Being highly productive is a skill that many successful people value. When productive improves, you get more done, make more money, and still experience freedom in your life. You can improve productivity by clarifying your goals.
Be SMART
When you set goals, you want to set SMART ones. SMART is an acronym for:
- Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
- Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
- Achievable (agreed, attainable).
- Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
- Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).
Each goal you set should have SMART qualities.
Benefits of Goal Setting
Setting Up for Success
- Provides Focus – Using SMART practices will help you become focused on the results that you want to see. When you are results-focused, then it becomes easier to concentrate on getting the work done.
- Enables You to Measure Progress Better – Once you have a specific goal set, then you can measure your progress based on that. For example, if you’re writing a book, your target may be to write 1000 words a day.
It’s All About the Plan
- Allows You to Overcome Procrastination – When you set goals correctly, you’ll also end up with steps to take to reach them. You can transfer these action steps to certain days in your calendar. If you begin to feel overwhelmed, just look at today’s entry and do only that without a thought about the rest.
- Motivating – When you write out all your goals on paper, and you can look at what is happening, as well as track your progress, it can be very encouraging to keep ongoing.
- Makes Even Hard Processes Easier – If you are goal setting properly, you’ll create steps to accomplish it too. You’ll know how you’re going to do it before you start.
It’s All About You
- Fuels Your Ambition – The inspiration you’ll gain as you create your goals, and the steps to achieving them, will help you believe in yourself even more. You can see right on paper how things will happen.
- Holds You Accountable – When you set up goals and put the steps to achieving in your schedule, then you can see where you’re falling short or where you’re going forward.
- Shows You What You Really Want – The cool thing about developing goals is the ability to look at the finished goals. Then you can clearly see what you really want out of life. Then, this will become your area of focus.
Test Drive
Try this out with a few of your goals and let me know how it works for you. I’d love to hear from you.