Skip to main content

SMART Goals

When setting goals and objectives for your business, or even life in general, it is important to make sure that those goals are S.M.A.R.T. 
This is a system with which you can evaluate your goals in order to make sure that you will have the best results. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Specific:
For a goal to be SMART, it must be specific. Let's say that you want to increase sales. That can't be the end of your goal, as it isn't specific. An example of a specific goal is "I want to increase sales by 11%".
Measurable:
How will you determine whether or not you've reached your goal? This why it is important that it is measurable. There are many ways to do this, from software which tracks impressions to monitoring levels of income. The important thing is that the effect of what you are doing is traceable. 
Attainable:
It is always important to make sure that your goals are attainable. You should challenge yourself and set your sights high, but that does not mean you should set too difficult of goals.
Realistic:
This is quite similar to Attainable, however, there are differences. For a goal to be attainable, it simply needs to be possible. For it to be realistic, it also needs to be probable. When setting a realistic goal, make sure that you consider each step of your plan and mark any obstacles that may impede you.
Time-bound:
You must have a time-frame for your goals. This is a must, as most plans require a budget, and a budget pretty much requires a start and end date.
An example of a SMART goal would be thus: 
I want to meet three new people by noon this Friday.
Let's check.
Is it specific? Yes. I state that I want to meet three new people.
Is it measurable? Yes. I can easily count each new person I meet.
Is it attainable? I am writing this on a Tuesday afternoon, so yes, I would say it is possible to meet three new people before Friday.
Is it realistic? Yes. I could simply walk outside the office, and within a short distance I could easily come into contact with new people.
Is it time-bound? Yes. The end-date specified for this goal is Friday at noon.
These are simple questions you can ask about nearly any goal you set in life. If it meets all five requirements, then you have a SMART objective. If not, maybe it's time to rethink.

 Let's talk soon,
Jacob

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Personal Opinion Of Sound In Advertising

Sound is most commonly used when advertising over radio (obviously) or some sort of music streaming service. This makes absolute sense, as those types of media are entirely reliant on sound. I am writing this post today to discuss my opinions on the use of sound in some of its forms. Sound is clearly a very broadly defined word. I can be talking about music, voices or even - if you ascribe to the same philosophy as Simon and Garfunkel - the complete absence of sound; silence. I actually want to start with silence. Silence can be extremely impactful, drawing your attention to the visuals in order to compensate for the lack of noise. When done correctly, this can ad a true sense of gravity to a moment. In the context of advertising, silence can be an excellent tool when seeking to grab attention. People have a tendency to lose attention during commercial breaks on television, and so a very sudden shift, from music and voices to utter silence, can have quite an affect, causing the viewe
1 comment
Read more

SWOT

What is a SWOT analysis? A SWOT analysis is an in-depth look at a business's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Each of these is equally important. Obviously, it is important to figure out your strengths, but why your weaknesses? Weaknesses are areas where you could stand to improve. One weakness may be that your social media is not up to par, or that your store is too far out of town. Some of these are easy fixes, and some are more difficult. Opportunities are things that have to possibility of becoming strengths. One such opportunity could be a prime location, or even a large under-utilized twitter following. Opportunities are important to note, as they may become the base upon which you build your strategy. Threats are anything that threatens your business. Most often this list is mainly composed of competitors, both direct and indirect. However, I have learned that one thing which should always be on a list of threats is apathy. Apathy is the number one thre
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Paying For Color Worth It?

When working on a plan to advertise, one of the bigger decisions you may have to make revolves around whether or not to use color. It is, of course, possible that budget limitations may prohibit you from using color at all, or that you may have such an excess of funding that the extra cost associated with color printing is a non-issue.  But let's say you land somewhere in the middle. You have the money, but maybe not a huge cushion in the budget. How can you justify paying the additional charge that so often comes with using color? One of the primary advantages of color is that it makes your ad pop. On a page of black and white images and print, it is easy to simply scan over yet another grey-scale graphic. Color, even on a page surrounded by other color ads, gives your ad the chance to truly stand out. This is not to say that black and white ads can't have a similar effect, but it is more difficult to guarantee that the ad will be noticed. The other reason why color is so
Post a Comment
Read more