SMART Goals

When creating a plan to set your goals, it can be useful to use SMART goals which are a widely used acronym. This technique is often used in the workplace to help you work towards goals and it is also used as part of therapy goals in cognitive and behavioral therapy.  

SMART stands for 

Specific (For example, ‘I want to be happy’, try and think about making this goal even more specific, for example, I will listen to my favorite music or meet my friend).  

Measurable (define exactly how you will measure that you have progressed in reaching your goal, for example, I will monitor my mood on a scale of 0-10 where 0 is the worst I have ever felt and 10 is the best I have ever felt).   

Achievable (ensure that the goal is achievable and scale it back a bit if you think you are unable to do it. For example, if you think that you will meet your friend for a night out; try scaling it back to meeting for an hour in the day first).  

Realistic (this is similar to the above point, to keep the goal realistic and relevant to what your values and priorities are).  

Time (try to keep a time frame on when you wish to achieve your goal by, for example, I will meet my friend once a week for a month and I will regularly review how I am feeling using the mood review scale).  

Setting goals can be beneficial especially when breaking them down so that you really commit to them. Ask a friend so that you can support one another if it makes this activity easier! 

(Credit: Mandeep Jassal, Cognitive and Behavioral Therapist and Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Practitioner)