How to set goals? Make good use of SMART principles to create a 21-day action plan

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The author of this article is Miss Lucy Cheng. Thank you for writing for the “Practical Guide” website.

Have you ever been confused at the end of the year as to why 365 days have passed like this? (Why don’t you save much money?)

Or do you feel that your horse teeth are too long on your birthday? (But I have gained weight. What about the weight loss I promised?)

Or, after finishing a certain big project, you suddenly realize that you have no other life except work? (Some people may even panic when suddenly free!)

Or maybe you just want to get to the next level? (I want to be successful in my career, life, moral, intellectual, physical and moral qualities!)

I recently participated in the “Goal Setting Practice Conference” of [Practitioner Education Group] (https://www.chinesetraining.com/). Although this is not the first time I have done [goal setting] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2019/05/your-first-step-of-content-marketing.html), I still signed up for this course out of curiosity “what else I don’t know”. Here I simply excerpt some key points and share with you how to set goals:

1. Use the SMART principle

Everyone has heard of this SMART principle more or less! Let’s review it again:

• Specific: Set clear (specific) goals.
• Measurable: Set measurable goals.
• Attainable: Set attainable goals.
• Relevant: Set goals that are relevant to yourself.
• Time based: Set time-bound goals.

SMART principle is a method in Management by Objectives. The task of management by objectives is to effectively organize and control members’ goals to achieve better work performance. It was first proposed in 1954 by the management master [Peter Drucker] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BD%BC%E5%BE%97%C2%B7%E6%9D%9C%E6%8B%89%E5%85%8B).

2. Start setting goals

1. Write down 100 goals you want to achieve in the next five years.

Just write it down and include all the goals you want in life.

2. Delete unnecessary targets:

Including things you don’t want, are unimportant, or things you can’t do within five years, feel free to delete them. Remember, quality of goals is far more important than quantity.

3. Classify “career” or “personal” goals.

In order to balance “career” and “personal”, please classify it and pay attention to whether you are too biased in either direction; if the goal includes these two categories, of course it is okay!

4. Circle the goals you want to accomplish this year.

These 100 goals probably don’t all belong to this year, nor do they all belong to non-years!

5. Classify these goals one by one and put them into the following eight categories:

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Pay attention to whether there are two to four items in each category, and pay attention to whether your life is balanced.

6. Pre-write next year’s diary for today.

Imagine what your life will be like after completing this year’s goals? What kind of mood will you feel?

7. Share with others.

We made a promise to each other to witness it together next year!

3. 21-day action plan.

It takes 21 days to develop a habit. Learning one more action skill every day can help you manage your goals more efficiently during this period. Since the techniques are numerous and cumbersome, I won’t list them here, but you can regard 21 days as a practice cycle, and then review and revise after three weeks.

4. Steps to increase efficiency.

The course provides some methods, here are a few that I think are more effective:

1. Time management: Understand the value of your time.

• List the things you waste most time on and write down the average time wasted (60 minutes of scrolling on your phone every day)
• Calculate the value of your time based on your annual income and working hours (minimum hourly wage is 140 yuan)
• Calculate how much time is wasted, how much money is wasted (8,400 yuan a month!)

Even if it is the minimum wage, as long as you multiply the time wasted, it is still a lot of money!

(If you walk with God, you will definitely be judged!)

2. Time management: Recognize the importance

Many important but not urgent things are often pushed to the bottom of the list, such as maintaining health. To increase its importance, you can write down the results of procrastination. The more detailed and serious the results, the better. (Your health is ruined, your job is gone, and your income is gone. It will also drag down your loved ones, and you will not have the opportunity to develop interests and get along with the people and things you like…)

3. Execution plan

• Set things to be completed this week, this month, every month, and every year.
• Which of the eight categories the classification belongs to.
• Check the boxes for importance (low, medium, high).
• Confirm the execution person. If there is a relevant person for the target, authorize him to execute it.
• Execute planned items (60%) in order of priority, and reserve time for buffering (20%) and emergencies (20%).

These methods look simple! But after actual practice, you will feel some challenges, such as: Is the goal SMART enough? However, I think what is more difficult than setting goals is “confirming what you want”? This is a lifelong issue for many people, and because we have dreams and goals, we can start the road to the future; perhaps, we should set another item in our goal list to “confirm our ambitions”.

After listing the goals, you also need to realize that the “execution ability” to complete the goals is another challenge. In other words, we have to find ways to get ourselves moving and design whips and carrots that suit us.

Having said that, what else do you “don’t know” about this class?

What I think most is the difference of “stepping into the classroom”! Compared with reading books, attending classes has better learning effects for people who are not good at reading. It also allows you to see a lot of students communicating with classmates around you, observing other people’s goals, and further motivating yourself. Moreover, the teacher may call you out, call your name, understand that your goal is to quit smoking, and ravage the cigarettes you brought. Then, under the witness of everyone, I will ask you to sign the cut-off form, and then put it on the group, and let the whole class supervise you for the whole year…

You say, is it very touching?

However, because I attended a one-day course, I only had a small amount of time to practice with my classmates nearby, and there were not many opportunities for communication. It would be better if there is a mechanism for dividing the group into groups and arranging follow-up follow-up with each other.

If you think this method is feasible, why not start planning the implementation of this method now (you can also invite partners to do it together), and make a wish to make yourself satisfied with yourself in a year; use a year to understand yourself better and make breakthroughs in yourself.

Do you want to be able to smile brightly to yourself today next year and say: “I’ve done it all!”?

💡 Do you want to write copy that will get more people to like it? Take “Read slowly and understand in seconds” quickly. 💡 Want to learn content production and management? Come and sign up for the online course “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands] (https://hahow.in/cr/content-power)”.

💡 Photo Credit: Isaac Smith

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Further reading

• If time is fair, why can some people live more calmly? Take 3 minutes a day to activate your atomic habits with “micro-discussions”
• “Slow down for a second” philosophy: the pursuit of a fast and slow rhythm
• “Vista Cocoon Diary”: How to get rid of procrastination

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