But it’s actually the next part of our SMART goal series.
So far we have covered SMA in our discussion of SMART goals and now today we are taking on the letter R and it is either Realistic or Relevant or both. You can read the other posts first by going to the end of this post and clicking on Smart goals 1 and Smart goals 2. But let’s dive into the 3rd installment.
When setting the goals for the day or week, they must be reasonable. I don’t mean that they must be society acceptable kind of reasonable. I mean reasonable as in realistic. I want to be a unicorn is not realistic or reasonable. Yeah it would be cool but …… I want to buy a house – is a great goal but it’s not achievable today.
There should be a few paragraphs here about what being realistic is all about or relevant or reasonable, but I am guessing you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t get the jist of what I am saying. No one needs to be told what is realistic either. That’s for you to decide and no one else, certainly not me.
Timely is the next letter – T. You want your goals to have a time limit. Today I will xxx. I will accomplish X by Friday.
Imagine someone who beats themselves up every day because they haven’t reached their ideal place in life. They go around angry, disappointed, negative, unhappy, and just damn unpleasant to be around. They experience failure every day because they didn’t become rich, or buy a house, or get married that particular day. They live a life of failures and misery. Now picture someone who achieves, no, SLAYS, their goals each and every day. Maybe not all of them, but more often than not.
Think about the confidence this person operates with, knowing that they can get one step each day closer to their dream. Every day they can see the measured success from the day before. This person would most likely live in a state of joy, with a positive outlook. This person is probably grateful for each day as a new opportunity to smash some more goals.
Now think about the universe (or your divine being) responding to the energy that these two people put out into the world. Since we all know about the law of attraction, it’s easy to see who is going to have more doors opened to them, more opportunities than the other and able to reach the goal post first and happiest.
This is why the goals must be achievable today or within the week. There are bigger goals that can be set for a month like Pay my rent, or complete a program, or anything that’s going to take more than a day but you need to break that down even further so that you can get to those small, specific, achievable and don’t forget they must be able to be measured within that time.
Yes or No it was accomplished is a measure, so set yourself up for success with goals you know you can smash by breaking them down into the very smallest steps possible. The more success you have, the more success you will experience. It’s like when a player gets “in the zone” and everything they touch turns to gold. The universe responds to your energy.
So conversely, if you are feeling low, your vibration is low and grumbly or high pitched screams, set some super small goals for the next hour, 2 hours, etc. to find some success with. I will not punch anyone in the next hour can be a smart goal to help you out of a bad situation.
You will come up against walls at times. You may find that you are unable to accomplish something that particular day for whatever reason. Yeah, you’re probably going to get angry when you arrive somewhere for an appointment and find the person went home sick or you couldn’t make it somewhere because the bus broke down. Not letting these things derail you is key.
You are going to experience failures but even failures can be turned into a success because you found a way that something won’t work, or a path that ends unexpectedly. Maybe you just don’t feel like it today, it’s raining and cold or in my case right now, it’s 4,000 degrees outside and you don’t want to move. The key to this barrier is to change your time frame to a week, or another day or whenever you honestly believe you can get it done. Set yourself up for success each time.
Don’t change it to tomorrow if you know the weather is going to be the same. Make tomorrows goal to get an umbrella, or find an alternative ride, or maybe it’s release some anxiety by going to have fun. Fun is another crucial part of this success pie. I know I am mixing all sorts of metaphors and analogies. But having fun is part of the game.
Remember that other guy who lives in misery? Does he ever have fun? Probably not, having fun makes a deposit into to your self reliance bank. Sometimes it takes a withdrawl as well, like if your idea of fun is going to the casino. But weigh those out. Will you be making more of a deposit into your overal joy than missing the withdrawl you took to do so.
Is there a better way to do this? Of course, there is always another way to reach your goal and your path may lead you to try many ways. Each time you try something that doesn’t work, you are closer to the way it will work. Michael Jordan found 9,000 ways NOT to make a shot. That’s pretty damn successful!