As the end of December approaches, expectations from the upcoming year begin to be discussed. In this context, some people also love to set goals for themselves for the upcoming year. Therefore, we can say that Christmas includes setting certain goals and making a plan to achieve them, especially for people who like to do this. There are studies in the literature on how to set the accurate goals in order to achieve success in reaching the goals. One of them, the Smart Goals, is an effective method used in both clinical, industrial and daily life contexts. Doran treated the Smart Goal method as an acrostic of certain effective target attributes (1981). These effective target attributes are as follows: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. This method of smart goals has been recognized by businesses to be a valuable tool for achieving success (Lawlor & Hornyak, 2012). If this method sounds right for you related to personal purposes, it might worth to try this year. Let us consider the criteria of this method one by one.
Specific: Making the goals specific and detailed is an important first step. It is very important to match effort and results. Even if the effort is truly admirable, it only makes sense if it brings results and success. In this way, time and resources are not wasted in the process. Simply and specifically written goals leave no doubt as to what is intended (Les MacLeod, 2012). When writing your goal, the more specific you are, that is, the more detailed you create this goal, the more effective you will be to take the first step towards reaching the result.
Measurable: Based on the principle "you cannot manage what you cannot measure", which is widely used in the field of management, it can be said that the goals must be measurable in order to measure the degree of success accurately. Specific measurement criteria will eliminate any possible ambiguity (Les MacLeod, 2012). In short, as the quote summarized, it may not be easy to measure whether you have achieved success if you do not set a goal that you can measure. Finding a way to measure a goal will help distinguish between failure and success (McKay, et al., 2019). In addition, measurable goals or measurable sub-goals towards a large goal will also support the motivation of reaching those goals.
Achievable: If the targets are not set in a reasonable way in terms of available time, ability and resources, possible failures and disappointment will occur (Les MacLeod, 2012). The reality of the person and the reality of the target are important in this context. The person should be able to reach the goal in terms of the current position of the individual and in the specified time-period. Setting goals that cannot be achieved in the first place may create an impression in the mind of the person that he / she will not be able to achieve them while trying to reach the goals, and therefore this opinion may have negative effects on the motivation and productivity of the person. Achievement possibility of the goal, on the other hand, can have positive effects, as it can have an effect on the person's belief in success and motivation in the process. For example, if the goal of the person is to walk for an hour, 5 days a week, the person will feel her success when she completes her walk for the first 5 days and the next week, she will be more motivated towards the particular goal.
Relevant: In a study, which is aiming to evaluate the quality of goals in the clinical practice of pediatric rehabilitation via using the Smart Goal criteria and assess whether the goals are considered achievable from both the client's perspective and the expert's perspective, the appropriate objectives are; It is presented as acceptable in relation to factors such as the child's age, diagnosis, and performance before starting treatment (Bexelius et al., 2018). In other words, the criteria of the relevant goal concept are the overlap of the characteristics of the person and of the goal. For example, in order for a high school-age child to prepare for the written exam for the math lesson one month later in a month to be a realistic and relevant goal, the child must have at least a level of performance and knowledge to complete the subjects within a month. If it is understood that the child's performance and knowledge level or other characteristics will be insufficient to achieve the exam in the specified time, it will not be relevant or accessible to set this goal.
Time-Based: This criterion specifies the time limit. The time limit implies that the targets will be achieved within a certain time or by an agreed date. Time limits with uncertainty such as 'as soon as possible' are not suitable for goal setting. Without a predetermined deadline, there will only be a general idea of the deadlines and no clarity (Les MacLeod, 2012).
All the elements of this Smart Goal method can be considered when setting new goals. If a goal is sufficiently specific, measurable, achievable, relevant / realistic and time-based (time interval specified), the motivation and probability of success towards that goal will also be higher. In short, what I have presented here is a method you might want to consider when entering the upcoming year: SMART GOALS. I hope that you will be able to set smart goals at the end of this year and at the beginning of the other year, and achieve these goals on healthy days.
Research Asisstant D. Nihal Çarıkçı
İstanbul Gelişim University Department of Psychology
REFERENCES
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Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.
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McKay, M., Wood, J. C., & Brantley, J. (2019).
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Lawlor, K. B. (2012). Smart goals: How the application of smart goals can contribute to achievement of student learning outcomes. In
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Smart Goals Word Document
