Whoever coined the acronym of SMART for goal setting is really smart. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. The only way to set life goals, pursue them and realize them is to ensure the goals you are pursuing are not in a blurred dream-like form. Your dreams ought to have been put under the microscope of questioning and sharply defined into targets that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound in order to be goals worth pursuing. Knowledge is needed. Research and data are needed to settle the boundaries of what must be measured, what is realistic and what is achievable.
And after you’ve got the designing of goals just SMART, it is important to note that setting goals is different from achieving them. Achievement demands more than being specific about the target you want. Or being able to measure your deliverables. It demands focus on and diligence about all the activities that feed into the goal. It demands commitment.
I found that to be the missing part of any goal achievement efforts after years of struggling with certain goals. No matter how smartly I wrote out the goals, loving bread more than greens have played havoc with my weight goals. Choosing novels over bible reading definitely affects my spiritual goals. So does a love of TV affect my reading goals.
So Commitment is the missing factor in the setting of SMART goals. Commitment is what brings diligenCe and being metiCulous. Just don’t set goals. Make saCrifices for your goals. Set your face towards them. Grit your teeth for them. If you can fit Commitment into the dreaming, writing and implementation of your goals, you will definitely aChieve them. Aha. I managed to fit in the C somewhere. It will take you to the Clouds of suCCess.