Elektra from the Journey Podcast shared a drawing of her SMART goals for April in our DBT Discord. I’ve actually never done any SMART goals so this one looked interesting to me. I didn’t really get any of the things I wanted to be done for March so I think I’ll try and tackle it again for April.
I looked around a bit to read up about SMART goals and I’ve pulled a few things from Wikipedia and other websites to give myself a basic outline of what I should be doing for these.
1 – Make your goal specific.
Make it something attainable. I’m not going to lose 20 pounds in one month. Consider some quantifiable terms and determine what you need to do to get there. An example of this would be “I want to get healthier.” Versus “I want to start dieting and exercise to lose X amount of weight.” This takes a broad goal and gives you specific goals, which leads right into the next step…
2 – Make your goal measurable.
After you set your specific goal, take some time to figure out how you will measure it. Being able to measure this will take into account what you put towards implementing your goals and what progress can and will be made. Following the earlier example: “I want to get healthier.” A measurable goal might be: “I would like to stop eating junk food and replace one meal a day with a protein shake. I will also try to exercise at least 3 times a week. I can measure my progress by weighing myself.”
3 – Make your goal achievable.
After you make a specific goal and evaluate how you can measure it, think about if your set objective is achievable. How long will it take, potential obstacles and methods of measurement are all factors to consider. Being realistic and making the goal achievable will help keep you working towards the end result. If you pick something too drastic and hard to achieve, you won’t make any progress. Examples: “I will lose 20 pounds!” Versus “I will adopt some healthier habits and see what my weight is like after I have been practicing them consistently. My doctor has told me that losing 1 pound a week is within healthy parameters.”
4 – Make sure it is relevant.
Relevant goals relate directly to a skill or professional development strategy that you want to improve. Oof, this one feels a bit harder with the example I’m using. I suppose that means, “I would like to get healthier, so I will set aside 30 minutes every day to work out.” Making it more relevant would be, “To aid in my goal of becoming healthier, I will cut my calories to X amount each day, drink Y glasses of water each day, and do one 15 minute exercise each day.”
5 – Create a time-bound schedule.
Time-bound means the timeline you set for working towards your goal. How long it will take you to meet milestones and eventually achieve your final result. Is this a short-term or long-term goal? From there, you can decide the timeline and set a schedule for yourself. So that means, “I would like to lose weight and get healthier.” Once you add the time-bound criteria that become, “I would like to lose 10 pounds in 3 months and keep it off.”
So if it wasn’t absolutely obvious in my post, I’m going to be working on weight loss for April. I let myself slip quite a bit and gained back all the weight I lost earlier this year. I’m feeling the pudge and I honestly have been eating my feelings pretty badly. I’m trying to be kind and gentle with myself, but I can’t help feeling upset and frustrated. Let’s see if we can get the SMART goals going and spring into Spring with some fresh feelings and motivation!
Thanks for stopping in today! I’ll see you guys tomorrow!
Atelier Whootique 