Setting SMART Goals: Part 2 of 3

Next, we next tackle the "A" in SMART, which represents: Attainable.

For goals to be truly effective, they must be within reach. This is often the trickiest of the SMART steps, perhaps a bit more art than science. It is not sufficient to simply set goals that are easily attainable. In fact, psychologically, it can actually be detrimental to set goals that appear too easy. In these cases, self-sabotage creeps in, and little ground is gained. Goals should be challenging, but not impossible to achieve. Consider this scenario:

Imagine there's something you want but it's on a very high shelf. You'll have to take certain steps to reach it: perhaps a stepladder, and/or a stick to maneuver the item off the shelf, etc. When you retrieve the item, you notice a sense of accomplishment (which may be small, depending on what the item was and how badly you wanted or needed it, but a sense of accomplishment nonetheless). In contrast, if you need to reach an item that is easily accessible, you don't give it a second though, you just grab it, and there is no mental process at all; it is completely mundane. It works the same way with goals.

Challenging goals require more focus, more than one action step, and more attention from you. And when you achieve these goals, you feel a definite sense of accomplishment.

Goals that are too easy become mundane, and we don't give them a second thought. And unless they are necessary, we often don't take any action whatsoever to achieve them.

If your goal is not exciting and not challenging, consider making it an action item on your to-do list, instead of keeping it as a goal. Choose a goal that excites you and lights you up - and one that requires some work to achieve.

We'll talk more about that in the next piece: Relevancy.

Powerful goals are relevant to you, to your wishes and desires. The caveat here is to avoid choosing a goal that you think you "should" want, and truly focusing on what excites you and gets you fired up. For example, if you have to meet a certain sales quota in order to maintain your job or a particular pay level, don't make that your goal. Few people can get truly excited about things they know they need to do (when is the last time you got jazzed about paying your taxes?) A better goal would involve a dream, something you've always wanted to do (or have, or be) but haven't yet, an exciting possession, or a major achievement. Here are some examples: visit the Great Wall of China, vacation in the Bahamas, own a designer watch, be the number one sales rep in your organization, earn a specific amount of money that feels exciting to you, buy a house, marry your soul mate, etc.

Any goal can be exciting, as long as it's exciting to you -- that's the key to relevancy.

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