How to Launch a Teen: More on Goal-Setting

Today finds you continuing to add to your Action PotentiaList for one of your goals.

Any goal can be refined to be more specific.  This can be helpful in compiling a more complete Action List as well as providing clear indicators that you have reached your goal. 

One of the most widely used methods for establishing goals came out of industrial/ organizational psychology research in the early 1980s.  George Doran established five criteria to help more precisely define a goal.  He used the term SMART goal and suggested that goals should be specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time related.  Variations of these five criteria for evaluating and refining goals have been adopted by management experts, health care professionals, and those working in the mental health field. 

A goal is specific if it contains answers to the W questions: 

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why do I want to do this (reasons, benefits, values)?
• Who will I need to involve (for support, financing, advice) besides me?
• Where?
• Which aspects of the goal are essential and which are not essential but desirable?
• When will the goal be met?

If I look back at the goals I selected from my own Five Year Plan, I find that none of them are very specific.  Do I want to be nicotine-free or will I use a nicotine-replacement technology like electronic cigarettes?  Will I use support from Quitline?  Do I want to involve family or will I do this alone?  What is my stop date?  In order to answer these questions, I need to do additional thinking and research about the goal I have set.  This early planning helps make my goal more clear and attainable.

A goal is measurable when you have clear guidelines about how you will know it has been accomplished.  Since I frequently quit smoking for 2-4 weeks at a time, how long will I need to have not smoked a cigarette to say that I have accomplished this goal?  Three months?  A year?  Five years?

The assignable aspects of the goal identify the extent to which you must or wish to involve other people in this goal.  Those you will rely on for support must understand what you need from them and agree to provide it.  There are goals that can be accomplished without the input and support of others.  It is, however, the rare goal that cannot be more efficiently achieved through the use of networks of information and support.

Goals should be realistic.  For example, it would be unlikely that I could perform with the Mariinsky Ballet Company.

Finally, a goal has a clear timetable.  If a goal has not been or cannot be reached by a specific date, it should be revised.

The process of identifying these criteria will help you distinguish goals from aspirations.  We strive toward our aspirations and dreams by setting and achieving our goals.