Psychology, lifestyle: SMART goals, part 1

Self-tutoring about ways of approaching goals: the tutor mentions the SMART system.

I’ve little doubt many, if not most, already know that SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It’s meant as criteria to give a goal the best chance for accomplishment.

SMART, it seems, tends to focus on short-term objectives. One might wonder if that’s because business has observed that short-term objectives are easier for people to focus on, and therefore adopt. In such a case, a long-term goal like “I want to exercise three times per week, twenty minutes each time,” can become “I want to exercise, this particular week, three separate twenty minute intervals.” One simply rolls over that goal at the beginning of each week, so it’s always short-term.

A cynic might point out that, either way, the result is the same: the person exercises three separate times, twenty minutes each, weekly. However, maybe, given human psychology, one viewpoint will work where the other won’t. After all, exercising three separate twenty-minute intervals this week is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Perhaps SMART, by making the goal a weekly assignment rather than a perpetual one, simply taps into human psychology in a more successful way.

Source:

atlassian.com

health.clevelandclinic.org

University of Minnesota: Effective U

betterup.com