Turning Dreams into Reality: A Guide to Achievable Goals

When we set out to achieve a goal or a dream, we recognize that we have certain steps we have to make to get there. Sometimes, we only know what our first step will be, but nothing in between and that is okay! As long as you know what that first step needs to be, you can find your way from there. However, we must always remember that in order to get to that end goal or dream, we have to have smaller and easily attainable goals along the way.

When I was an instructor for the Army Family Team Building classes on the Military Installation I lived on, the third level is all about leadership. In this level, we discussed goals for leadership and where you want to be as a leader. The level prior is all about personal growth, where we also discuss goals, but it is more directed to our personal lives.

The one common thing between these two classes, was the best way to set those goals and how to reach them. Many people have heard of the term "SMART Goals". This is a very common thing for instructors to use to teach when it comes to the process of setting yourself up to successfully complete or achieve an end that you want. Maybe it's a promotion at work, or even just saving money for a trip. That dream business you always wanted to start? This can help you with that timeline. So today, I want to go over what this process is and how it will help you with any goal in your future.

What is a SMART Goal?

As someone who comes from a Military family, you learn to make acronyms a part of your daily life. This is just another one to add to your acronym dictionary. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Framed. The best set goals in life have each of these elements in them, no matter if it's a long-term or a short-term goal. However, if it's a long-term goal, you make find yourself having a lot of smaller goals interspersed; the reason for that is because your goals need to have realistic time frames. However, we'll get to that in a minute.

Setting goals isn't just a "this is what I want and that's it" situation. When you set a goal, you have to make sure you have a plan, or steps, to make it there. Sometimes that involves getting a degree, and sometimes it might be that you just need to make sure you have time or money to complete those steps. You never want to give yourself too much time to complete a step, or else you may wind up procrastinating; but you also don't want to give yourself too little time and not get it done. There will be times that these steps in your timeline may be something you do daily, weekly, or even monthly. Sadly, when it comes to goals there's no Google Maps or Siri to help us. The best analogy I ever had an instructor give me is that my long-term goal is my destination, and those short-term goals are my road map.

Let's go over each individual letter and break down what makes a SMART Goal. First, I'm going to choose an example goal. I'm actually going to use two; the first will be general goal about starting a business but I will also use my own personal one as an example, to be able to travel before relocating and settling down.

Specific

The S in SMART is probably the most definitive part of the goal process. While you have an initial goal, you have to be very specific about every aspect of said goal. Think back to maybe third grade, depending on which generation you come from, and remember what you were taught when it came to reading and writing. There are five questions you should always ask: who, what, when, where, and why. For this part of your goal setting, you need to tap back into your five W's again. Use these questions as a guide:

• Who needs to be included?

• What do you want to accomplish?

• When do you want to do this?

• Where do I want to be?

• Why is this a goal?

The who in this is very important, even if you wonder why it is. Sometimes our goals involve others, and we have to take that into consideration when we plan. If you want to build a business, you inevitably have to include future employees in the plan; do you hire people right away or wait until it's a little bit bigger? How many do you hire? Do you own it alone, or find a partner? This is why including who is involved is so important. In the case of my goal, it is important for me to think of the who due to the fact I wish to travel. I may have a significant other that will go with me; as I also have a Service Dog, I need to plan to have them with me as well. I will talk about my timeline later, but to show you exactly what I mean, I am making this plan for after my kids have graduated high school which is why they are not listed in my who.

The question of what is just as-if not more-important. You want to build a business? Great! What do you want to sell? Do you want an actual store frount or are you running it out of your home? The what, while important, can also be difficult sometimes because this is where you need to be specific. For me, my what I want is generally just to get out of the state I am currently in and move elsewhere; but I also want to see places before I settle down.

Now, we hit the beginning of the timeline; when. Is this initial goal a short-term or long-term? When starting a business, it takes time and paperwork. Depending on what you're selling you will have to get a specific license, as well as a Tax ID number from the government. We circle back to under what, and addressing if you want a store frount or are starting out of your home. Things like that take time, because you have to find the right place and sign lease papers; sometimes you may even need a business loan or grant. In which case also, do you go for a college degree for business or are you going to jump headfirst and deal with that later? Going back to my goal and how I mentioned earlier, my kids are not going to be with me; my when is after they are off to college and their own adults. So, I have about ten years to take care of all the smaller goals and steps I have to take in between now and then.

In the case of SMART goals, where is generally brushed over and is not considered important all that often. Personally, I believe where is important based on the goal. For starting a business, where is very important! You have to make sure that if you are in a good area for what you are selling. If it's food, you need to consider if you want to be located in a high food-traffic area i.e., a mall food court. There's a lot of competition, bigger and more well-known names like major food chains, and there are also very dead times of the year foot-traffic wise. In my case of traveling, where is only important that I know where I want to go, and where I want to settle down. In the immediate moment, where is not a big issue but it will become more prominent as the timeline goes on.

Now for the most thought-provoking question: WHY? Why is this a goal? Is it a long-time dream that you have always wanted to accomplish? Is it something that you know is going to take time and isn't just a "I can have this done next week" type thing? For starting a business, it may be a dream or possible a goal to not have to deal with having a boss over your head; if you own it then you are your own boss, right? For me, I have always wanted to travel but never really had the means to do it. Using the SMART Goal process, I can help myself be able to do that even if I'm not "young" anymore.

Measurable

When making a goal, you should have ways to make sure that you can check your progress. This is where the "smaller steps" I mentioned comes into play. Since I have a long-term goal, I need to have smaller goals to make sure that I can achieve what I want to at the end of my "when". My personal measurable and the one for starting a business can actually run along the same path. In my case, I want to be able to put money back and have a good chunk of change to be able to travel and not worry about not having an income during that time as well as have enough left in savings to be able to settle when I come to my final destination before I have to really worry. I would like to settle before I have to find work instead of having to find work in order to settle.

Starting a business is similar, you should be able to set money back so that if you need a loan or grant, your start-up costs will not eat into that money. Setting up a specific amount of time to have a certain amount of money set aside is both measurable and reasonable. In my case, I would like to be able to be steady enough with my debt-to-income ratio that I can set aside at minimum $300 a month; however, I have also given myself a six-month timeline to get to a place where I can set that much back. I will start with a lower number and work myself up to the $300 over that period of time. If I am unable to set that much back per month in six months' time, then I will go through the process of reevaluating what I can reasonably set aside; maybe even looking at how much I have been able to save per month over that period and adjust to something closer to that. From there, I can set a new goal of when to reevaluate again, and hopefully be able to increase that amount.

Reevaluating is okay! This is why you have the measurable aspect of your goals, to keep your timeline running smoothly. If you have to reevaluate your measurable parts, you did not fail; you acknowledged that you bit off more than you could chew and chose to fix it rather than scrap everything altogether.

Achievable

Now we have to take a look at your goal overall; if your goal is not an achievable goal, are you going to do what you can to make it achievable or are you going to change your goal entirely? In this part, you need to ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have the skills required to achieve this goal? If not, can I obtain them?

• What is my motivation for this goal?

• Am I giving the correct amount of effort required to be on par with what the goal will achieve?

So, let's break this down a bit. I, as a person, fully understand how confusing that last question sounds and will break it down into an easily understandable way. First though, I'm going to address the other questions.

Making sure that you have the skills that you require to do anything associated with your goal is important. If you don't have them, you need to be sure that you can obtain them. If you cannot obtain them, nor have them, it can and will be very difficult to achieve what you want to. Going back to starting a business, you have to consider what you are going to be doing/selling. Say it's a restaurant, can you cook/bake? If not, are you willing and able to go to school and learn? Fun fact, cooking is actually considered a trade school. Unlike college itself, there is no requirement to have a diploma from high school or it's equivalency. This means, it's a bit easier to obtain those skills. Being a Certified Nursing Assistant is the same way, sometimes you can even find a hospital that will hire you and put you through those classes themselves. Looking to my personal goal, the biggest skill that I have to worry about is my skills in money management. If my money management skills are poor, then saving is going to be difficult. However, there are books, classes, and courses out there that would help me learn to make that management better and then I could apply it in life. I am a big backer of Dave Ramsey's Envelope System. I was introduced to it by my parents who were taking a course on it when I was younger. I have adapted it a bit more to suit the needs of the fact that I don't carry cash on hand, as very few people do anymore, but it is still a system that works!

Motivation! Our whole blog here centers around motivation, doesn't it? What motivates you to want to open the business? What motivates me into wanting to save so I can travel? Try to find a positive reason for your motivation. Sometimes, you will see someone who is maybe unhappy in their job and when you ask why they do it or why they joined that career they're answer might be "because I was told that I couldn't". This is not always a negative motivation, but there are instances that it can be. Doing something to prove to others that you can do it just because they don't believe in you can have a negative impact on what you are doing. I attempted to join the Army when I was younger for that exact same reason; because I was told that they would eat me alive and spit me back out, that I would never make it. Due to health reasons, I was unable to join but I wanted to just to prove those people who told me I couldn't wrong. At that time, that was such a negative reason why! It hadn't been my lifelong dream, but the job I wanted to go into was. So, would I have been happy? Maybe; maybe not. Now? My drive is to see the world. I live vicariously through my military friends who have traveled, and I want to be able to see these place with my own eyes.

Now, to the confusing part. "Am I giving the correct amount of effort required to be on par with what the goal will achieve?" What this means, is are you giving the proper amount of effort to each step. For a goal like starting a business, this is a tricky thing to look at. Going to college to get a business degree or not? That is something you, personally, have to look at and decide based on yourself. Say something like that talk of savings and having to reevaluate the amount of savings for the period of time planned because you can't save that much? That is considered giving the amount of effort required. Especially if you choose a six-month period to begin, but then reevaluate and go "Oh, I need to do less now. But I'll circle back in two years to see if I'm in a better place to save more." That's good! That is adapting and realizing that you have to fluctuate is still putting forth effort to get to the end. Being able to do that will help make sure that your goal stays achievable.

Relevant

While it might seem that if it's your goal, it's automatically relevant, this part is more about ensuring that the goal makes sense in the context of your larger objectives, and it helps you avoid wasting time and resources on goals that don't contribute to your overall purpose. When you set a goal, it should align with your broader objectives, whether they're personal or professional. You want to ensure that the goal contributes positively to your larger plans and helps you move closer to your ultimate vision.

The relevance aspect applies not only to the overall goal but also to the smaller steps, or sub-goals, you set along the way. Each smaller step should be directly relevant to the overall goal. By making sure that both the overall goal and the steps you need to take are relevant, you create a more cohesive and purposeful plan for achieving your objectives.

When setting a smaller goal, ask yourself, "Will this help me get to the overall goal?" If the answer is yes, then it's relevant. If not, then you need to figure out why it's not and what changes can you make to make it relevant.

Time-Bound

When you think about your goal, is your timeline realistic? This, also, applies not only to your overall goal, but to the smaller ones as well. If you are opening a business and choose not to get a degree, you need to make sure that the deadline you set to have your business up and running and turning a profit is realistic to the fact that there may be somethings you have to learn along the way. If you choose to get the degree, you have to remember to add the time that you take to get it to your timeline or else your goal will be shortened and you will most likely be unable to hit those goals.

Do not forget that sometimes you have to reevaluate timelines as well! Remember the saving part? Six-months gone and having to reevaluate the amount of money saved, then setting another two-year mark to try to get back up to that original number? That is extremely realistic, because you are adapting to the realism that is life around you and what you can and cannot do. It is okay to have to adjust your timeline, especially with smaller goals. As long as the amount of time for each part of your goal is realistic, your goal will be achievable.

SMART Goals take a little bit of time but can be a very rewarding way to make sure that what you want, and what you are doing, is something that can be done. Whenever you decide to embark on a new part of your life, taking a couple hours (or days) to sit down and go through the SMART Goal process can make transitions and the overall process that much smoother. I highly suggest that when you can list a physical person to your "who" that you sit down with them and make your SMART Goal together. It never hurts to have extra eyes on what you're doing, and you can also keep each other accountable.

I know this was a lot today, especially for those who have been dealing with back-to-school times! But I hope that today's post will help you attain you next greatest dream on your adventure that is life! Until next time, my friends: stay healthy, and stay hydrated!