Are you achieving your goals? Do you write them down?  

For the next month, I challenge you to pick one SMART (1) goal and write it down. Think about something specific you’d like to accomplish, and instead of letting the idea flow in and out of your head, pick up a pen and write it down, or put it on your calendar. 

Writing your goals down helps in a few ways. Having daily, visual, reminders of your goal keep them the front of your mind. Documenting goals helps with encoding, where our brain decides what gets stored or discarded from long-term memory, and people who document goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to accomplish them (2).  

After writing down your SMART (1) goal, think through the steps required to make it happen. 

Maybe your goal is to make it to the gym before work 4 days per week.  

What do you need to do to accomplish that? Maybe you need to commit to an earlier bedtime, set your gym clothes out the night before, or ask a friend to hold you accountable. Maybe you need to hire a trainer for one day a week to get you in the groove of going to the gym early.  

Whatever the goal is, you can accomplish them by writing them down and thinning through the required steps to ensure success in getting started and staying on track. What is your goal?  

 

References: 

  1. Doran, G., Miller, A., & Cunningham, J. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management goals and objectives.Management Review, 70(11), 35-36. 
  2. Murphy, M.(2020).Are SMART goals dumb? www.leadershipiq.com/blogs/leadershipiq/35353793-are-smart-goals-dumb