Who Created Smart Goals and How Can They Help You?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity, you may have heard of “smart goals.” But who created them and how can they help you?

In this blog post, we will answer those questions and more!

Smart goals are a great way to stay focused and achieve your targets.

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Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This means that they are clear and attainable targets that you can track progress on.

By setting smart goals, you can improve your focus and better utilize your time.

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Who Created Smart Goals?

Smart goals originated from the article “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management Goals and Objectives,” by George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham in 1981.

They have been used by businesses all over the world to increase efficiency and productivity.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of the smart method of goal setting but I find it to be really helpful when tackling goals.

How Can Smart Goals Help You?

This week it seems like I have been hit with 100’s of posts and emails about preparing for the new year so I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make the best plan to maximize the most out of the coming year.

I love the start of the new year because it is so full of promise and opportunity and it’s only a matter of how we use the year that separates us from having the best year ever or a not so great year. I feel like truly bad years are typically caused by outside forces that we might not have control over such as getting laid off, divorce, illness or a death of a loved one makes for a bad year.

We do have control over having a good, great or even fantastic year though.

I’ve been much better at setting and meeting goals so far this past year and can only hope to start getting even better at it in the future. I definitely have smart goals to thank for this progress.

I hope you will start using the smart method when setting your goals, too. It can be very helpful and make your goals stronger and the path to achieving them easier.

By setting smart goals, you can improve your focus and better utilize your time.

Smart goals can help you by:

– Providing a clear sense of direction

– Helping you to better utilize your time

– Allowing you to track your progress

– Keeping you motivated

Check out the method below and start applying it to your own goals when setting them. Hopefully it will be as helpful for you as it has been for me!

How Do You Set Smart Goals?

So here is how you set smart goals step by step. It’s not hard to do and so worth it if you want to set good goals that are worth your time and energy achieving them.

So the S stands for specific.

A specific goal has a much better chance of completion then a general goal. So try answering:

Who
What
Where
When
Which
Why

An example of this would be to not say I want to get healthy but to say I want to cut out fast food and have 5 fruits or vegetables a day.

The M stands for measurable.

You need to make sure that your goal has a specific way to measure progress towards your goal. This will help you stay focused and on track moving towards your goal.

So ask yourself questions about your goal such as:

How much?
How many?
How will I know when I’ve reached my goal?

The A stands for attainable.

The best goals should push you to try to achieve them but you want to choose goals that are realistically attainable. Like if you want to start exercising and don’t at all right now setting a goal of working out 7 days a week might not be attainable realistically bust saying working out 2 to 3 times a week might be the right place to start.

The R stands for relevant.

It’s important to set and try to achieve goals that are relevant to the grand scheme of what you want your life or business outcome to be.

The T stands for timely or time-bound.

You want your goals to have a start and date. If you have no time frame there is no urgency to try and complete the goal which is super important.

Who Created Smart Goals and How Can They Help You?

Let’s review…smart goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

This means that they are clear and attainable targets that you can track progress on.

By setting smart goals, you can improve your focus and better utilize your time.

If you’re looking to achieve success in your career or personal life, consider using smart goals. They have helped countless people reach their targets and fulfill their potential.

If you’re looking to improve your productivity, setting smart goals is a great place to start.

By following the simple guidelines above, you can create goals that will help you achieve your targets and reach new levels of success!

Give them a try today! You may be surprised at how much they can help you achieve.

Looking for some more inspiration on goal setting? Check out these posts:

or our eBook/Audiobook on getting goal setting done in 10 easy steps: