To attain goals and striving for it will make your life meaningful. One should have a goal always to create the drive but must be set the right way to achieve the goals in the appropriate way. I learned a few years back in my graduate school days that the letters in the word SMART are very helpful in goal articulating. According to the word SMART, goals must be Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic & Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Specific and Measurable talks about on how you will express your goal. Be specific. If your goal is vague, it definitely shows that genuine commitment is lacking as well.

For instance, you have a goal of going on a trip by next year; you just don’t say “I like to travel next year.” Just be specific and instead say in what country you like to go to and all the other travel details, something like this “I like to go to Vienna Austria and I will stay in Intercontinental Hotel in Vienna.”

If you like to be an outstanding salesman, you may say “I will improve my performance and increase my sales next year by fifteen percent” instead of saying “I would like to sell much more next year”.

If you have goals, you need to monitor also if your goal is Measurable so that you may know if you are doing some progress with your goal. Develop some checkpoints in the progress and depending on the intensity of your goal, you may check your progress once a week, or everyday, or every other month.

Action-Oriented denotes that your goals need to take action. Take note that each and every goals cannot go on and move by being stationary and telling your goals that needs to take action thus releases the power that is available inside you naturally.

Realistic goals should be within your reach and should be attainable but still challenging. In addition your goal should be Relevant to your general plan and direction in life or else it will be damaging and will serve as a diversion to your overall aims and objectives.

A goal that is impossible to attain will not motivate you to succeed and make a go for your goals. Alternatively, whenever you achieve the goal in a basis of 100 percent, it is not considered a success for you. It really defeats the goal purpose of moving forward of making you strive harder and getting more resources that what you had earlier.

Time-Bound is the last smart goal setting rule. It is really not a goal yet until you are able to set a specified time frame within which your goal will be attained. Do set up the exact time when your aim will be accomplished and if it is a long term goal that is over three months, short term checkpoints should also be set so as for you to measure your progress easily and be able to correct yourself to go back in the right track whenever necessary.

As you go on, you may be able to discover if your goal is not realistic and not reachable. Be adaptable about your plan before considering any goal. Just remember that nothing goes exactly the way we plan it so adjustments may be made in order for you to stay on track and be able to maintain your motivation.

Some goal suggestions that may come in handy:

• Write your Goals. The planning process involves some thinking and writing as well. Thinking about your goals is another thing with putting your goals on paper. Writing it down will make your goals more meaningful, more concrete and more vital thus making your goals an agreement with yourself and a drive for action.

• Make your Goals Positive. If you say something, your mind will not be able to say no to think of something when told to do so. If you say something like this “I will not play video games today,” your mind will mechanically do more about the statement that you have said. Instead you should have mentioned in your mind something like this “I will work more effectively today,” indicating the same aim but more definite and effective.

• Make your Goals Personal. Your goals should be genuine and heartfelt and a goal that you wanted to do instead of something that you think you should accomplish. Goal reasoning should be strong enough to intensify your desire to work more effectively to fulfill all the goals no matter what your objective is.

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