Last Updated on April 6, 2025 by admin
When I started my career as a content writer, one of my biggest mistakes was underestimating the importance of systems and frameworks.When I started my career as a content writer, one of my biggest mistakes was underestimating the importance of systems and frameworks. Despite working tirelessly to achieve my goals of booking clients and expanding my skill set, I struggled to make meaningful progress. Over time, I learned that while goals were important, a structured approach to setting and achieving them was vital. It wasn’t until I began using a SMART goal template that I saw real progress. But what exactly is a SMART goal, and how does it differ from a regular goal? In this post, I’ll explain how to set SMART goals and walk you through four free templates to help you get started. Table of Contents What is a SMART goal? What does each aspect of the SMART acronym mean? SMART Goal Templates What is a SMART goal? The letters of SMART stand for: Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Time-bound. The SMART acronym is a framework that will enable you to write goals that drive greater impact. Write goals with these aspects in mind, and you’ll be able to quantify how far you’ve come and how far you have left to go against your goal. When you reach each milestone you articulated in your SMART goal, you can celebrate knowing that you achieved something tangible and impactful. What does each aspect of the SMART acronym mean? While I explain each aspect of the SMART goal framework, I’ll apply the framework to a real-world example. Let’s start with a basic, non-SMART goal as our example and transform it into an attainable and measurable goal — “I want to get fitter.” 1. Specific Goal setting is often associated with striving toward our highest aspirations, and reaching those aspirations can seem daunting. Specificity helps us determine the path between where we are and where we want to be. → Ambiguous goal: “I want to get fitter.” There are innumerable ways to get fitter, and everyone has their own definition of fitness. For instance, do you want to lose weight? Do you want to complete more push-ups? Or do you want to cut a minute off your mile time? When a goal is vague, it is impossible to tell whether your actions will help you achieve it. If your fitness goal is to increase the number of push-ups you can do, following a running plan will not help you achieve your true goal. → Specific goal: “I want to be able to do more push-ups.” A specific goal makes your next steps clearer or, at the very least, narrows down the next steps you’ll need to take. 2. Measurable When a goal is measurable, you can easily track your progress. Typically, this means that a number will be attached to your goal. → Immeasurable goal: “I want to be able to do more push-ups.” → Measurable goal: “I want to be able to do 25 push-ups in a row.” A numerical goal is valuable for many reasons. In addition to giving you something to strive toward, you’ll be able to celebrate a victory when you reach the final benchmark. If you say that you just “want to do more push-ups,” does that mean that you want to complete just one more push-up per session or that you want to double the number of push-ups you can do overall? One goal will take a lot more time and dedication than the other. Let’s say I can do 10 push-ups in a row right now. To measure my progress against my final goal and to determine whether I’ve reached a milestone, I’ll edit my push-up goal to read, “I want to be able to do 25 push-ups in a row.” 3. Attainable Big aspirations are admirable, but balancing long-term goals with more achievable, short-term goals is important. Setting attainable goals involves evaluating your progress and adjusting your goals to be more realistic relative to your benchmarks. To consider the point in more concrete terms, think about business growth rates if your company has been selling 2% more product each month for the past 12 months: Unattainable goal: Sell 15% more product next month. Attainable goal: Sell 3% or 4% more product next month. Unattainable goal: 25 push-ups. Attainable goal: 20 push-ups. Keep in mind that 2% growth is the status quo. Selling 4% more product would still be doubling your month-over-month growth. Attainable goals are useful because they help you maintain momentum. It can be discouraging to miss huge targets, but consistently making small gains will encourage you to continue delivering wins. Each month, you’ll aim for the familiar satisfaction of hitting your target rather than dreading another seemingly major miss. Of course, a significant amount of work is still required to get to where I want to be. Still, I’ll be able to celebrate a huge achievement like doubling the number of push-ups I can do and use that momentum to drive me to set a goal of doing 25 push-ups soon after I achieve my goal of 20. Consider what you’ve done in the past in relation to the goal you’re in the process of setting, and adjust it accordingly. 4. Relevant Relevant goals will help you move in the direction you truly desire. You can allocate your time to infinite activities, but which activities will push you closest to your ultimate goals? It’s a common trap to feel like we’re being productive when we’re busy, even if our action isn’t creating a meaningful impact. In the beginning, our example goal was to “get fitter.” To ensure our goal is relevant, we need to ask ourselves if following through on this goal will help us get to where we want to be. In the case of our push-up goal, the answer is yes. Irrelevant goal: “I want to be able to do 20 push-ups in a row.” Relevant goal: “I want to