Every January most Americans, and I dare say the world, set goals that they want to accomplish in the upcoming year. And by February most people have fallen off the track on achieving that goal.

Why is it that so many people fall off track when just the month before they said they really wanted to achieve these goals?
The reason can be multi-fold. It can be they don’t know how to set proper goals or they don’t know how to implement those goals.

Let us cover the seven components of any goal and how you can be assured you can get them.

For a goal to be more than a wish or a dream it must follow through a SMARRTY formula.

Many of you have heard of a SMART goal (using the first R). Others of you, like myself, have heard of a SMART goal (using the second R). However, for those of you where this is new, let us dive into this deeply.

S = Specific

For anyone to truly accomplish a goal you must know exactly what it is that you want to achieve. When you are specific, and I do mean an exact value here, you will be able to achieve that goal a lot more easily.

When someone sets a goal with the words “more” or “less,” they are not being specific enough. As an example, if you want to make more money in 2019 than you did in 2018, then someone giving you a penny has satisfied that dream.

When you say I want to make $75,000 in my online business, then you have set a specific goal.

M = Measurable

For any goal to be accomplished, the results have to be measurable along the way.

If your goal is weight loss, then stepping on a scale at any time will show you if you are on the right path.

Any goal has to have a way of measuring it. When it is specific and measurable, you can keep track of your progress and eventually attaining it.

A = Attainable

For a goal to be accomplished, it actually has to be attainable in the first place.  As a business coach, I will never say that you shouldn’t set lofty goals. Yet, you do want to set goals that are not setting you up to fail.

If your goal is for you to be in orbit of the Earth by the weekend that may not be attainable unless you are in an astronaut training program.

I have personally set some pretty lofty goals. Some of them I have actually accomplished while others I have only come close to achieving.

R = Relevant

For a goal to be accomplished it must also be in alignment to what you want overall. If it is unrelated to what you really want, then it will be much more difficult to accomplish it.  Relevancy is vital in keeping you synergistically aligned in achieving anything that you want.

R = Risky

For you to achieve anything you want in life will involve you being willing to do something different. Any change will also have some form of risk involved.
If it wasn’t risky, you would most likely already have it.

A risk is always in the eyes of the beholder. What is risky for me may be easy for you. And, vice versa. Never judge someone else’s risk until you know the story they have attached to it.

T = Timely

Time is one of the most critical aspects of setting a goal. A goal without a deadline is merely a wish.

If your goal is “someday I will weigh 180 pounds,” this means you have no commitment to that desire. By putting it in a time context like “I will weigh 180 pounds by the first day of Spring,” it has a completely different connotation.

All goals must have a timeframe in which to achieve it.

Y = Your Why

To me, when people talk about SMART goals and they don’t put in this component, then they are setting themselves up for failure.

Like with the time element above, a goal without a strong enough Why is just a dream or a wish.

The Why has to be so motivating that it makes sure you will get it. It is the thing that will get you up at 5:00 A.M. to go run 5 miles regardless of whether or not it is raining outside.

The Why is what will ensure you to get that goal. It has to be deep and personal. It is not the “I want to leave a legacy.” It is the “why you want to leave a legacy”.

In Conclusion

Setting SMARRTY goals on every goal that you have or want is the quickest and greatest way to ensure you live the life you truly want.

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of CHOICES Magazine