5 Ways to Make Your Goals Even SMARTer this Year

In my post yesterday, I asked the question “How SMART are Your New Year’s Resolutions?“  We examined our goals to see if they were Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Now that your goals are SMART, you may be wondering what the secrets are for turning them into reality.  That’s what I want to share with you in today’s post.  We’ve transformed our wishes and resolutions into real goals that we can actually accomplish, but how do we do that?

How do these goals that we’ve written down become a driving force in our lives that takes us down the path one step at a time?

5 Ways to Make Your Goals Even SMARTer this Year

It’s taken me a long time to figure out that I can create the perfect goals on a sheet of paper but unless these goals become part of me they are almost as useless as having no goals at all.  Never forget that your goals are exactly that – YOUR goals.

It’s your future, your road, your life that is impacted by the failure or success of these goals.  Writing goals that look great on paper, but are put into a drawer to be thought of no more, is pointless.  Your goals must be a reflection of the true you.

#1 How Will I Feel When I Accomplish this Goal?

What is it that you hope to attain through this goal?  What is it that this goal will bring into your life?  How will you feel when you cross this goal off your list?

Take a few minutes, close your eyes, and imagine what accomplishing this goal will look like in your life.  Stephen R. Covey says that

To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination.  It means to know where your’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.

Being able to clearly picture your destination, and attaching how you will feel when you reach it, is key to making your goals become a driving force in your life.

#2 Who Will I Have to Work with to Accomplish this Goal?

I’ve found that no matter how personal a goal may be there will always be others involved in accomplishing it.  As an entrepreneur, we must think about all of the people that will be part of making our goals become a reality.

How will you have to work with your employees, suppliers, clients, competitors, advertisers, investors, and so forth?  List out the people that will affected by your goal and plan how you will need to work with them.

#3 What Do I Have to Do to Accomplish this Goal?

As you have probably surmised already, spending this much time developing your goals means that a goal is much more than a simple to do list.  A goal is a conglomeration of many to do lists ordered to accomplish a greater task.

Spell out what you need to do for each goal to make it become a reality.  For example, you’ve set a goal to increase sales $100,000 this year from new customers.  What do you need to do to accomplish this goal?

If your average sales from existing customers is $1,000 each then you will need to bring in 100 new customers to reach this goal.  This means you need to bring in 2 new customers per week.

You may further need to define prospect meetings, number of leads, etc. depending on the goal.  Make sure the road to achieving the goal is clearly mapped out with everything you will need to do.

#4 Who Do I Have to Be to Accomplish this Goal?

Gandhi said that we must be the change that we want to see in the world.  In many ways, this applies to accomplishing our goals.  If our goals are really going to become a driving force in our lives then they will change who we are.

We must become the type of entrepreneurs, the type of people, who do the things and think the way that someone who has accomplished our goals does.  This could be becoming an effective salesperson, an attentive listener, an inspiring leader, or a compassionate person.

If we were already what we needed to be to accomplish our goals then we wouldn’t need to set those goals.  Unless we are willing to become the person that acts and thinks like the person who accomplishes our goals, we won’t.

#5 With Whom Will I Share Accomplishing this Goal?

Whose life will be impacted by accomplishing your goal?  Just like it is difficult to accomplish any goal without others, it is impossible to accomplish your goals without affecting others.

How will you impact the lives of those around you with your goals?  Earlier I asked you to close your eyes and imagine how you will feel when you’ve accomplished this goal.  Do the same for those around you.

Make your goals bigger than just yourself.  Expand your vision and enhance the lives of others.  These types of goals are always more rewarding than you can imagine.

Related posts:

1. How SMART are Your New Year’s Resolutions?