Setting smart goals, based on your values, can help you to translate what really matters to you into what you are actually doing with your life and how you are spending your time. Goals are doing what it takes to live the life you want to be living.How do you go about setting goals that matter and that really help your life to get better?
First, before you begin setting goals, it’s a good idea to first get in touch with your values. Values can be defined as what really matters in your life, what you care most about, and what kind of person you want to be. They are ongoing qualities that define how you want to be living your life. They come from knowing what is most important to you and what you stand for. They are a guide and a focus for how you want to be in the world.
Values are not imposed from the outside, they come from within and from who you are as a person. When we are in touch with our values we are in touch with vitality, meaning and purpose in our lives. Our values are important to us whether or not others agree with them. If you would like to do an exercise to help you identify your values, follow this link.
To begin setting SMART goals, pick one or two areas that are a priority for you right now in your life. Some categories you might consider are work, education, relationships, socializing, leisure activities, personal growth, health, spirituality, work, community and environment, or family. Then ask yourself, what are my core values in the category I’ve chosen?
Is your goal Specific? You need to be able to tell if you’ve achieved it. A non-specific goal would be something like, “I want to be closer to my partner.” A more specific goal would be “I will schedule time this Saturday to take a walk outdoors with my partner for an hour and have a long, undistracted conversation.”
Is your goal Meaningful? Does it come from a value that gives you purpose, meaning and vitality? You need to be wary of goals that are based on rigid rules or on pleasing others.
Is your goal Adaptive? As far as you can tell, does it lead you in a direction that improves the quality of your life and that makes you more flexible and responsive to what’s really happening in your life right now.
Is your goal Realistic? Can it be achieved? You need to be realistic about your capabilities, including health, time, and financial resources. If your goal is not realistic, go back to your values and come up with a goal based on your values that is more realistic. For example, in the area of leisure activities used to do a lot of bicycling. This came from my values of being physically active and being in touch with nature. When back problems put an end to bike riding, I was able to use those same values and began hiking instead.
Does your goal havel a Timeframe? Goals need to have a deadline. If you don’t know for sure, you may want to estimate.
Write Down And Commit To Your SMART Goals
To put it all together, write down the area of life you want to work on and your values in this life area. Keeping the SMART guidelines in mind, complete the following:
•My immediate goal (something easy that I can do in the next 24 hours).
•My Short-term goal (something I can do over the next few days and weeks.)
•My medium-term goal (something I can do over the next few weeks and months)
•My long term goals (something I can do over the next few months and years.)
Barriers to Completing Goals: What Gets In Your Way?
Our minds will throw up negative thoughts that give us very good reasons why we can’t act on our goals, or can’t act on them now. Thoughts like “I’m too busy” or “I’ll get to it later” or even “I don’t want to” are common. This won’t be a problem if we don’t take these thoughts too seriously and recognize them as passing thoughts.
Do your goals exceed your resources or current capabilities? Do your have the time, financial resources, physical health, and support you need to proceed with your goal? If you don’t, you either need to create a new goal to obtain the resources you need to continue, or accept the limitations and set a different goal that you do have the resources to achieve.
Are you avoiding acting on goals to avoid the anxiety and discomfort that comes up with making changes and taking action. Remember that it is normal to feel anxiety and discomfort when trying something new. This is just discomfort, it doesn’t need to stop you. Learning to tolerate being uncomfortable feelings and thoughts can really free you up to take action. These uncomfortable feelings and thoughts are natural, but they don’t have to stop you. And they will change over time.
Are your goals really congruent with your values? If not, there really is no point in putting in the effort. You will quickly run out of steam. Remember that meaningful goals are not about pleasing others or rigid moral codes. They come from being in touch with what is truly meaningful to us. Knowing what matters can be a big motivator.