The word SMART in SMART goals worksheet is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The concept of SMART goals is relatively new as it came out in 1981 when George T. Doran introduced it in one of the papers he had published.
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SMART Goals Worksheets
What are the 5 SMART goals?
Creating a SMART goals worksheet comes with its own guidelines as it involves a very specific type of goal-making process. Before creating a SMART goals template of your own, you must first understand each of the letters in this acronym.
- Specific
This means that you shouldn’t set ambiguous goals. Instead, they should be both concise and clear. For instance, instead of having a goal like, “I would like to lose weight,” your goal can be, “I would like to lose twenty pounds in three months.” As you can see, the 2nd statement is more specific and this is a better goal. - Measurable
An important part of keeping your motivation in accomplishing your goal is to keep track of your progress. Doing this enables you to create milestones for you to celebrate whenever you meet your goals or re-assess when you don’t. To do this, you should have one aspect of your goal that you can measure or evaluate. - Achievable
Although impossible goals might motivate you for a while, you will eventually give up on such goals. Instead of setting impossible goals, it’s better to try goals that will challenge you while still remaining achievable. - Relevant
The goals that you set should have relevance to your life’s overall plans. To make beneficial goals, you have to make sure that they’re worth your effort and time, achieving them will provide you life with positive benefits, and the goals have relevance with the other goals you’ve set for yourself. - Time-Bound
To make effective goals, you need to have a target time to achieve them. For instance, instead of having a goal like, “I would like to read more books,” your goal could be, “I would like to read twenty books within six months.” By analyzing the choices, you can see how the 2nd goal will be much more motivating since it has a target date attached to it.
Before you start writing your SMART goals, it’s recommended to jot down your criteria. After that, you can describe how your goal fits into each one. If you can create a goal that fits all of these criteria, you would have developed a SMART goal will be more beneficial than “standard goals.”
SMART Goal Templates
How do you write a smart goal?
A smart goals worksheet is very versatile as it covers different areas while still fitting into one sheet of paper. Here are some steps to guide you as you make your own smart goal format:
- Your goal
It is here where you define in the simplest terms as possible, what you expect from your goals. Your goals should be no more than 2 to 3 sentences, include what you need to accomplish, and include a target date for completion. - The significance of your goal
Consider this your own personal reality check. Most people tend to set impossible goals they desire to achieve but aren’t willing to provide the effort necessary to accomplish them. Explain here the reasons why the goal you have set is important and that it’s something you want to pursue. Try not to set too many goals as this will make it too challenging for you to achieve all of them. - Your SMART goal checklist
This is the core of the SMART process and it’s what separates the actionable SMART goal worksheet from all the other goal-setting worksheets. When going through these steps, make sure to review your goals for all of the steps of the SMART process.
For instance, if the goal you thought of in the 1st step meets the criteria on the checklist, you can check the correct box before you move on to the next. Should it fail to meet the criteria, make some revisions before moving on. - Identify any potential complications or issues
This is also a very important section. Many who set their goals end up failing because they don’t consider the possible issues they might encounter. Remember that every goal may have a couple of obstacles that would send you off track. Writing down these potential issues, complications or problems will keep them fresh in your mind so that you can avoid or deal with the issues as they arise. - The target completion date
This is the second section that makes mention of the importance of the target date of completion for your goal. By providing this date, you will reaffirm your goal and the deadline you have set for yourself. - Create a list of actionable steps for your goals
There are some goals that are very simple and won’t need any actionable steps. But other goals are more complicated and may need more planning from the beginning. Specifically, these actionable steps are the ones that you may delegate to others. By doing this, you can make your goals more achievable too.
SMART Goal Formats
What are some goal setting questions?
When making your SMART goals worksheet, it can be very helpful to write down goal setting questions as these can be a useful way to make ambiguous aspirations or ideas into concrete plans.
It is also as important to write these questions down even if it might take longer for you to make sense of them. Following are some examples of questions for your goal setting worksheet:
- What is your definition of goal-setting?
- What aspects of goal setting are important for you to ensure that you will find success?
- What kinds of goals are more likely to make you feel motivated to achieve them?
- Do you have a process for setting SMART goals?
- Why do your goals matter?
- What kind of goals should you pursue?
- Do you have a process for setting team goals?
- What strategies can you apply to overcome issues in setting and achieving your goals?
- How do you develop a plan of action to help you achieve your goals?
- What techniques can you use to achieve your actionable steps?
- Do you have a process for setting personal goals?
