In industrial and organizational psychology, the importance of setting clear and motivating goals is well-known. For example, it is critical in performance management, vocational guidance, marketing, and sales.
Without goals companies and people are lost.
Let’s say you want to travel but you don’t know where to go, so you begin to drive without a specific destination. The risks are getting lost, going to places you are not interested in, and spending a lot of money for road tolls, gasoline, and accommodations. On the contrary, if you have defined your destination you can set your navigator to find the shortest route, find pleasant and well-priced accommodations in advance, and plan to sight-see according to your interests. The results—you save money and time, and you are happy.
Try to answer this question: “What do you want?”
You may not have a clear and precise answer. Maybe you replied with something vague, such as “I want to be happy”, “I want a job”, or “I want to have a good career”.
Why is it so difficult to reply to this question? Because we are often confused, we don’t know exactly what we want, or how to achieve it. Defining what you really want is tough, but it is worth it.
Setting goals and achieving them is a skill, and is of vital importance for your success and wellbeing. Goals provide us with direction, help us stay motivated, and allow us to achieve great results.
An effective way to make your goals clear is to use the SMARTS goals method (Smith, 1994).
Specific: What do I want to achieve?
Measurable: How much do I want to get or earn?
Action oriented: What actions do I have to take in order to achieve my goal?
Realistic: Is it achievable? Can I do it?
Time-phased: When do I want to achieve it? When do I take any single action?
Self-determined: Is the goal important to me? Am I interested in achieving it? Is it stimulating and challenging? Do I really want it?
To make the difference between a bad goal and a smart goal clear I will give you two examples.
Bad goal: “I want to increase sales and my income.” This is too general and vague, and is not effective.
Smart goal: “I want to increase my sales by 20% within a year (December 31, 2017). I will begin by increasing the number of phone calls to prospective clients from 50 calls to 100 calls a day. Then I will increase the number of face-to-face appointments for commercial presentations to prospective clients, from 10 to 15 presentations per week. Is it achievable? Yes. I just need to work one extra hour per day. Is it important to earn more money? Yes.” This is a smart goal because it is specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, time-phased, and self-determined.
Set specific goals, don’t waste time, and be happy.
Dr. Andrea Miriello
Business Psychologist
Consultant, Business Coach, and Trainer