Learning to set and achieve realistic goals empowers you to thrive in all areas of life. Clear, well-defined goals can help you exercise regularly, eat more healthily, improve your sleep, reduce stress, and ultimately play a vital role in your success. Short-term goals act as a roadmap, guiding your progress step by step. The SMART goal model outlined here will help you think through and evaluate your plans effectively.
SMART stands for:
Specific. A goal needs to be well-defined and clearly worded in a positive statement. Include details about what, why, who, and where.
Measurable. Your goal should be specific and measurable so that you have a way to track your progress.
Action-orientated. You are more likely to achieve your goal if it includes steps and actions you will take. The “A” can also stand for achievable or attainable, ensuring the goal is within your capabilities.
Realistic (and relevant). Goals motivate us to grow and challenge ourselves. But they need to be realistic to work for you.
Time-bound. You’re more likely to reach a goal if it has a deadline or time limit. Creating milestones makes it easier to measure your progress because it gives you a clear target and helps you stay focused.
Regardless of your bigger health and wellness goals, you can use the SMART goal model to help you stay on track. And while SMART goals are very specific by design, try to focus on their intent and bear in mind that the actual goals might need to be modified along the way.
You can use the SMART goal-setting method as a tool for achieving almost any health or wellness goal. Below are some examples of how you can apply SMART goals to different areas of health:
SMART goals for improving sleep
Tip: When starting your journey toward better nutrition, focus on slowly incorporating wholesome food into your daily meals instead of immediately adopting an overly strict eating plan.
Remember to write down your goals, along with your action steps, timelines, and how you’ll measure progress. This could be in a notebook, journal, planner or on your computer, tablet, or smartphone—whichever works best for you. Keeping a copy somewhere you’ll see often, like in your wallet or another convenient place, can serve as a helpful visual cue and daily reminder.
Focus on being consistent and patient in allowing your goals to have the desired results. Review your goals regularly to make sure that they still match your bigger plan and modify them as necessary. Your goals are your roadmap. They can also be your inspiration.
To set yourself up for success, your goals will ideally build on your past successes and experiences. Think about what has and hasn’t worked in the past when you’ve tried to make healthy lifestyle changes. What can you do differently this time that will help you? For example, if avoiding carbs was part of your previous weight loss goals and was unsustainable, a new SMART goal might involve reducing or limiting, instead of avoiding carbs this time. Or, if running for 30 minutes every day of the week was not sustainable for you, a new SMART goal could involve going for a 20-minute walk or run four times a week.
Other tips to think about when setting goals are:
Make sure your goals connect to the bigger picture and that you understand their importance and value. Ask yourself how reaching your goals will positively affect your life.
Set no more than a few targeted goals. Trying to reach too many goals at once can become overwhelming and unsustainable in the long term. Consider one or two at a time to get started.
When goals become “easy,” find ways to make them more challenging. Or move on to another area of wellness while maintaining your new habit.
Pair your goals with a habit that is already established. This will help the new goal become part of your routine.
Think about what needs to happen to start your goal now. If your goal is set to start too far in the future, create a new goal you can start within a few days.
Consider the support systems around you that will help you reach your goal.
Anticipate challenges. It’s OK if you don’t have solutions to all of them.
Think about your confidence level during the goal-setting process. While setting your goals, your level of confidence is an important part of making sure your goals are realistic. Your SMART goals should be achievable. They should be challenging enough to stretch you a little yet not so challenging that it’s simply easier not to do them. Use a scale of zero to 10 to evaluate your confidence level in a goal. Setting goals with a higher level of confidence helps to ensure that you’ve thought things through and are prepared to move forward with making lasting behavioural changes.
Finally, if your goal didn’t work out as planned, that’s OK. You can create new goals that better match your circumstances or implement a strategy to make the goal work better. If you exceed your goal or do better than expected, you can enjoy celebrating your additional success.