Set Precision Goals
by Dr Eugene Sern-Ting Tan
Why Set Goals?
Did you set any resolutions or goals for the current year? According to a survey in the United States, more than 90% of all New Year resolutions would have either been abandoned or broken as the year progresses. I hope you’re among the disciplined few who are still staying on track to achieve your goals!
I am a big fan of goal setting because I have done it for many years since my secondary school days, and have proved to myself that the simple process of writing down my goals really works in getting me more focused and motivated. Fret not if you are among the majority of people who have broken their New Year resolutions, or if you haven’t even set any goals to date. Here, I shall share with you how to create a SMART goal, which is a widely used and my preferred method of goal-setting.
Make Your Goals SMART
SMART is an acronym which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. These form the 5 basic elements of a well-set goal. There are many variations of this goal-setting method and some experts will claim that their strategy is superior. Ultimately, it will be good to distill these concepts and adopt the strategy that resonates with you.
In the following section, I shall share with you my personal insights on SMART goal setting.
Specific
Avoid stating your goal in a general way, such as “I want to be fitter”. Be as specific as possible, eg. “I want to attain a Silver award for my physical fitness proficiency test in August 2020”.
Measurable
Your goal should be measurable or quantifiable. Don’t just say “I want to be a better chess player” because you won’t know whether you have achieved your goal without a specific yardstick to measure or compare with. Rephrase your goal as, “I want to represent my school in chess competitions and achieve a personal win-rate of at least 70%.”
Action Plan
A goal must come with an action plan. There is no point writing down your goal and leaving it as that. For instance, if you want to pass your upcoming physical fitness test and you know your main problem is in the 2.4km run, then your action plan may be to jog 3 times a week, 30 minutes each time from now on, and start timing yourself in 2.4km test runs one month before the actual test.
Realistic
Your goal has to be realistic. Instead of aiming to be the President of Singapore, you can perhaps focus on becoming a grassroots leader first (even that is not easy), and if you excel as a community leader, you may eventually be considered as a candidate to be a Member of Parliament or even Minister.
Timeline
A goal should be stated with a timeline within which you aim to achieve it. Don’t just say “I want to score ‘A’ for Chemistry”. That’s very vague because you can score ‘A’ for Chemistry in a class test, in a mid-year exam, year-end exam, next year etc. To include a time frame, you can phrase your goal as “I want to score ‘A’ for Chemistry in the end-of-year semester 2 exam”.
Conclusion
Last but not least, it’s important to write down your goals and accompanying action plans instead of just creating them in your mind. Refer to them weekly or monthly to remind yourself to stay on track.
Now that you have a better idea of how to set goals with high precision and clarity, here’s wishing you best of luck in achieving all your goals for the year ahead!
“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.”