Be what? Be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

So often we dream of doing big things—making the world a better place, making lots of moolah, creating the thing of our dreams. And while being described as a “dreamer” denotes aspiration and ambition, how many of our dreams are forgotten as life distracts us from the things we thought we wanted?

Well, today is the day we go from goal-setters to goal-getters. Introducing SMART, a simple methodology to help you achieve your perhaps-not-so-wild dreams. 

SMART is an acronym for five elements of goal setting: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. It’s a simple tool used by people and businesses to go beyond the realm of fuzzy goal-setting into actionable planning by providing clarity, focus, and motivation.

Specific

You’ve probably heard of the term “start with your ‘why’”? In this case, let’s start with our “what.” What is it exactly you’re trying to accomplish? Your goal should be something that’s well-defined and focused. Like a target on a dartboard—something you can see vividly and clearly. Be as detailed as you can. We’re talking, yep, specifics. 

Think less about “getting more social media followers for your business” and more about increasing your social media followers by 1k in six months. Think less about “increasing your number of clients” to onboarding three additional clients and/or achieving $25k in new business in the next year. Think less about “wanting to publish and sell more original illustrations” and more about uploading six new illustrations to sell in your personal shop in the next year. Think less about “wanting to write more short stories for your blog” and more about publishing five new pieces to your blog in the next six months.

You get the picture (hopefully).

Measurable

Like in business, goals should be measurable. Otherwise we won’t have an accurate depiction of whether the steps we’ve taken were worth it. It’s important to have measurable goals so you can track your progress, stay motivated, and look back at the process to see how you can improve.

Check in on your social media followers at the halfway mark. Are you close to 500 new follows? No? Maybe you need to try a different approach, expand on the content you post, research your target audience (again), or pay to boost your posts.

Writing or illustrations stalling? Not close to hitting your goal? First, be gentle with yourself. Second, write and draw whatever comes to mind—and don’t toss it! Third, make an outline of the months you have left, what types of things you typically enjoy or think about in those seasons, and get creating. 

Achievable

We can’t make our dreams reality without actually being able to accomplish our goals. Yes, it’s great to shoot for the moon, but our goals have to be attainable. Not only do you have to ask yourself if your goal is doable, but you should also ask yourself if you have the resources and skills to accomplish your goal. A little savage, but a lot true.

Having the skills you need is kind of an obvious one. You might need to take an art class before you crush a still-life painting of the oranges in your kitchen. But the thing we often don’t think about is our resources. There are the technical, more obvious ones like a computer, tablet, paintbrush, etc., but there are other resources to consider, too. Resources like people!

If your social media is struggling, comb your network and reach out to someone who either crushes their social media content or gets paid to make a brand’s social platforms original and relevant. Feeling like your writing absolutely sucks (welcome to our life…)? Reach out to a friend and see if they’ll proofread your work. Maybe even see if there’s a copywriter friend out there who will give your work an edit on a regular basis. It’ll help hold you accountable, and it’ll help make you feel less alone in your work.

Relevant

This is our “why.” Be real with yourself and make sure your goal matters to you. Does it seem worthwhile? Does it help you get where you want to go in five years? How does it relate to your other short-, medium-, or long-term goals?

Do the things that are going to move you forward. And do the things you really care about. Truly enjoying (or at least being interested in) your goal will help bring it to life. It’s hard to take all the necessary steps to achieve a goal that either doesn’t serve you or is just boring as hell. Progression is the key. So forget perfection, keep your chin up, and make yourself proud.

Timely

Lastly, every goal requires an end date to help you stay focused on accomplishing it. Make your goal time-bound and be realistic with yourself. Devote yourself to chipping away slowly (but surely), and don’t let everyday tasks take priority over achieving your goal. If you don’t have a time limit, then there’s no urgency to start taking action towards achieving your goals.

This kinda brings us back to where we started—be specific. Gaining social media followers for your business is great. Gaining 1k social media followers for your business is better. But gaining 1k social media followers for your business in the next six months is a three-pointer (#sports). 

The hard truth? You’re letting yourself off the hook by giving yourself an open end date. You’re giving yourself an out, and you’re kind of telling yourself your goal isn’t that important. Don’t sell yourself short, and don’t let fear of failing stop you from doing the things that mean the most to you. Say you don’t get 1k new followers for your business? Say you don’t create six new illustrations for your personal shop? You regroup. You see how you fell short and by how much, and you use your… resources! 

Reach out to your network, your friends, or your family and ask them what they think. Maybe they think your goal was unrealistic or maybe they think your goal was unrealistic with its timeline. Maybe one of your industry friends has a tip for you. And imagine, maybe one of your industry friends has been through the same thing! Whew, this is a make-believe scenario and we already feel better. 

Now, go do the thing!