We have always set goals. Very useful when hunting for food. Setting goals creates focus. Or will the hunters in the past also have received the order from the cave: would you like to bring a deer this time? It may sound funny, but this is exactly where the importance of SMART and effective goal setting lies. Because let’s be honest, how many goals do you really achieve? Therefore a more in-depth look: How do you formulate your goal and how important can you make your goal?
Everyone sets goals
Think back to your school days. You had to get a passing grade for school. Now you always had those overachievers who went for at least a nine. Others were happy for a long time if she didn’t have to defend an insufficient at home. In any case, somewhere you will have done your best – I assume – and that in itself is already a goal.
However, there is a big difference between “I’m going to get a nine” and “if only I don’t get a fail.” Now you may think I am referring to the difference in the height of the figure? No, that’s not what I mean. It’s about how you set your goal. How do you formulate your goal and how important is the goal to you?
How do you formulate your goal?
Do you have to set goals in business? No of course not. You can handle that yourself. But if you want to grow, you still have to plant a dot on the horizon. If you then want to set a goal for yourself, there is now a clever reminder for that; set SMART goals. That is an abbreviation for a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and with a clear Time as an end point. For example: “I want to have a blog of at least 300 words written before the end of the day that tells exactly,
How you can set smarter goals. Notice that I write here in the past tense: “… have written a blog …” So I force myself to have done something for a certain time; a choice. Did I write down: “… I want to write a blog … before the end of the day …” then that is much less action-oriented, but rather a wish. Something I would like. Do you feel the difference?
How important can you make your goal?
It is not entirely clear who came up with this handy mnemonic SMART, but it is not entirely complete. I use SMARTER myself. The last two words stand for Emotion and Result. Maybe you didn’t feel like going to school very much before, or doing your best. This brings us to the E of Emotion. Goal setting is also about how much you want to achieve a goal.
To what extent have you connected yourself to it, or can you emotionally connect yourself to it? Of course, that also depends on how important the Result is, what the goal delivers to you. If it is of vital importance to you, then you will experience a different emotion than when it matters to you. By actively looking for what the goal will bring you AND what the realization of the goal ultimately contributes to,
But what about following my intuition?
There are entrepreneurs who prefer to follow their intuition. Is setting goals still part of that? However, this does not have to be at odds with setting goals. They use their intuition much more for what they are doing or want to do than what they want to achieve.
When your intuition directs you to go in a certain direction, an enthusiasm and passion often arises. This entails so much energy that higher goals are automatically set. That goal may even become very important. And thus ultimately a SMARTER goal.
