Are you SMART?

A list, then? How to make sure Step 1 is correct? In short, you can make it as accurate as possible, but you can't make it 100% correct, that's like living a perfect life. C'est impossible. You can make sure the goals you set for yourself are what you desire out of life, but no-one can tell you that you don't want something.

Think of three things you want out of life, right now. A perfect body? Endless patience? The social life of a rock-star? Someone to share life with? Fair enough. Those aren't SMART goals though. You've obviously heard this term before. For a goal to be SMART, it must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. Instead of saying “I want a perfect body!”, rather say “I want to weigh 75kg on 2013/09/31” or whatever.

Let's check: Is this Specific? Yes, I want to weigh less than I currently do. Measurable? I can certainly get on a scale and check. Achievable – Well, the plan is to do cardio three times a week, and eat less, so I should lose about 1.5kg a week. Another way of verifying this is to ask, “Do I have a plan?” Is my goal Realistic? I currently weigh 78kg, so if I lose 1.5kg a week, even with minor set-backs, I should easily get there. Time-bound it most certainly is.

I can personally vouch for this method of weight-loss. Three times now, I've lost in excess of 15kg, and I'm damn proud of it. What about other goals? Just apply the exact same checks, and visualise and really think about your goals. Become best friends with them. Write them down. I try to stick to 10 or less, then I don't become too scatter-brained.

Here's an example of two of mine now: “Do 5 meals a day until 2013/09/31 at 7:30, 11:00, 14:00, 17h00 and 19:00.” Why? I'm committed to eating more often, but eating much less at time, in an effort to speed my metabolism. Do something for a month, and it'll become a habit. And: “Complete my LinkedIN profile by 2013/08/25”. It's already close to complete, but here the goal fails slightly. It's time-bound, but it's too easy to say “Complete”. What does that mean? How will I know if it's complete? One way is perhaps when it doesn't offer me the option to “Improve your profile” any longer. It's not specific or measurable enough. Be careful not to fall into this trap. This one is ripe for looking at again, and rewriting it.

So, bearing in mind the list idea, follow along and just write down a list of no more than 10 big goals. You can divide them into categories, like I do. Exercise is one, my to-do list is another. I have 8 categories right now, but I don't have proper goals for each of the categories. What am I trying to achieve with the exercise? Perhaps I can't write a goal like “Live a long and happy life.” Hmmm, well perhaps the objectives within the categories should be SMART then, and not the categories themselves.

I'm going to apply a common design decree here. If a rule doesn't make sense for something, and it has to be used, feel free to bend the rule. So make the goals SMART as far as possible, but don't make them stupid. This is a list for scanning each day to make sure you're aiming for the right thing. Do this until Friday, and I'll walk you guys through a daily use of the system, and tell you all about B's, C's and D's.