If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, they will take you places that will amaze you.

- Les Brown -

You may already know about the importance of goal setting and have read or heard about the Harvard Study on the subject.  If so, the significance of the findings justifies my citing the research.  However, if you are not familiar with this study, I am sure you will find it fascinating.

In 1979 Harvard University asked its graduating class how many of them had specific goals and plans to achieve them.  They found that 84% had no goals, 13% had the unwritten goals (ideas in their heads), and only 3% had written goals.  In 1989, ten years later, the University contacted the individuals, and their findings were amazing!  The 13% who had unwritten goals were earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. Even more astonishing, the 3% with written goals and a plan to achieve them were earning 10 times more than the other two groups combined.  I repeat --- the 3% with written goals were earning 10 times more than the 97% with no goals or unwritten goals.  This most quoted study illustrates the importance of not only setting goals but also writing them down.

 Now you may be thinking that money is only one measurement of success, the one that represents the financial aspect of life.  Yes, that is true.  However, finances affect all the other areas including:

The above is just a partial list of how money can make the quality of your life better.  There are many other ways as well.

To help you reach all your goals this year, including financial ones, I am providing a revised version of the traditional SMART goal setting formula.  I created the acronym of SMARTER to more accurately reflect what is necessary to set and achieve goals.

 S – Specific

Your goals should be as clear and precise as possible.  For example, a goal of graduating with honors from Georgia State University or New York University in 2012 with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration is a much better goal than graduating from college in 4 years with a Bachelors degree.

Our minds can focus better on those targets that are clear and specific, enabling us to better achieve them.

M – Measurable

Make sure you quantify your goals in terms of definite figures.  A goal of making $100,000 a year is far better than a goal of making lots of money.  That is because you can determine whether or not you are close to earning $100,000 and make adjustments if necessary.  However, it’s not possible to tell if you are close or far from earning lots of money because the goal is too vague.

A- Ambitious

I believe there is a huge difference between items on your “to do” list and real goals.  The former are easily obtainable.  The latter are challenging to reach and cause you to move outside of your comfort zone.  The quote by Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, reflects my feelings:  “A good goal is like a strenuous exercise. It makes you stretch.”  An article in Wikipedia® supports my idea of making your goals ambitious: “Highly successful people routinely step outside of their comfort zones to accomplish what they desire.” So always remember, ambitious goals can reap huge rewards and great success.

R – Real aspirations

Make sure your goals reflect your own desires.  You may be saying to yourself: “Well, that seems obvious. Why wouldn’t my goals reflect my desires?”  The answer is very simple.  The impact of marketing, advertising, and “trying to keep up with the Jones” can cause us to want things we might not otherwise aspire to have.  Just think about all the items you have purchased or things you have done that were not part of your original plans. 

T – Time Based

Know when you are going to start working on your goal.  When will you review your progress? When do you plan on completing the endeavor?  The answers to these questions are major keys to setting and achieving goals. 

At age 27, I said to myself: “I am going to go to college.  I should have gone when I graduated from high school like my friends did.  But I am going to go someday.”  Do you know what happens with someday goals?  Unfortunately, not very much.  When I was 29, I was still thinking about college.  At 32, I was upset and frustrated that I had not gotten started yet.  When I was 33, I said, “I am going to be enrolled by the fall”.  I did not know where I was going to go or how I was going to pay for it.  However, I wrote it down as a goal with the start date being September.  That was the year I finally went to college.

E – Energize your goals with action and enthusiasm

Until you act on your goals, they are just “ideas waiting to happen”.  You must put forth the effort needed to make them a reality.

As you move forward, do so with enthusiasm.  One of my favorite quotes is by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nothing great happens without enthusiasm.”   This quote does not say that nothing happens, but rather that nothing great happens.  So if you want to achieve great success, you must be excited about your goals.  This enthusiasm keeps you highly motivated.  It gets people excited about helping you.  It also helps them remember you. 

R – Review your progress

Periodically review your goals to figure out what is working and what is not.  Then you can choose from four types of action:

Repeat – We keep moving forward because things are going as planned.

Rearrange – Sometimes we have to reorganize certain things in our lives so we can make progress on our goals.  For example, we may need to spend less time holding idle conversations with friends, watching TV, or going to the mall to shop.  By cutting back on these types of activities, we can have more time and energy for our goals.

Rewrite – We might need to revise our goals because of unforeseen circumstances that have surfaced.  Or maybe we need to re-evaluate our goals to determine whether we set the bar too high or too low.  Be willing to rewrite your goals if necessary.  Maybe you can finish your endeavor sooner or maybe it will take more time.  Possibly your initial target needs to be increased or decreased.  It is all right to make changes after you have given the situation careful consideration

Release – We may find that we no longer want to pursue our original goal.  Maybe we have lost interest in it or perhaps circumstances in our lives have changed so dramatically that we must put the goal on hold indefinitely.  Give yourself permission to release a goal once you have made a sincere and persistence effort to achieve it.  If you find that you must release a goal, then replace it with a new one.  Benjamin E. Mays says, “The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”

Now that you have the SMARTER formula, I hope you write down your goals and move forward to make them a reality.

Donna Satchell, President of STARR Consulting & Training is a speaker, trainer and author.  She provides programs in customer service, team-building, time management, public speaking as well as motivational speeches which inspire individuals to live more successful lives.  Please visit www.JustGetSerious.com for information about products and services as well as to view videos of Donna’s speeches.  Contact her at 770-498-0400 or Donna@JustGetSerious.com.

Copyright 2006-2007 - Donna Satchell   All rights reserved. 

Permission is granted to reprint this article provided this bio and contact information are included in the publication.  Permission is also granted for reasonable editing, including article title change.