Crushing Goals: The Power of SMART Goal Setting

How to set and achieve your life goals!

Did you know that humans have about 6,000 thoughts per day? It’s realistic to say that you can't achieve every goal or dream in life. It’s also valid to say that if you want something, nothing can stand in your way. Today on Smile with Sander, we’re going to talk about the framework for setting up strong goals and how your goals can help you achieve your dreams!

Manifest your dreams through your goals. I’m excited to start giving my time and my experiences to helping others through life coaching!

S.M.A.R.T Goals

When setting goals, you've probably heard of SMART goals. Well, I'd like to share SMART goals with a twist. SMART goals are specific, measurable, realistic, accountable, and time-based. This might differ slightly from what you've heard before because, in my belief, true accountability is essential for your goals to be attainable.

Example of Goal Setting

To start, let’s give an example of a SMART goal versus a not SMART goal.

Scenario: Let’s say you currently eat fried food about 5 days per week. You do so because you love fried food, don’t work from home, and are often on the run, making it impossible for you to not quickly grab McDonald’s or skip out on your friend's birthday dinner. Now you want to make a change, and your goal is:

Goal 1: “I want to stop eating fried food.”

Is this a SMART goal? I’d say no, and here’s why. First, it’s probably not realistic if you love fried food, and you often need to pick up quick meals. Odds are, you’re sometimes going to eat fried food, and it's going to be very difficult to just quit cold turkey. Second, it’s not time-bound. When are you going to stop eating fried food? We often tell ourselves a goal and then always have that “I’ll start tomorrow” mentality. In your goal setting, you need to tell yourself when you’re going to start that goal and follow through if you really want to achieve it. Lastly, with this goal, I could see there being some accountability and measurability issues because what counts as not eating fried food at all? If you take a single bite of a French fry, does it mean you've already gone against your goal? If you're celebrating your birthday, eating out, or need to grab a quick meal, and it turns out to be fried food, you might feel like you're not making progress toward your goal, and that can be discouraging. This is why you need to make your goals SMART! Here’s a rephrasing of that goal:

Goal 2: "I want to start only eating fried food once per week, starting in the year 2024."

Is this a SMART goal? With the addition of just a few words, this goal feels a lot better. It’s specific and realistic by giving you room not to go completely off eating fried food and allowing yourself to eat some on specific occasions. You can hold yourself accountable because if you know you already ate fried food once that week and you have a big birthday dinner, you can get a salad or something that isn’t fried. It's measurable because you know if you did or didn't eat fried food once that week, and it’s time-bound because you know you're starting this in 2024.

Practice what you preach. My 21 goals.

Why SMART goals?

Since my recent certification as a life coach, SMART goals have played a pivotal role in my life. Through this journey, I've come to deeply appreciate the significance of setting SMART goals for personal growth and achievement. SMART goals offer a structured path towards turning your dreams into reality. These goals are Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and they serve as powerful tools for guiding you along your path to success. In my own life, I've taken this concept to heart by setting 21 SMART goals across the 7 key areas of life: Fitness, Finance, Family, Field, Faith, Friends, and Fun. Every day, I commit to taking at least three intentional steps toward these goals, which has already begun to yield remarkable and positive transformations in my life.

I Challenge YOU!

I challenge you, the reader, to take out a pen and paper and write out 21 different SMART goals for yourself. Once you complete those goals, pick out the 7 that are most important to you and take at least 3 actions every day toward starting to achieve them. I can assure you that with more clarity on what you want to accomplish in life and more direction on the daily actions you can take toward those goals, you will start to smile more and transform your life in so many different ways.

If you’re interested in using the blueprint that I use toward achieving life goals, feel free to schedule a 15-minute intro life coaching call. I’m excited to start giving my time and my experiences to helping others and, most of all, toward watching you achieve more positivity in your life. Go crush your goals!