SMART Goals And How To Set Them Up?
- 4 MINUTES READ
Have you already fallen behind on your New Year’s Resolutions or Goals for 2022?
Each year most of us set out our New Years’ goals, however little of us actually achieve them. Why? Maybe the goals were unrealistic or we had too many distractions get in the way.
However, for those who achieve, there is no better feeling. We want to share our top tips for setting out your SMART Goals, making this realistic and achievable for you.
Setting SMART goals ensures you have your own goals to strive towards. This is to ensure your motivation and commitment are in check without drifting from your set goals.
WHAT ARE SMART GOALS?
SMART goals put you on point to obtain what you want in life. These are clearly outlined goals that establish success for yourself. A solid target that you aim to hit over a certain period. When your goals remain unfulfilled, they probably aren’t SMART. With SMART goals, you are confident setting yourself attainable and achievable benchmarks that can lead to your development and success. These goals provide a sense of direction and a direct focus. “SMART” is an acronym that describes the most important characteristics of each goal.
The “SMART” acronym stands for “specific,” “measurable,” “attainable,” “relevant,” and “time-bound.” Your goals can be made to suit your own needs and expectations, depending on what you want to want from them. Each SMART goal should have these five characteristics to ensure the goal can be reached. Find out what each characteristic means below, and how to write a SMART goal that exemplifies them.
The 5 characteristics for setting SMART goals:
1. Specific
Establishing clear, specific and challenging goals that lead to higher performance. You cannot be vague with this. Setting goals so broad that you are overwhelmed becomes too strenuous to put into action. It’s important to make your goals specific because you’ll have a significantly greater chance of accomplishing those goals.
Saying you “want to start investing” is too broad. Instead, have a specific goal where you want to invest. e.g. “My goal is to earn X amount from investment property”. Set a clear track of your progress. Having a specific goal helps you to visualize your outcome.
2. Measurable
Once you have a specific goal highlighted, it’s important to be able to measure the success or completion of the goal. SMART goal setting involves tracking your progress. If your goal isn’t measurable, you can’t objectively say you’ve achieved it. To make a goal measurable, ask yourself: How do I get started? How do I know if I have reached my goal? What is my indicator of progress?
In our example, you can measure it as how much money you want to invest. Do you want to buy a property in 3-6 months’ time? What do I need to do to achieve this? How long is the planning and preparation time? Having a measurable goal in the form of a number is a sure-fire way of measuring and independently keeping track of progress.
3. Attainable
A SMART goal must be achievable and attainable. This will help you figure out ways to work toward your goals. Setting achievable goals means choosing an objective that requires you to push yourself. If you pick a goal that you know is outrageous the result may be disappointing.
Say you are currently earning $70,000 without any investment; you solely rely on your salary and if your goal is to purchase a $1 million home by the end of the year. You are most likely to fall short on your goal. When you create a sky-high goal that seems impossible to achieve, you eventually give up without starting. Set a goal that ensures you can achieve tangible progress.
4. Relevant
It is essential that any goals set for teams or individuals are relevant. Your goals should align with your values and long-term objectives. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You want to start property investing with an estimated income of $70,000 and savings of $50,000 but you don’t have any idea what to do or where to begin. It’s recommended you connect with experts who specialise in your goal that could help you to achieve your realistic goal. You can get yourself a dedicated and experienced property consultant to assist you on your journey to achieving this. This will also allow you to keep on track.
5. Time – Bound
You want to enter into property investing in X months that’s the timeframe you give for your goal. You can’t possibly have a 1-day timeframe for all the processes to achieve this goal – that’s completely outrageous. Setting a clear timeframe gives you a reasonable amount of time to accomplish your goal. Just like it’s not productive to set a deadline too far in the future for a simple task, or an unrealistically short deadline for something complex and time-consuming.
Having a clear timeframe is essential for checking your progress along the way to reaching your goal. If you don’t reach your goal within the timeframe, then it’s time to reassess: Was your goal specific and achievable? Was your time frame too short or too long? Did you make any decisions irrelevant to your goals?
When you create SMART goals, you map out what you want, you picture what you want to gain in your journey. If you haven’t achieved your goal within a certain timeframe, you can reset and there’s nothing wrong with re-setting your goals as long as you have clarity on why you didn’t meet them.
Why are SMART goals important?
When your goal is set as a SMART goal, you’re increasing your chances for success by verifying that the goal is achievable. SMART goals are commonly used in business, but you can also use them in your personal life; from creating a fulfilling life to mastering a new skill. No matter which area of your life you want to improve, this strategy saves you wasting time and resources. If your goals don’t have a specific direction, you will not know what it will take to achieve success, or if you don’t give yourself a deadline to complete steps, you may lose focus and fall short of what you want to accomplish. SMART goals can help you “ladder up” to the bigger goals you set when you identify your purpose.
Your complimentary strategy session
TIP:
If you need someone to keep your investment property goals accountable and to have regular check-ins to keep track of the timeline for the completion of the objective – reach out to the One Central Property team and we can arrange for a FREE 1-on-1 Strategy Session to map out your goals.
If you made up your mind to start property investing this 2022, you’re one step closer to fulfilling your SMART goal.
One Central Property will be with you at every step to achieve your goal. Speak with a dedicated property consultant today and discover how our experts help guide you through all those obstacles that you’ll face during your property journey.
Lets smash our goals this year,
from One Central Property
