objective way to measure them-whether that's a deadline, a number, a percent change, or some other measurable element.

One way to do this is with benchmarks. Benchmarks show you what's "normal" for specific, recurring scenarios in your company, so you know what to expect. Using standardized benchmarks, you can set more relevant goals that are easier to measure. For example, let's say you have a benchmark showing that you have three new marketing campaigns each year to help you hit key performance indicators. You can then use that benchmark to set measurable goals to track progress for both the launches and their related KPIs.

Achievable

You don't want your goals to be easy to achieve-but you also want to make sure you're setting goals that you could, conceivably, hit. Achievable says that your goals shouldn't be totally outside the realm of possibility. Ask yourself this question: Is the goal within your project scope? If not, it's not Achievable.

For example, let's say you want to learn to speak Spanish in order to be competitive in your field. If you've never spoken a word of Spanish before, you can't expect to be fluent by next month. That simply isn't an achievable goal. However, you could set a goal to learn from your foreign language app for 20 minutes every day. By establishing a consistent practice, you can set a more achievable goal.

What about stretch goals-are those achievable?

Stretch goals are goals that are purposefully challenging. For example, if you usually get 30,000 monthly visitors to your website, a stretch goal would be to get 50,000 monthly visitors. That's a big increase! But this stretch goal is still within the realm of possibility. Make sure you make your stretch goals ambitious, not impossible-like aiming to go from 30,000 monthly visitors to 300,000 monthly visitors, for example.

Realistic

The "A" and "R" of SMART are closely related. In addition to setting Achievable goals, you also want to set Realistic ones. For example, maybe a goal is achievable, but getting there would require every team member to work overtime for six weeks straight. Even though it might be an achievable goal, it's not a realistic one. Make sure yours is both by creating a clear resource management plan.

Using our achievable goal example of learning to speak Spanish, the goal of setting 20 minutes aside each day to practice Spanish is both realistic and achievable. On the other hand, a goal to practice speaking Spanish for two hours every day is probably not realistic for most working adults, even though it's technically achievable.

Time-bound

Your SMART goal should have an end date. Without a time limit, your project could drag on, have unclear success metrics, and suffer from scope creep. Deadlines provide a sense of urgency, so that short-term tasks don't drag into long-term goals unnecessarily. If you haven't already, make sure you outline a clear project timeline.

Deadlines are crucial to implementing goals, since they pretty much force you to take action. If you want to have more focus time at work, you can decide to set a goal to only check your email for 30 minutes every day. But without a deadline, it's easy to brush it off. Imagine instead if you set a goal to only check your email for 30 minutes every day for one week-now, it starts to feel more attainable.

What are the benefits of SMART goals?

Making sure your important goals have all of the SMART components might be more time-consuming than setting regular goals, but the value you get from SMART goals outweigh the additional time spent on the goal-setting process. Goals shouldn't be something you set and forget-they're a key part of your project planning process. By setting SMART goals, you and your team will have:

1. Clear communication and alignment. When your project team knows exactly what they're working towards, they're more motivated and aligned as a team. Team members who know how their individual work contributes to broader company goals are 2X as motivated as their counterparts. Setting and sharing SMART goals can help you boost your entire team's motivation.

2. Clarity towards project success. Have you ever gotten to the end of a project and not really known if you hit your project goals or not? SMART goals help you set clear goals, so you can avoid vague or confusing goal language.

3. Clear roadmap and finish line. With SMART goals, you know exactly what you want to achieve and when you expect to achieve it. You've verified that these goals are realistic and achievable. And you know you'll be able to measure them to see if you hit them or not.

4. Trackable metrics. When you finish your project, SMART goals help you evaluate its success. Don't beat yourself up if you didn't achieve it. In fact, at Asana, we aim to hit about 70% of our goals. That way, we know we're setting challenging-but possible-goals. Whether you hit your goal or not, SMART goals can help you evaluate your goal, and you can learn from that.

5 examples of SMART goals

Ready to get started? Before you write your own SMART goals, here are five examples of SMART goals and how each goal meets the SMART criteria.

1. Business goal

Example: Produce at least three different types of large-scale marketing assets (e.g. ebook, webinar, videos, sales one- or two-pagers) per month for Q1.

Why it's SMART: This business goal is specific (large-scale marketing assets), measurable (three different types), achievable and realistic (this depends on how many project team members there are, but we can assume there are enough to cover the three assets per month), and time-bound (per month for Q1).

2. Team goal

Example: The product team will partner on five cross-functional projects focused on usability testing, customer surveys, customer marketing, or research and development during the first half of FY22.

3. Professional goal

4. Personal goal

5. Nonprofit goal
Read: How to build a strategic plan for your nonprofit (with template) Try Asana for nonprofits
6 steps to make your goal SMART

When you're ready to set your own SMART goal, start by writing your project goal as a sentence or two. Then, apply each of the five SMART attributes to your goal and make sure you cover all of your bases. Use this template to practice smart goal setting:

1. Initial goal: Write down whatever your initial goal is. Don't worry about it not being completely SMART-we'll get to that later in the template.

2. Make it Specific: Does your goal define exactly what you want to do? If not, re-work the language to make it specific to your particular project.

3. Make it Measurable: Have you established how you'll measure your goal once your project is complete? If not, add a way to measure success or failure at the end of your project.

4. Make it Achievable: Is your goal something you can achieve, given your project scope? Make sure this specific goal falls within your project capabilities.

Example, continued: Develop and use company-specific hashtags, in conjunction with popular hashtags in our industry, to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers.

5. Make it Realistic: Can your project team reasonably hit your goal? Even if it's a stretch goal, make sure this is something you can accomplish with your resources.

Example, continued: Post once daily on Instagram, and ensure every post has a mixture of company-specific hashtags and popular hashtags in our industry in order to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers.

6. Make it Time-bound: By when will you achieve your goal? Make sure you clarify your target date or time frame in your SMART goal.

Example, continued: Post every workday on Instagram for the first half of FY22. Ensure every post has a mixture of company-specific hashtags and popular hashtags in our industry in order to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers by June 30th.

Create a short-term goals template
What to do after creating your SMART goals

Do you track your goals in emails, meetings, or spreadsheets? If so, you're not alone. According to the Asana Goals Report, 53% of businesses track their goals via email, 36% track them in spreadsheets, and 31% track them in in-person meetings.

The challenge with tracking your goals is finding a way to connect your goals with your team's daily work. You've taken all of this time to create a SMART goal-keeping it front of mind can help you make sure you achieve it. At Asana, we believe goals should be closely connected to the work they're, well, connected to. Here's how you can do that:

1. Share your SMART goals with project stakeholders and team members

At the start of the project, make sure you surface your SMART goals to everyone involved in the work. Your SMART goals should guide your whole team as you work on project deliverables, so you know exactly whether or not you hit your project objectives.

The best way to do that is with a work management tool like Asana. That way, your team has a central source of truth with all information in the same place-from your daily work all the way to your project's goals. Instead of hiding your goals in docs, decks, and other hard-to-find places, connect them to your daily work so everyone is motivated, focused, and on the same page.

2. Check in on progress regularly

In addition to sharing your SMART goals with your team at the beginning of your project, make sure you periodically measure the progress you've made towards your goal. You don't want to work on the project and then find, at the very end of the work, that you've missed your goals. You've worked hard to set specific, measurable goals for a reason-you can use them as your north star, and course correct during your project if necessary.

The best way to regularly check in on your SMART goals is to send weekly project status updates. Status updates are a great way for you to highlight the important work your team did, any upcoming milestones, and whether or not you're on track.

3. Evaluate your success

SMART goals bring clarity to your goal-setting process-so you can gauge exactly whether or not you hit your project goals. If you did, it's time to celebrate! And even if you didn't, having such clear goals-and checking in on your goals regularly-can help you best identify what went wrong and where you can do better next time.

Remember, not hitting your goals doesn't mean your project was a total failure. You may have purposefully set a stretch goal to challenge yourself or your team. Even if you didn't set a stretch goal, it's more important to calmly evaluate why you missed your target rather than pretend it didn't happen. That way, you can learn from your mistakes and bring those learnings with you the next time you set SMART goals.

Set smarter goals

SMART goals can help your team succeed by bringing clarity into the goal-setting and project management process. When your team has clarity and is moving in the same direction, they're more likely to be motivated and to know what work to prioritize.

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Every team that's accomplished something phenomenal first had to set goals to get there. Teams that set goals can do great things like cure diseases, build more efficient and sustainable appliances, or make our oceans safer for whales and dolphins.