Smart Goals Template and Examples

What are the 5  Smart Goals? – A Quick Overview with Template and Examples

Goal setting is a must-have for individuals who want to become successful in their fields. Setting goals help you to map out a route for how to use your time and resources to achieve the aim. Like people around you, organizations should have clear goals and objectives in order to survive in today’s competitive business environment. However, not all goals can drive you to success. First of all, they should be established properly. But, which of the goal is adhering to smart rules? and What are the 5 Smart Goals? In this article, we will share a smart goals template and explore how you can use these special classes of goals to increase your possibility of success. By this means you will learn how to write your goals in an effective way.

What Does Goal Mean?

It is clear that you need to set good goals for achieving success in your business environment and personal life.

Many definitions can be given for the meaning of the goal. In sports especially in football, it refers to an area into which the players try to put an object. In our personal lives, all of us have small and large targets. For example, going to bed earlier is a small goal for a student. Earning a pay increase may be an example of a large goal for a development engineer.

So, a goal is a result that you are attempting to reach. It pulls you to success. However, setting goals that are not feasible will not provide you any benefit.

Although setting goals inspire project team members to push themselves, they may lead to disappointment when they are not achieved.

It is also important to recognize that it is often difficult to measure regular goals. Because you can not understand if you are performing real progress towards them.

Tip: Use a Smart Goals Template !! to specify your goals quickly.

You should also bear in mind that without determining an end date or a specific duration, you may easily give up when you face problems on the way.

For example, many people want to advance rapidly in their careers because they think it will make their life better. However, they don’t set a time limit and create a plan to achieve their goals. All they need is to set smart goals that are able to address most of the problems regarding regular goals.

What is S.M.A.R.T and What are the 5 Smart Goals?



Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals are SMART Goals. You can remember by using the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Peter Drucker first outlined the concept in his book “The Practice of Management” by introducing his Management By Objectives (MBO) model in 1954.

Then this concept received popularity with Professor Robert S. Rubin’s studies.

According to them, each goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound in order to become realistic and reachable, and applicable.

However, according to Professor Robert S. Rubin’s approach, SMART goals may be modified to SMARTER goals by adding two elements – Evaluated and Reviewed to highlight the importance of each goal’s efficiency.

Below are the 5 Smart Goals with examples. Using a smart goals template is a good way to write them quickly.

How to Use the 5 Smart Goals with Examples

Since childhood, many of us have been setting goals that are difficult to implement because they not realistic and poorly established. Following poorly-established goals often make you disappointed. Whether you’re a student or a high-level manager, setting SMART goals helps you to overcome many obstacles and achieve success. As discussed above, each element of the SMART approach forms a goal that is feasible and trackable. Let’s explore each element with examples.

( S ) SPECIFIC

Uncertain goals can not be applicable. Therefore, you need to set your goals clearly to specify every detail. For example, you need to say ” I want to earn 5000 USD per month this year” rather than saying “I want to earn more money”.

Try to answer the questions starting with “WHAT, WHY, WHO, WHERE, WHICH” to ensure you covered all the details to make your goal more specific.

( M ) MEASURABLE

You need to track the performance of yourself while reaching the goal in order to be motivated. Therefore, you should set measurable milestones to understand if you are behind or ahead of your plan. For example, ” I will earn 5000 USD per month this year”  is a measurable goal. If you earn less, you will take action to increase your revenue.

Measurable goals deal with “HOW MANY/ HOW MUCH” questions to address quantity and measurement.

( A ) ACHIEVABLE

Did you set an impossible goal before? Setting unfeasible goals is an obstruct to your success. Unfortunately, many people set impossible goals and they give up after a while later. If your goals are challenging but achievable rather than impossible ones, you will have a chance of success. For example, earning 5000 USD per month is an achievable target for an engineer rather than earning 100000 USD per month.

In order to set an achievable goal, you should consider time and resource availability to enhance your chances of success.

Note that using a Smart Goals template will help you to write Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals quickly.



( R ) RELEVANT

What makes your goal relevant? Your goals should be relevant to the overall objectives that you are trying to achieve. If they are not relevant, achieving them will not provide you anything on the way to success. Nobody wants to spend hours achieving worthless goals.

For example, in order to earn 5000 USD per month, I will attend courses and certification programs to improve my skills and update my resume to apply for manager positions.

( T ) TIME-BOUND

A good goal should be accomplished within a specific time period. A goal will not be SMART if it does not have a target start and end date.

For example, you need to say ” I want to earn 5000 USD per month this year” rather than saying “I want to increase my revenue soon”. Since you have a definite target date, you will be motivated and try to reach the goal.

SMART Goals Template

While setting your goals, it is a good idea to list these criteria and write a sentence corresponding to each of them. If you meet all these criteria, this means that you have SMART goals in place rather than standard ones.

In addition to writing down the criteria for a SMART goal yourself, you can also use a Smart Goals Template to set your goals easier. By using a SMART goals template, you can analyze your goals and understand if they meet the requirements or not.

If you use a template, it will be easier for you to set your goals in an effective way. A template will guide you while setting each goal. All you need is to think about your smart objectives and fill out each section given in the template.

smart goal template

Summary



When you use a template, it will be easier for you to set your SMART goals. In this article, we gave smart goals examples shared a Smart goals template to help you to create your own quickly. All you need is to print out the template and fill each section corresponding to each criterion.

Before setting your Smart Goals, we recommend you to think about the following steps;

  • Create an action plan and clarify how you are going to achieve your goals. Set milestones and decide actions to reach them.
  • Create a schedule and track your performance to understand if you will meet the milestones.
  • Analyze SMART goals examples of successful people and businesses to understand if your goals are applicable or not.

Note that SMART goals may change over time. Therefore you need to evaluate your goals as needed.

See Also

Cost Benefit Analysis Example

How to take notes

Further Reading

Setting Goals in Management by Objectives 

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2 Comments
  1. Avatar for paul marley
    paul marley 5 years ago

    I like it. However, I need the native file of the template. How can I get?

  2. Avatar for Alex Shadwell
    Alex Shadwell 3 years ago

    S.M.A.R.T goals enable us to set a goal with certain perspectives. I recommend using them and I use them myself.

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