assignment smart goals

How to Set SMART Goals (+ Examples and Templates)

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We all have goals — to be more successful in what we do, to enroll in a university, improve our skills — the list goes on. Goals are what sets thriving people apart from everyone else. 

As Norman Vincent Peale, an advocate of the positive thinking movement, once said:

“All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to be or do.”

But are your goals always worth pursuing?

Are your goals always even possible to achieve?

Are your goals tangible?

Those are all difficult questions ⁠that often surpass our ability to answer in a straightforward, systematic, and logical way. 

Luckily, I’ll offer simple criteria you can use to determine the value of any goal — they’re called SMART goals. 

In this guide, I’ll also lay out the answers to the following questions:

• What are SMART goals exactly,
• How and when to set SMART goals, and
• When SMART goals are not that smart.

As a bonus, I’ll give you a few SMART goal templates to use in your work and life and touch on how to write SMART goals you’ll stick to.

Let’s get rolling! 

What is a SMART goal?

The acronym SMART stands for 5 characteristics of a goal that you should consider to be able to achieve the goal successfully. Each characteristic is represented by 1 letter in the SMART abbreviation:

• S stands for Specific — specific goals are straightforward, precise, and can be easily defined.
• M stands for Measurable — measurable goals constitute points of reference you can use to assess whether you are successful in progressing toward or reaching the said goal.
• A stands for Attainable — attainable goals are realistic in the sense that you have a reasonable amount of time, money, and skills to reach them.
• R stands for Relevant — relevant goals hold particular importance in your life, the project you’re currently working on, or your business as a whole.
• T stands for Time-bound — time-bound goals “bind” you with a specific time frame you’ll have to work on to call your efforts a success.

In other words, SMART goal setting helps you elaborate your aims and desires — and make an action plan. In fact, setting SMART goals increases the possibility of achieving your goal. 

Interestingly, SMART goals are also known as SMART criteria or SMART objectives, too. But no matter your SMART goals definition, don’t pass on this opportunity to make them part of your routine.

For an illustration of SMART goals, take a look at my example of cutting time for processing data in Excel below:

How to write SMART goals?

By now, you might wonder, “ How do I write a SMART goal and how do I apply this framework to real-life scenarios? ” 

I’m glad you asked!

The application of SMART goals varies. In any case, you can use these criteria to decide whether your current career goals are worth pursuing or if working on particular areas of your personal development would be beneficial enough.

To help you wrap your head around the matter, here are 5 critical steps to follow on your SMART goals journey. Let’s get started!

Step #1: Make goals specific 

Specific goals are well-defined and precise enough so that you won’t steer away from achieving them. 

Let’s take a look at an example. 

If you say that you want to be in marketing, that’s a nonspecific goal.

It’s what you usually say to your extended family when you want them to stop bugging you about when you’ll get a job. Again, it sounds nice, and it may even impress your grandparents — but it’s too broad to motivate you to act on it. 

On the other hand, suppose you say you want to land the position of a Junior Marketing Specialist in a Boston tech company. Now, that’s a well-defined, specific goal you can strive for. 

Let’s look at a few prompts to use when crafting your SMART goals.

Questions for specific goals

If you want to make a goal specific, consider answering a few questions. You don’t have to answer all of them, but the more questions you answer, the more specific your goal gets. 

Here they are:

• Q1: What is the goal?
• Q2: What are the details of the goal?
• Q3: What do I want to accomplish with it?
• Q4: Who is involved?
• Q5: Where is it going to happen?
• Q6: What resources are available?

Examples of answers that prove the goal is specific :

• A1: I want to land a Junior Marketing Specialist position.
• A2: I want to apply for 10 job calls each week during the month. At this rate, I’ll land a job faster.
• A3: I want to feel financially stable, enjoy my work more, and generally feel better about myself.
• A4: I’m the chief person responsible for getting the job. Still, I’ll also talk to a few mentors and industry peers to learn how to land a good position.
• A5: I’ll spend a bit more time online, researching and applying for jobs. I’ll look at job boards and create my own portfolio website.
• A6: I’ll have advice from my mentors and the network I’ve established over the years. Also, I’ll ask previous employers to write me recommendation letters.

Step #2: Make goals measurable

Measurable goals consist of specific milestones with clearly defined criteria that help you track your progress on your way to achieving them.

For example, if you just say that you’ll study for your Monday math exam, you might not be actually able to follow through with this plan. 

When you define your goal without a specific, actionable plan, you don’t have any distinguishable milestones to help you stay on track. 

But let’s assume you say that you’re going to study for your math exam for 5 hours each day, leading up to the next to the last day before the exam when you’ll revise everything. Now, that’s a measurable goal with clear milestones and a plan you can follow (and a plan you can stick to).

So, let’s explore 3 questions and 3 answers of measurable goals.

Questions for measurable goals

If you want to make a goal measurable, consider answering the following questions:

• Q1: How will I measure progress?
• Q2: Do I have the necessary tools to measure my progress?
• Q3: How will I know the goal has been accomplished?

Examples of answers that prove the goal is measurable :

• A1: To measure my progress (or lack thereof), I’ll check in with my goal tracking app of choice and get a report on how much time I spent studying for the math exam.
• A2: I’ve recently subscribed to the Clockify goal tracker to track my progress daily. Also, I’ve set a clear learning goal with areas where I expect improvements, like algebra, geometry, and arithmetic.
• A3: Simple math will tell me whether I have accomplished my goal. If by next Monday, my time tracking report shows that I’ve spent 5 hours a day reading, studying, and learning for the math exam, I’ll consider it a success.

💡 Clockify Pro Tip

Whatever SMART goal you set, you should measure and keep track of it with a fitting tool. Here’s the definitive list of the best goal tracker apps you can use for this purpose:

• 12 Best goal tracker apps for 2022

Step #3: Make goals attainable 

Attainable goals are realistic enough for you to successfully reach them. 

Saying that you’ll lose 30 lbs in 1 month is usually not attainable .

In fact, you can expect 2 outcomes that can come from such an overachieving goal — and neither is favorable:

• You go on a strict diet and exercise routine. You stick to your diet without faltering and exercise hard every morning. But, ultimately, you fail because losing that much in such a short time is near impossible.
• You feel discouraged by such an unfeasible goal from the start. So much that you give up without even trying.

On the other hand, saying that you’ll lose 3 lbs every week for a month by eating healthier and exercising regularly is attainable .

With such a reasonable goal, you’ll have the best chance to stay motivated throughout it.

Next, let’s dive into 5 questions and 5 answers of attainable goals.

Questions for attainable goals

To make your goal more attainable, answering the following questions might help:

• Q1: Do I have the financial capacity to accomplish my goal?
• Q2: Do I have the skills and willpower to accomplish my goal?
• Q3: Will I have access to help when needed?
• Q4: Do I have all the necessary resources?
• Q5: Do I have the time to accomplish the goal?

Examples of answers that prove the goal is attainable :

• A1: I have enough money to join a gym and consult with a professional trainer.
• A2: I’ve previously already lost 13 lbs within a month on a different occasion. As a result, I firmly believe I can do it again.
• A3: I’ll have access to a personal trainer, helpful advice from my nutritionist friend, and additional support from my family.
• A4: I have all the necessary resources at hand, as my city has several great gyms. I also have an enviable selection of healthy food in the neighborhood supermarket.
• A5: Considering that I work remotely 5 days a week and my job comes with flexible working hours, I can spare 1 hour per weekday to go to the gym — and I have enough time to prepare healthy meals. I can easily spare even more time for the gym and food preparation on weekends.

Step #4: Make goals relevant 

Relevant goals are the ones that directly impact your progress and are particularly important to you.  

So, to actually stick to your goals till the finish line, you need to make sure your goals are relevant. 

Say you want to major in economics. That sounds relevant and worthwhile, right?

However, you’re not the least bit interested in economics. In fact, you don’t plan on pursuing a career in economics. 

That right there makes it an irrelevant goal, as it’s not clear what you’ll get in life by working toward it. Of course, apart from gaining a college degree. But you could also get a degree by studying something you like .

As you might have guessed, it’s always best to pursue a college education in a topic that interests you. A college education goal may also be relevant if you pick a potentially profitable subject you’re not 100% passionate about, but you want to pursue.

Finally, let’s explore 3 questions and 3 answers of relevant goals.

Questions for relevant goals

To make your goal relevant, ask yourself the following questions:

• Q1: Why is this goal important to me?
• Q2: Is this goal worth my time?
• Q3: Is this the right time for it?

Examples of answers that prove the goal is relevant :

• A1: If I get a major in economics, I’ll be more financially secure and have more time to spend on what matters. Also, pursuing a major in economics will make me more confident about myself and my current career.
• A2: I feel that getting a major in economics would benefit me in the short and long run. In a nutshell, doing so will affect my mental and physical health. Therefore, it’s worth my time.
• A3: The holiday feasts are over, and it’s time to implement the New Year’s resolutions. As a result, it’s time to pursue that major in economics.

Step #5: Make goals time-bound 

Time-bound goals are usually set within a specific time frame, with a clear deadline for their completion. 

Take a look at the following example.

To say that you want to participate in a poem writing contest that’s due next week is admirable.

But phrasing it like that means it’s not a time-bound goal .

In this case, the contest has a deadline — say it’s Sunday, February 2. But you didn’t define a deadline for your work. Will you submit your finished work on Tuesday? Or Wednesday? Or 5 hours before the contest deadline, giving you enough time to tweak it to perfection?

As a matter of fact, what’s your time-bound battle plan?   

Now, say that you plan to handle the contest by:

• Writing the first draft of your poem on Monday, January 27,
• Revising everything on Tuesday, January 28,
• Finalizing the rhyme scheme on Wednesday, January 29, and
• Sending out the poem on Thursday, January 30 — 4 days before the deadline.

That’s a time-bound goal you can work with. So, let’s dive into a few questions and examples of time-bound goals.

Questions for time-bound goals

To make a time-bound — or timely — goal, answer the following questions:

• Q1: When will I achieve the goal?
• Q2: When will I carry out the activities that will bring me to my goal?
• Q3: When can I expect the first outcomes?

Examples of answers that prove the goal is time-bound:

• A1: I’ll set January 31 as my end deadline. Also, I’ll include daily targets for each of the 3 stages — writing, revising, and finalizing the poem.
• A2: Every day after work, I’ll set aside 2 hours to work on the poem. I’ll make a clear schedule for writing, revising, and finalizing the poem in stages. I’ll check in with my progress every day to see if I’m set to meet the deadline of submitting the poem 4 days ahead of schedule. 
• A3: The first outcome I can expect should be completing each stage — writing, revising, finalizing — on a daily basis. For example, if I’ve completed the writing stage, then I can consider my first outcome a success.

Now you know how to set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Kudos! 

Next up, let’s get a few additional tips from business experts and life coaches — with SMART goals examples for work, play, and much more.

How to set SMART goals: Proven tips and expert opinions

If you’ve come this far, setting SMART goals shouldn’t be a problem at this point. But just to be safe, I sat down with a few time management experts, business enthusiasts, coaches, and others to help you understand how to be unstoppable with your SMART goals.

Let’s take a look at unique expert insights into setting and sticking to your SMART goals.

Tip #1: Set a SMART action plan and stick to it

Plans come first, as they are a visual representation of your goals. If you don’t have a plan, you’re more likely to get off track. 

But it’s expected that you’ll have more SMART goals than 1. So, I recommend that you:

• Laser-focus on 1 goal in 90-day sprints,
• Spell out each action step in a timeline, and
• Track your progress every week.

I asked Vincent Nair , the CEO of SMARTECH Business Systems, to weigh in on this topic. According to him, setting clear goals will bring you clarity:

“Planning ahead is one of the most effective ways to ensure goals are well-understood, timely and realistic. With a clear schedule and roadmap in place, your entire team will have a better understanding of exactly how, why and when your goals are being set.”

That’s what I call common sense — we truly sometimes need to get back to the basics.

Next, I spoke to Will Yang at Instrumentl, a platform serving grant-seekers. His words were another eye-opener as he said that a SMART action plan must include clear landmarks:

“Ensure apples-to-apples comparisons: it is critical to compare equivalent items and activities when setting SMART goals. For example, if you wish to raise the number of sales calls made in a month, don’t compare it to the number of emails sent in a month. Instead, concentrate on which activity will yield the desired outcomes.”

Learn all about how to think about objectives and key results, with additional resources right here:

• Objectives and Key Results (OKR): everything you need to know

Tip #2: Serialize your goals and celebrate more

If you’re reading this article, it probably means that you are an overachiever or striving to become one. But one of the main pitfalls overachievers fall into is trying to get more done than they can handle, therefore spreading themselves too thin.

I talked to Alexis Haselberger , time management and productivity coach, to share her wisdom on how to avoid this all-too-common trap. She gives a powerful illustration about how you can feel a sense of satisfaction and motivation if you pace yourself:

“Think of it like reading a book: if you read 5 books all at the same time, and read 5 pages each per day, it’ll take you months to finish them all. But, if you start with one book, and read 25 pages a day, you’ll finish in a couple of weeks, and then can move onto the next — which is much more satisfying and motivating.”

To keep a steady pace means creating a workflow that helps you achieve your SMART goals. Career expert Kaloyan Dimitrov of Enhancv, a resume builder, made a good point when he emphasized the importance of enjoying an occasional treat — your milestones:

“Keep yourself motivated and committed to accomplishing your goals by celebrating the milestones that you reach along the route. Think about treating yourself to something special whenever you reach a significant milestone or accomplish a particular goal.”

In fact, it’s this attitude that allows you to feel a sense of accomplishment and get better results.

Speaking of books, read our selection of the best productivity textbooks on the market right here:

• 25+ Best productivity books

Tip #3: Assign people to help you with your goals

Sometimes, you can’t achieve results or accomplish your tasks without the help of others. 

For example, it’s possible to lose weight on your own. However, it’s smarter if you pay for a gym membership, and let a professional fitness coach or a nutritionist help you in that process. In reality, it’s easier and safer to listen to professionals with the right skills and knowledge to carry out tasks.

Likewise, you’ve probably heard about the Boomerang effect on gaining weight back quickly after losing it. This usually happens because people starve and lose a lot of weight in a short period. Not only do they lose weight quickly, but muscles as well. As a result, people experience their metabolism slowing down and regain weight again.

Luckily, you can translate this weight loss scenario into any modern knowledge work job, like:

• Coding, etc.

If you’re the editor-in-chief and would like to have a document proofread thoroughly, you don’t need to do it yourself. Instead, ask a fellow editor or writer on your team to do the job for you.

In fact, assigning the right people for the job can result in faster and higher-quality results.

Tip #4: List the tasks that need to be done

Now that you elaborated on your goal in more detail and assigned the right people to assist you, it’s time to focus on the smaller parts. That means the tasks that must be done to achieve the ultimate goal.

In the case of losing 12 lbs of weight, you’ll probably need to complete tasks like:

• Go to the gym every day after work,
• Put aside money for the gym membership and nutrition consultations,
• Weigh yourself each Sunday afternoon, and
• Eat nutrient-rich foods.

Healthy habits coach Stephanie Averkamp weighs in — pun intended — on this topic. Interestingly, she brings home the point on why you should focus a lot more on your behavior in reaching the goal, and not the final goal itself:

“Center your SMART goals around specific behaviors or actions that will take place instead of around specific results you want to achieve. For example, set a SMART goal that is focused on the exercise you will do instead of the amount of weight you will lose. Your behavior is the one thing you have full control over, and behavior drives results.”

When you break your goal into more manageable pieces, you have a better overview of what needs to be done. In turn, the possibility of achieving your goal increases. For that purpose, you can create a hands-on to-do list to keep track of all your tasks in one place.

Get as many to-do list templates as you need — from simple to business and personal — right here:

• Free To-Do List Templates

Tip #5: Make a workable schedule

To make sure you accomplish your SMART goals even faster, make work time estimates for each activity or task that you need to complete. What’s more, make use of the time blocking technique to organize your tasks into specific blocks of time.

Let’s move back to the weight-loss example again. One of the key things that you need to strictly follow when losing weight is to pay attention to when you eat your meals. 

Even if you are being extremely careful with how many calories you consume daily, eating late at night can decrease your progress and lead to achieving partial results. 

For example, one 2022 study by Harvard Medical School researchers found that late-night eating impacts how you spend energy throughout the day. In fact, the research sheds light on the fact that your productivity overall could suffer from irregular eating schedules. Expectedly, all this negatively affects how you work on your goals.

So, to make sure your SMART goal plan runs smoothly, you need to:

• Create a time-bound schedule that you are going to stick to, and
• Determine when your breakfast/snack/lunch/dinner is. 

After completing these steps, you’ll see tangible results.

On a similar note, registered dietitian Kelsey Costa thinks that journaling can play a major role in creating a workable schedule:

“Journaling can be a powerful tool for increasing self-awareness, reflection, and the attainability of goals. Journaling helps identify obstacles, patterns, and areas of strength that you may need to draw on during your goal-setting journey. Regularly revisit the specifics of your goals, such as action steps, measurements, and deadlines.”

Now, that’s how you stick to your SMART action plan and goals!

Tip #6: Evaluate and explore

So much valuable advice can sometimes be overwhelming. Yet, many experts have a somewhat curious take on how to approach the SMART goal-setting process.

For example, mental performance coach Lain Lee emphasized that comfort isn’t your ally in reaching your goals:

“Instead of ‘realistic’, your goals should be UNCOMFORTABLE! Nothing worth doing or fighting for is done in comfort! The best things in life — growth, success, learning, love — all exist outside of your comfort zone. So if your goals don’t make you uncomfortable, they’re TOO realistic!”

Another interesting approach in conversations with experts came from certified career and life coach María Tomás-Keegan who showed me a way to enrich the SMART criteria with evaluation and revision:

“2 Additional steps make your SMART goals SMARTER: Evaluate & Revise. Decide when you’ll evaluate your progress and what you’ll look for. This step closes the loop on each goal. Then you’ll know if you need to revise your goal or timeline. This creates a 360-degree view of each goal that helps move them to the finish line.”

In sum, do what works for you — try to make SMART goal setting a seamless process aligned with your personality and preferences. 

Remember: You want SMART goals to work for you, not the other way around.

Interested in learning more about how your personality type might influence your productivity? Say no more — I got you covered in our blog post with productivity tips:

• Productivity tips for 16 personality types based on MBTI  

Why should you use SMART goals?

Even ancient Greek philosophers emphasized the importance of goal setting and proposed that purpose can incite action . 

Setting your goals by following the SMART criteria helps you elaborate on them. Similarly, it allows you to see if the current goal you want to achieve has any potential or if it’s just a waste of time , as sometimes can be the case.

Up next, I discuss how the SMART goal concept can benefit you insanely in the short run.

Benefit #1: SMART goals enhance well-being

A 2022 study found that SMART goals can increase the likelihood of accomplishing goals and experiencing positive affect. Simply put, positive affect refers to upbeat emotions and expressions in the study’s respondents.

In fact, the same study researchers suggest that the mere existence of a SMART goal strategy increased the quality of the respondents’ behavior that led to goal attainment.

Another relevant result was that the psychologists in charge of the study established that goal attainment, in this sense, led to enhanced well-being. 

In summary, SMART goals make it likely that you’ll achieve your goals and that those goals lead to your well-being.

Read our detailed guide on how to up your goals game by setting daily targets:

• How to set and reach your daily targets

Benefit #2: SMART goals improve time management skills

Setting goals and efficiently managing your time are 2 elements that go hand in hand. 

If you look at the acronym SMART again, you’ll see that the terms measurable and time-bound refer to time management . So, when you have a clearly defined goal or goals, you know how and where to focus your time. 

What’s more, you can make work time estimates and stick to them to avoid poor spending of resources. Finally, your improved time management skills will help you reduce distractions and increase your focus on more important tasks.

For that purpose, you can opt for a goal-tracking tool like Clockify to get a silent partner in efficiently managing your time and reaching your targets.

For example, Clockify allows you to beautifully tag and color-code your projects so that you can easily stay on track — and enjoy the process. In fact, the app lets you break down goals into manageable tasks that you can easily digest. In sum, Clockify also allows you to check in on your progress and obtain a report on your productivity as often or rarely as you want.

By integrating SMART goals into your daily routine (whether work or personal), you’ll never miss a deadline or find excuses for missing your workout again.

Learn how to improve your time management skills in our in-depth guide:

• 10 ultimate steps to improve time management skills  

Benefit #3: SMART goals increase accountability

To achieve any goal, you need to hold yourself accountable. 

I know I’m not reinventing the wheel here, but people often forget to be more responsible on an ongoing basis.

In fact, Harry Morton of Lower Street, a podcast production agency, says something to that effect. Simply put, he told me that you should expect peaks and valleys in how distracted and motivated you feel:

“When working toward a long-term goal, it can be natural to encounter dips in motivation or distractions. An accountability partner can guide you back on track, offering an objective perspective when you deviate from the path to your goals. Be completely transparent and work with someone who understands what motivates you.”

Benefit #4: SMART goals beat workload overwhelm

A little planning ahead never killed anybody — but work overload and workplace stress are taking a toll on people’s health and the economy. According to a research paper by the World Health Organization, anxiety and depression cost the world’s economy $1 trillion each year, mostly due to a decline in productivity.

However, by setting your personal or business goals, you have a clear picture of what needs to be done, when , where , and how . As a result, the likelihood of feeling burned out reduces tremendously. 

What’s more, when you clearly identify your SMART goals, you learn how to unshakably say “No” to your colleagues the next time they try to swamp you with work. That’s right: SMART goals will save you from exhaustion and stress.

Okay, so now you understand what the SMART goal concept means and why it’s beneficial. Up next, let’s see when SMART goals are the most effective — and when you should avoid them.

Find out more about the causes and symptoms of career burnout and how it affects your health right here:

• Career burnout and its effect on health

When to use SMART goals

Are SMART goals effective?  Yes, when used in the right context.

Here’s when SMART goals work best.

1. Use SMART goals to set priorities

Use the SMART goal criteria when you want to single out your priorities and focus solely on them. 

The SMART criteria should guide you in the right direction to get a better insight into what’s important to accomplish something. 

In fact, the SMART framework saves you from wasting your time. If you don’t set your priorities right, you’ll lose track of your work. What’s more, you’ll probably end up feeling exhausted — and you don’t want that if you were wondering.

Learn why not all tasks are equally important and how you can prioritize them easily:

• How to (re-)prioritize your tasks

2. Use SMART goals to set high-level objectives

Use SMART goals when you need to focus on high-level goals that involve a number of smaller, specific tasks. High-level goals (such as advancing your career, enrolling in a university, or losing weight) demand a thorough action plan the SMART goal concept can offer you. 

However, I would even argue that SMART goals are especially useful for the more consequential targets in your life — where you need to be on top of your game because the stakes are high. That’s why it’s essential to make SMART goals a part of your everyday life and planning.

For illustration, consider you’re moving into a different town or state and selling your house. If you fail to take into account local taxes, regulations, real estate prices, and transport in your SMART goal framework, achieving this goal could lead to a disaster – personally and professionally.

3. Use SMART goals to tackle work tasks and set mini-milestones

SMART goals help you carry out your ongoing job responsibilities more efficiently and successfully. 

In fact, the SMART goal concept helps you split your goal into smaller, more manageable pieces. As a result, you get a clearer insight into the tasks that lead you to achieve the ultimate goal. 

For a quick fix, tackle your tasks one at a time to efficiently get them done and avoid being overwhelmed. The technique works wonders! 

In fact, the family law and relationship expert, Laura Wasser , thinks that you first need to set mini-milestones to get you going:

“When setting a SMART goal, think of it as a roadmap to your desired outcome. Break your goal into smaller, achievable steps, which will make it easier for you to stay on track and motivated. These mini-milestones will not only keep you focused, but they’ll also give you a sense of accomplishment as you progress.”

Read our all-inclusive guide to find out how to break down large tasks into easily digestible pieces:

• How to Break a Project Down into Tasks

4. Use SMART goals to handle new assignments

Employ the SMART goal criteria when you’re moving on to new assignments. 

Whether simple or complex, the SMART goal concept works well with all types of assignments regardless of their complexity or duration. It shifts your attention to what needs to be done and makes a thorough plan to achieve the final goal.

When you get a new assignment, the first step should be to insert it into one of the upcoming SMART goal templates at the end of this guide. This practice shows you if the assignment is even worth your time and effort — or if it’s a priority.

Learn how to distinguish between short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans in your work and life:

• The differences between long-term and short-term planning

5. Use SMART goals for personal development

When you feed the SMART goal criteria into your daily routine, you can make an everlasting, positive change in your life. This way, you can identify areas for improvement and personal growth — and go the extra mile to advance your career.

If you want to perform better at your job by following a comprehensive, step-by-step guide, check out this article:

• How to improve in your job

When SMART goals are not so smart 

Now, just because it sounds like the smart thing to do — pun intended — that doesn’t mean you should view all your tasks and initiatives through the SMART goals framework. 

Take a look at the examples of situations when you should avoid using SMART goals. 

1. Don’t use SMART goals to “count” your successes and failures

You shouldn’t use SMART goal-setting just so you can race past your goals as fast as you can without stopping to take a breather and reflect on what you’ve learned along the way.

You also shouldn’t view a SMART goal you haven’t accomplished as a failure and, thus, a reason to judge yourself.

Just because you failed this time doesn’t mean you won’t be able to succeed next time or use the knowledge you gained from pursuing the said goal in the future.

2. Don’t use SMART goals if you tend to give up too soon

SMART goals take time! That’s because they’re more complex than your everyday goals, such as getting to the food store before it closes.

As such, SMART goals take more effort and dedication. Therefore, they can be a bigger challenge for people who get nervous when they think they’re not progressing as best as they could.If you fear that a goal is too large for you to commit to it, it’s best that you reassess it and parse it 1 by 1 into smaller, less challenging goals you can reach easier until you’ve accomplished everything.

3. Don’t use SMART goals when you’re uncertain whether a goal is attainable

Out of all the letters in the SMART acronym, the “A” — which stands for attainable — is the least precise one.

After all, most of the time, you can only be sure a goal is attainable or not if you’ve already tried to pursue it.

So, are you sure you have a shot at landing the position of that Junior Marketing Specialist at that Boston tech company?

Perhaps you don’t have the right qualifications or the right experience.

We’ve seen this before with our example of losing 30 lbs in a month. 

Let’s assume you pursue a goal you’ve defined as attainable (despite it, realistically, not being the case). In this case, this action is bound to discourage you when you fail to reach your goal.

Alternatively, you may miss out on some great opportunities if you mark a realistic goal as “out of reach” without properly thinking about it.

4. Don’t use SMART goals when managing a project

According to the Scrum methodology, even though the SMART criteria suggest that a goal should be specific and measurable , other SMART goal criteria can threaten the success of a project , no matter how well you prepare it. 

Since a project goes through many stages during its life cycle, some things — like, if a goal is realistic — can’t be predicted in advance without further analysis. Also, the criterion time-bound doesn’t fit with the project management principles either. 

You might not be able to know when a goal would be accomplished due to the constant changes during a project’s life cycle.

Therefore, the SMART goal concept doesn’t go hand in hand with project management since it “encourages a simplistic and short-sighted approach to management” — as Scrum methodology experts emphasize in the article I linked to above.

Learn about the essential elements of project management and a few tools to get you started:

• Project Management: 31 best techniques, practices, and tools

5. Don’t use SMART goals when you expect a challenge

The SMART goal criteria propose that your goal needs to be attainable . In effect, this means knowing in advance if you have the right skills/knowledge/resources to accomplish something. 

When you know that a goal is achievable in advance, it gives you some kind of security. On the other hand, it keeps you stuck in one place. In other words, you are deprived of learning new things or acquiring new skills. 

Sometimes, the thrill of the unknown pushes you towards it and makes you realize all the things you can do. So, if you are a thrill-seeker looking for sudden challenges along the way — maybe the SMART goal concept is not the right fit for you.

—Now that you understand when and when not to use them, here are some examples of well-rounded SMART goals you can use to find inspiration. Let’s get rolling!

5 SMART goal examples

By now, you might be thinking: “ Enough with the beating around the bush, tell me what’s a SMART goal example, alright!”

I won’t give you 1 but 5 SMART goals examples — how’s that for a treat? 

Let’s go through them 1 by 1.

Example #1: SMART goal for improved performance at work 

To say, “ I want to improve my Excel skills, ” is too vague. Instead, try to make your goal:

• Specific : I want to improve my performance with Excel to get a promotion at work. These performance improvements focus on quicker data entry, more efficient calculations, and creating graphs.
• Measurable : I’ll know I’ve succeeded because — by the 1st of next month — I’ll be able to enter my data, complete my calculations through custom and combined formulas, create graphs, and carry out my other work in Excel all on my own, and with minimum effort.
• Attainable : I have enough time to work on improving my Excel skills. I can even look for a website with tutorials or enroll in an online course to help me understand some of the finer points.
• Relevant : I like working in my company, and I want to continue working there. One of the preconditions of my staying in the company longer and getting promoted is to streamline my work in Excel.
• Time-bound : I want to perfect my performance with Excel by May 1.

Are you familiar with performance improvement plans (PIP)? Check this article out to learn more about how PIPs can boost your work performance:

• Everything about performance improvement plans

Example #2: SMART goal for improved time management

Here’s an example of poor goal setting: “I want to accelerate the process of calculating in Excel.”

Instead, your goal should have the following attributes:

• Specific : It takes me 6 hours to implement all the formulas I need to process data in Excel. I want to cut that time to 3 hours per day, at least.
• Measurable : I can track the time I spend handling Excel data every day and then observe how that time decreases day by day and week by week. Similarly, I can work on improving my schedule.
• Attainable : I have the resources to help me learn how to be more efficient when using and combining Excel formulas.
• Relevant : I currently spend 6 hours of an 8-hour workday carrying out calculations in Excel, and that’s too much of my time. Cutting that time in half would ensure I have more time for other work activities.
• Time-bound : I want to cut the time I spend on Excel calculations in half by the 15th of next month.

Example #3: SMART goal for students 

Your grades won’t get better overnight, and you sure want to get into a top school or university. Well, saying, “I want to improve my GPA,” won’t do miracles. Instead, make sure your goal is:

• Specific : I want to improve my GPA to 3.8 so I can apply for a semester abroad with a full scholarship.
• Measurable : I’ll need to score an A or A+ on all of my tests this semester to improve my total GPA to an average of 3.8 to qualify for a semester abroad on time.
• Attainable : In recent months, I have fallen behind in school, but I have a history of improving my grades when I put substantial effort into it. So I can improve my grades once again. I’ll need to work longer hours , temporarily cut back on extracurricular activities, and focus on each test and quiz as it comes along.
• Relevant : The school abroad I want to spend a semester at has a great chemistry program. Passing that program will come in handy when I go to college. There, I want to major in chemistry to become a Chemical Engineer.
• Time-bound : I want to improve my GPA to 3.8 by the end of this semester to qualify for a position at the college abroad in question.

Students need all the help they can get when it comes to mastering their output. Read our in-depth guide to learn how to radically increase your productivity:

• Student guide to productivity

Example #4: SMART goal for leadership and team management 

Do you notice a stall in your team’s productivity? Being a team leader can be a double-edged sword from time to time. However, SMART goals can come to your rescue even in this situation. 

To help you get started, ensure your goal to boost your team’s productivity is:

• Specific : I want to motivate my team to improve their productivity by 50%.
• Measurable : 50% of increased productivity will trigger a 50% faster project turnaround.
• Attainable : I’ll use team management software and supply my team with the right productivity tools to help them out.
• Relevant : Higher productivity means faster project turnaround, and faster project turnaround leads to satisfied clients. Satisfied clients bring good word of mouth, so we’ll likely land more clients because of it. As a result, team morale would increase, so they’ll feel encouraged to keep up the good work.
• Time-bound : I want to see the expected increase in productivity 6 months from now.

Discover more interesting aspects of team management and how it can affect performance right here:

• The Complete Team Management Guide

Example #5: SMART goal for weight loss and fitness

You know that I’m-hitting-the-gym-next-Monday attitude never got you anywhere. Most people (including myself) consider going to the gym or exercising in any form as exhausting. In other words, we most frequently see exercise as something that requires a ton of will and determination. 

Although it’s not easy, setting a goal based on the SMART goal concept can make it much more bearable and joyful. 

Once you are on the right track, you’ll regret missing your workouts, even during public holidays. So, be all ears and ensure that your goal is:

• Specific : I want to lose 10 pounds to improve my fitness and athletic performance.
• Measurable : I want to lose belly fat and be able to endure physical activities without getting tired easily.
• Attainable : Suppose there’s a gym near my building with group fitness classes, indoor cycling, a weight loss program, Pilates, and more. I’m going to try the weight loss program first to lose some fat and later switch to Pilates to form my body shape. Also, I’m going to avoid fast food and late-night snacking.
• Relevant : I like to look nice in my clothes, and physical appearance matters to me. Fast food is high in cholesterol, and high cholesterol runs in my family. As a consequence, I need to be extra cautious.
• Time-bound : I need to go to the gym 3 times a week, go places on foot, and hopefully lose 10 pounds within 2 to 3 months. This is a healthier plan since — if I lose weight in a short time — I will gain it all back eventually.

Learn a thing or two about how physical and mental fitness can help you become more productive and reach your goals:

• 10 Productivity exercises for body and mind

SMART goal templates

Skilfully crafted SMART goal templates and SMART goal worksheets can serve as your quick and efficient generator of — you guessed it — SMART goals. 

In the following section, you’ll find different examples of templates, including:

• Leadership SMART goals examples,
• Time management SMART goals examples,
• SMART goals examples for employees, 
• Productivity SMART goals examples, and more.

In fact, these SMART goals templates and SMART goals worksheets provide the outline for your SMART goal setting. As a result, you’ll just need to follow the said outline and fill it out with your data. It’s a fast and efficient alternative to creating and following your template or making plans without one.

Basic SMART Goal Template

The first of 10, the Basic SMART Goal Template is a simple yet powerful way to get a bird’s-eye view of your goal. 

The straightforward design of this template allows you to easily identify the key components of your goal. If you use the Basic SMART Goal Template, you are taking the first step towards your professional or business goal.

What is the Basic SMART Goal Template about? 

The Basic SMART Goal Template is divided into 5 sections, each representing a letter of the SMART acronym: 

• Specific, 
• Measurable, 
• Attainable, 
• Relevant, and 
• Time-bound.

How to use the Basic SMART Goal Template?

Answer 1 or 2 questions for each section to determine whether the said goal is worth your time. Next, think about if you missed some important aspects and rewrite where applicable.

Who should use the Basic SMART Goal Template? 

This SMART goal template is perfect for people who want a simple approach to setting their goals.

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template PDF

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template Google Docs

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template Excel

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template Google Sheets

Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems)

The next on our list, the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) is same as the previous template — just on steroids. 

This template is an effective tool for setting and achieving goals. The Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) gives you deeper insights into the resources and persons who may assist you in reaching your goals.

What is the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) about? 

The Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) is divided into 5 sections on 2 pages each. 

The first page consists of questions to understand the problems you face. The second page is made up of a cheat sheet that can help you solve those problems.

How to use the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems)?

Answer 1 or 2 questions for each section to determine whether the said goal is worth your time. Next, think about the problems you may encounter as you work toward the said goal — and try to solve them before they happen.

Who should use the Basic SMART Goal Template (+Problems)? 

This SMART goal template does wonders for preventing potential problems with your goal (if you want a simple SMART breakdown of your goal). The Basic SMART Goal Template (+Problems) is perfect for businesses and individuals who want to predict financial and organizational issues.

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) PDF

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) Google Docs

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) Excel

⬇️ Download the Basic SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) Google Sheets

Simple SMART Goal Template

The Simple SMART Goal Template is a more relatable and direct template with phrases that anyone can fill out fast. 

Yet, it’s fairly simple and can only get you so far. That said, it’s an awesome first step to get you started on setting your SMART goals!

What is the Simple SMART Goal Template about? 

The Simple SMART Goal Template lets you determine why you want to pursue your goal — and start planning your goal. It’s a simple illustration of your SMART goal.

How to use the Simple SMART Goal Template?

Answer each question in as much detail as possible. As soon as you’re done, consider if you’ve left out any important information – and add it accordingly.

Who should use the Simple SMART Goal Template? 

This SMART Goal Template is perfect for people who want to set SMART goals but don’t necessarily want to answer to SMART criteria.

⬇️ Download the Simple SMART Goal Template PDF

⬇️ Download the Simple SMART Goal Template Google Docs

⬇️ Download the Simple SMART Goal Template Excel

⬇️ Download the Simple SMART Goal Template Google Sheets

Elaborate SMART Goal Template

The Elaborate SMART Goal Template guides you through your thought process with in-depth prompts. 

This template takes you beyond superficial goal-setting. In other words, the Elaborate SMART Goal Template digs deeper into your potential, desires, and plans.

What is the Elaborate SMART Goal Template about? 

The Elaborate SMART Goal Template is divided into 5 sections, each representing a letter of the SMART acronym:

How to use the Elaborate SMART Goal Template?

After downloading your preferred template, answer a detailed list of questions for each section to determine whether the said goal is worth your time. You may also need to tweak your answers as you go, and that’s totally fine.

Who should use the Elaborate SMART Goal Template? 

This SMART Goal Template is perfect for people who need more pointers on whether the goal they want to pursue is SMART or not.

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template PDF

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template Google Docs

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template Excel

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template Google Sheets

Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems)

The Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) is a helpful tool to establish problem areas and solve each. 

The template contains useful prompts on resources and people you can check in with to help you reach your goals faster.

What is the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) about? 

The Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) consists of 5 sections on 2 pages each. 

The first page features a series of questions of the SMART framework. In contrast, the second page consists of a cheat sheet for solving problems you established on the first page.

How to use the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems)?

Answer a detailed list of questions for each section to determine whether the said goal is worth your time. After that, think about the problems you may face as you work toward the said goal — and try to solve them before they happen.

Who should use the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems)?  

This SMART goal template is great for preventing potential problems with your goal — in case you want a more detailed SMART breakdown of your goal. The Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) is perfect for businesses and individuals who want to explore financial and organizational concerns in depth.

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) PDF

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) Google Docs

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) Excel

⬇️ Download the Elaborate SMART Goal Template (+ Problems) Google Sheets

SMART Goal Tree Template

The SMART Goal Tree Template is a nugget of gold on our list of SMART goal templates. 

It’s a treasure trove of valuable insights and direct measurement tools to reach your goals in an efficient and effective manner. 

What is the SMART Goal Tree Template about? 

The SMART Goal Tree Template helps you select and track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that tell you how well you’re progressing with your goal.

How to use the SMART Goal Tree Template?

To use this more complex template, set up at least 3 indicators for your goal. Then, insert measures to track progress, and reach the targets. 

For example, the overall goal could be: “Improved customer satisfaction by 50%.”

An indicator for this goal would be: “ The number of calls, requests, and emails taken by customer support and ending in happy resolutions. ”

The 2 measures we can use to calculate the indicator could be: 

• “Professionally and cheerfully handling customer requests, calls, and emails,” and
• “Creating an incentive system for customer support agents to be better in their job”.

Finally, the 2 targets for each measure could be:

• “50% more calls/emails handled more professionally and cheerfully by customer support,” and
• “Managers in the customer support team giving positive employee reviews weekly”.

Who should use the SMART Goal Tree Template? 

You can use this template to measure success in various business areas, such as:

• Customer support, 
• Company finance, 
• Internal processes, and more.

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Tree Template PDF

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Tree Template Google Docs

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Tree Template Excel

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Tree Template Google Sheets

SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities)

The SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) is just what it sounds like. 

This template calls for responsibility and sets out steps on your way to reaching your professional and personal goals. In fact, it gives you immediate feedback on whether you’ve reached your objectives in the end.

What is the SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) about?  

The SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) lets you determine the value of a goal by asking you to explain how or why the said goal is:

• Time-bound. 

Then, you can add the person responsible for the said goal and lay out the steps you need to go through to reach success.

How to use SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities)?

After downloading this action plan template, respond to each prompt and fill out the steps you need to complete to reach your goal. Also, you can name the responsible persons or entities that need to help you on this journey.

Remember that nothing is set in stone, and you can always rewrite it if you spot inconsistencies or flaws in your original plan.

Who should use the SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities)? 

Great for teamwork within a project where each teammate has different goals and responsibilities that together tie into one greater purpose. Also great for goals that imply a specific set of steps (or tasks) you need to tackle to reach them.

⬇️ Download the SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) PDF

⬇️ Download the SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) Google Docs

⬇️ Download the SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) Excel

⬇️ Download the SMART Action Plan Template (+ Action Steps and Responsibilities) Google Sheets

New Year SMART Goal Template

The New Year SMART Goal Template prompts you to provide an overview of your personal and professional aspirations for the coming year. 

As a result, this template goes above and beyond to explore which goals you truly want to pursue — or not.

The New Year SMART Goal Template requires that you make a bit of a long-term commitment.

What is the New Year SMART Goal Template about? 

The New Year SMART Goal Template lets you define SMART goals for your:

• Personal growth, 
• Health, 
• Business life, 
• Family and friends, 
• Travels, 
• Hobbies, and 
• New purchases in the new year.

How to use the New Year SMART Goal Template?

As soon as you download your preferred format, answer the prompts in as much detail as possible. 

For example, in the Personal growth section, you can list things such as “Start meditating every day for 30 minutes” or “Read 20 book pages daily” and go from there.

Who should use the New Year SMART Goal Template? 

This template is perfect for carrying out your New Year’s resolutions. So, you can be a university student, a freelancer, or anyone else pursuing goals in the coming year.

⬇️ Download the New Year SMART Goal Template PDF

⬇️ Download the New Year SMART Goal Template Google Docs

⬇️ Download the New Year SMART Goal Template Excel

⬇️ Download the New Year SMART Goal Template Google Sheets

SMART Goal Template for Project Managers

The SMART Goal Template for Project Managers is a clear, concise, and descriptive tool to get to the hows and whys of your project management goals. 

In turn, it helps you lead your team and create a roadmap for success in a short period.

What is the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers about?  

The SMART Goal Template for Project Managers consists of 5 sections. 

With this template, you can assess each goal you want to assign to a team member. In fact, you can decide whether the goal needs redefining or even whether it’s worthwhile (or unattainable by the assigned team member) in the first place.

How to use the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers?

Answer 2 questions per section to set and define a goal any project manager might face. Similarly, remember that you can tinker with the details and rewrite anything you deem necessary at any point during the process.

Who should use the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers? 

This SMART goal template is perfect for managers who are currently defining the goals and objectives of a project. You can also consider this template as a way to establish SMART goals for better time management.

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers PDF

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers Google Docs

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers Excel

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template for Project Managers Google Sheets

SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) 

Last but not least, the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) presents a powerful tool for learning what motivates you to reach your goals. 

By taking the time to understand what drives you, you can tap into your intrinsic motivation and stay focused on your short-term and long-term goals even when things get tough.

What is the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) about? 

The SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) lets you assess whether a goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. 

Then, you can define the motivations and rewards that stand behind your pursuit of the said goal.

How to use the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations)?

To get to the bottom of your rewards and motivations, simply respond to 5 questions from the SMART framework, followed by 2 questions on how you’ll make the goal motivating and rewarding. 

Who should use the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations)? 

Rewards are important to keep you motivated enough to pursue a goal. I suggest you pick this SMART goal template if you want to define specific rewards that await you when you reach a goal.

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) PDF

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) Google Docs

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) Excel

⬇️ Download the SMART Goal Template (+ Rewards/Motivations) Google Sheets

Estimate task and project duration better — with Clockify

Our last quick tip on handling your goals is this: Limit how much time you allocate to tasks and projects.

Hear us out. 

You can use time management software like Clockify to block out parts of the workday and complete your workload. To create tasks, follow these steps:

• Go to a project you’re working on,
• Open the Tasks tab in the project,
• Type your preferred task name, and

After you’ve completed these steps, you can insert them into your Clockify calendar (like below). In fact, you’ll be able to move, split, and resize each task and project as you see fit.

If your task takes longer than you expected, you can use this knowledge to make better time estimates for future goals. In any case, you’ll be able to set more realistic objectives.

Now, imagine hitting your goals not just on time but ahead of schedule. Sounds good?

Optimize your daily routines, reach professional milestones, and gain greater clarity on projects and tasks.

Marija Kojic is a productivity writer who's always researching about various productivity techniques and time management tips in order to find the best ones to write about. She can often be found testing and writing about apps meant to enhance the workflow of freelancers, remote workers, and regular employees. Appeared in G2 Crowd Learning Hub, The Good Men Project, and Pick the Brain, among other places.

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How to write SMART goals

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5-second summary

• Teams often fall short of meeting their goals due to a lack of consensus on the definition of success.
• SMART goals use a specific set of criteria to help ensure that objectives are clearly defined and attainable within a certain timeframe.
• Working through each step of creating a SMART goal can reveal instances where priorities and resources are out of alignment.

Meet Jane. She’s a product manager at a mid-sized tech company – let’s call it Techfirm, Inc. Jane has been tasked with increasing usage of Techfirm’s mobile app.

She knows she’ll need all hands on deck to make this happen, but when Jane has set team-wide goals in the past, they’ve quickly fallen off track. Nobody seemed to have a clear understanding of what success should look like; progress wasn’t monitored closely enough, and inevitably, that important objective slipped to the back burner (before toppling off the stove entirely).

That’s why, this time around, Jane plans to leverage SMART goals for setting an action plan and staying the course.

Want to get started right now?

Use our template to define the different components of your SMART goal.

What are SMART goals?

The SMART in SMART goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Defining these parameters as they pertain to your goal helps ensure that your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame. This approach eliminates generalities and guesswork, sets a clear timeline, and makes it easier to track progress and identify missed milestones.

An example of a SMART-goal statement might look like this: Our goal is to [quantifiable objective] by [timeframe or deadline]. [Key players or teams] will accomplish this goal by [what steps you’ll take to achieve the goal]. Accomplishing this goal will [result or benefit].

Let’s use Jane’s objective to work through each component.

S: Specific

In order for a goal to be effective, it needs to be specific. A specific goal answers questions like:

• What needs to be accomplished?
• Who’s responsible for it?
• What steps need to be taken to achieve it?

Thinking through these questions helps get to the heart of what you’re aiming for. Here’s an example of a specific goal Jane might come up with:

Grow the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns.

M: Measurable

Don’t underestimate the outsized impact of short-term goals

Specificity is a solid start, but quantifying your goals (that is, making sure they’re measurable) makes it easier to track progress and know when you’ve reached the finish line.

Jane and her product team want to grow the number of their mobile app users – but by how much? If they get even one new signup, that’s technically positive growth – so does that mean they’re done? Same goes for their strategy – how many platforms will they advertise on? 

To make this SMART objective more impactful, Jane should incorporate measurable, trackable benchmarks.

Increase the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns for four social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

A: Achievable

This is the point in the process when you give yourself a serious reality check. Goals should be realistic –  not  pedestals from which you inevitably tumble. Ask yourself: is your objective something your team can reasonably accomplish?

Jane might look at her goal and realize that, given her small team and their heavy workload, creating ad campaigns for four social platforms might be biting off more than they can chew. She decides to scale back to the three social networks where she’s most likely to find new clients.

Increase the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns for three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Safeguarding the achievability of your goal is much easier when you’re the one setting it. However, that’s not always the case. When goals are handed down from elsewhere, make sure to communicate any restraints you may be working under. Even if you can’t shift the end goal, at least you can make your position (and any potential roadblocks) known up-front.

R: Relevant

Here’s where you need to think about the big picture. Why are you setting the goal that you’re setting? Jane knows that the app is a huge driver of customer loyalty, and that an uptick in their app usage could mean big things for the company’s bottom-line revenue goals. Now she revises her statement to reflect that context.

Grow the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns for three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Because mobile users tend to use our product longer, growing our app usage will ultimately increase profitability.

T: Time-bound

To properly measure success, you and your team need to be on the same page about when a goal has been reached. What’s your time horizon? When will the team start creating and implementing the tasks they’ve identified? When will they finish?

SMART goals should have time-related parameters built in, so everybody knows how to stay on track within a designated time frame.

When Jane incorporates those dates, her SMART goal is complete.

Grow the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 within Q1 of 2022. This will be accomplished by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns, which will begin running in February 2022, on three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Since mobile is our primary point of conversion for paid-customer signups, growing our app usage will ultimately increase sales.

Knowing how to set goals using the SMART framework can help you succeed in setting and attaining goals, no matter how large or small.

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Many successful project managers utilize project management SMART goals as a means of increasing employee engagement, strengthening team morale, and maximizing productivity. Read on to find out more about the SMART framework, project management SMART goals, how they differ from SMART objectives, and how they help streamline the typical project management process for everyone involved.

What are SMART Goals?

The SMART goal acronym stands for s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant, and t ime-bound. 

This framework requires project goals and objectives to address specific needs or activities with a hard deadline or end in place, allowing project managers to optimize the typical project workflow while also providing the team with clear benchmarks for success.

SMART goals vs SMART objectives

While the two phrases are sometimes used interchangeably, SMART goals and SMART objectives are actually two distinct project management concepts . Use the handy chart below to compare the most significant differences between the two.

In summary, SMART goals focus on the end result while SMART objectives provide the means of getting from start to finish. However, both are developed with the overarching SMART framework in mind—meaning everything needs to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Our Free Downloadable SMART Goal Template for Project Managers

Guide to creating smart goals for projects with smart objectives.

Both SMART goals and SMART objectives are employed during project planning. If you are planning to integrate this framework into your project, here’s a guide you can use.

Make objectives specific

Make all of your objectives clear and understandable. Don’t rely on your teammates to fill in the blanks, as this might not result in the desired project quality . Make everything as clear and concise as possible. Specific objectives comprise the “what” and “who” of your project. For best results, keep these tips in mind:

• If you’re having trouble thinking of specific objectives, ask yourself how you want the project accomplished or how you want individual tasks to be completed, as this is a good starting point.
• Use only one action verb for each objective. Multiple action verbs imply multiple activities, which can cause confusion.
• Clarify the expected outcome. If project team members need to finish their assigned tasks by a certain date, for example, make sure to specify the exact date and time.

By establishing clear objectives from the very start of your project, you leave very little room for error amongst your team. You’ll also give them a specific end date to look forward to, which motivates them to work as efficiently as possible.

Make objectives measurable

To achieve this, consider the amount of progress or change expected at every step. It’s impossible to gauge project success without quantifiable activities, objectives, and goals, so take your time here to make sure that everything can be measured, not only by senior-level project leaders, but also by all project team members.

Quantifying your objectives in this manner also reinforces project analytics and reporting. Real numbers, facts, and statistics are easily interpretable, and they provide objective viewpoints into productivity.

You can also use these quantifiable objectives to help forecast future needs. By having an accurate picture of the resources used, time spent, and money invested into past projects, your teammates will have a better idea of their resource needs for future projects.

Make objectives achievable

When setting SMART goals and objectives, make sure the end result is actually achievable. Consider the reality of the situation as you decide on what you hope to achieve . Is your project team smaller than you expected? Is your allocated budget less than what you thought? In cases like this, you might have to scale back your objectives in favor of something that is more feasible.

Setting unrealistic or unachievable objectives will hurt your team in more ways than one. Not only will your finalized project fail to meet the standards of your company, but your team members will likely suffer from decreased morale as a result. Continuously missing goals and objectives in this manner will cause any team to lose motivation and burn out.

But the opposite is also true. Repeatedly meeting—or surpassing—goals and expectations will fill your team with a strong sense of pride. In turn, this leads to improved motivation, morale, and productivity when tackling future projects.

Make objectives relevant

Your objectives also need to be relevant, either to the current project at hand or to your company’s overall business objectives. If your team’s objective is to launch a new program within a month, for example, you need to make sure that your organization is currently interested in launching that kind of program within the next 30 days.

While SMART templates make it easy to come up with generic objectives, you’ll want to take some time to consider objectives that relate directly to the project. You can customize the template you have or create new SMART objectives from scratch to achieve this.

Make objectives time-bound

Projects that are created without an end date in mind are often never finished, while projects that have tight time constraints will only cause employee stress and fatigue. For best results, establish an end date that gives your team plenty of time to succeed without making your key stakeholders wait too long.

When managing long-term projects, set milestones at various periods. By defining what you want to achieve at the halfway point of your project, for example, you give everyone a tangible date to work toward. Depending on the length of your project, you can set milestones every few days, weeks, or months. Breaking up a larger project into smaller, more manageable tasks is a great way to keep your employees engaged and productive throughout the project life cycle.

How SMART Goals Help Project Managers

SMART goals make it easy for project managers to communicate goals and objectives to their team members, measure productivity over the course of time, and meet deadlines established by key stakeholders.

3 Examples of SMART Goals in Project Management

It is easy to fill a project with various objectives and milestones, but it’s significantly difficult to ensure that all of these goals adhere to the SMART framework. Here are examples of SMART goals in action to help you get started on yours.

Goal: Create and launch a mobile app

• Specific: Launch a new customer support web app for both iOS and Android platforms.
• Measurable: According to market research, we should be able to reach 25,000 installs by the end of Q1 of next year.
• Achievable: Allocating adequate resources to different departments, from customer service and marketing to software development, will help us achieve the goal.
• Relevant: The purpose of the app is to serve customers in a quicker and more efficient manner.
• Time-Bound: The app needs to be launched by the end of this year in order to achieve 25,000 installs by the end of Q1 of next year.

Goal: Improve the communication skills of staff

• Specific: Improve the written and verbal communication skills of the workforce.
• Measurable: In order to see a real difference in the workplace, we need to improve these skills in at least 60% of our current staff.
• Achievable: With consistent training and the proper resources, the 60% goal is feasible.
• Relevant: Improving communications within the workplace will make every project quicker and more efficient.
• Time-Bound: We will schedule one training seminar every month for the next six months.

Goal: Implement strategic risk management

• Specific: Reduce project risks to improve chances of approval of future projects.
• Measurable: A 50% reduction in project risks will expedite future risk management activities.
• Achievable: Educating your senior-level PMs on advanced risk management strategies will help us attain this goal.
• Relevant: Risk management is relevant to every project—past, future, or present.
• Time-Bound: The new risk management process will be complete within the next 30 days.

SMART Goals for Each Project Management Phase

Additionally, SMART goals can be established for every phase of the standard project management lifecycle. 

Creating SMART goals during the project initiation phase helps you collect and organize any critical information or resources necessary to complete the project. These goals can also be used to expedite the initiation phase for future projects. A good example is to establish a new project launch team to cover the initiation and planning phases in the future.

SMART goals in the project planning phase generally focus on documenting the overall project scope, budget, key risks, and scheduling. An example is setting a SMART goal to use analytics and statistics from your previous projects in order to inform your future projects, thereby improving accuracy as time goes on.

Goals set for the project execution phase should be focused on helping the entire team complete their designated tasks in a timely and accurate manner. For example, create a Gantt chart to track each team member and their assigned tasks.

These goals are implemented after a project has been executed but before it has been completed. As such, SMART goals that track weekly or monthly productivity are commonly used during this phase.

Finally, SMART goals can be implemented after a project has been finalized and completed. Scheduling a project review for a week after project completion is a great example of this, as it gives everyone a time to reflect on what they did right or wrong.

Bottom Line: Start Working on SMART Goals

If you aren’t already setting SMART goals and objectives for your project team members, now is the time to start. From driving productivity to ensuring accountability and rewarding staff for their contributions, establishing SMART goals makes it easy to engage employees in every aspect and from every angle. It is also beneficial to set clear goals right from the beginning, especially for novice team members, as it ensures that everyone is working toward the same goal.

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Article • 12 min read

SMART Goals

How to make your goals achievable.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Key Takeaways

• SMART goals are S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, and T ime-bound.
• They allow you to write goals that are clear, attainable and meaningful.
• Having clarity in your goal-setting provides the motivation and focus you need to be successful.

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.– Bill Copeland

Do you ever feel like you're working hard but not getting anywhere? Maybe you see little improvement in your skills or achievements when you reflect on the last five or 10 years. Or perhaps you struggle to see how you'll fulfill your ambitions during the next few years.

Many people spend their lives drifting from one job to another, or rushing around trying to get more done while actually accomplishing very little. Setting SMART goals means you can clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and resources productively, and increase your chances of achieving what you want in life.

In this article, we'll explore what SMART goals are, and we'll look at how you can use them to achieve your objectives.

Learn how to set SMART goals with our video and transcript .

What Are SMART Goals?

SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting. To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:

• S pecific (simple, sensible, significant).
• M easurable (meaningful, motivating).
• A chievable (agreed, attainable).
• R elevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• T ime bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Its criteria are commonly attributed to Peter Drucker's Management by Objectives concept. The first-known use of the term was in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran. Later, Professor Robert S. Rubin (Saint Louis University) wrote about SMART in an article for The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He stated that SMART has come to mean different things to different people, as shown above.

Professor Rubin also noted that the definition of the SMART acronym may need updating to reflect the importance of efficacy and feedback. However, some authors have expanded it to include extra focus areas; SMARTER, for example, includes E valuated and R eviewed.

What Are the SMART Criteria?

SMART Criteria

How to Write a SMART Goal

Paul J. Meyer, businessman, author and founder of Success Motivation International , describes the characteristics of SMART goals in his 2003 book, " Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and Beyond ." We'll expand on his definitions to explore how to create, develop and achieve your goals:

1. Specific

Your goal should be clear and specific, otherwise you won't be able to focus your efforts or feel truly motivated to achieve it. When drafting your goal, try to answer the five "W" questions:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why is this goal important?
• Who is involved?
• Where is it located?
• Which resources or limits are involved?

Imagine that you are currently a marketing executive, and you'd like to become head of marketing. A specific goal could be, "I want to gain the skills and experience necessary to become head of marketing within my organization, so that I can build my career and lead a successful team."

2. Measurable

It's important to have measurable goals, so that you can track your progress and stay motivated. Assessing progress helps you to stay focused, meet your deadlines, and feel the excitement of getting closer to achieving your goal.

A measurable goal should address questions such as:

• How will I know when it is accomplished?

You might measure your goal of acquiring the skills to become head of marketing by determining that you will have completed the necessary training courses and gained the relevant experience within five years' time.

3. Achievable

Your goal also needs to be realistic and attainable to be successful. In other words, it should stretch your abilities but still remain possible. When you set an achievable goal, you may be able to identify previously overlooked opportunities or resources that can bring you closer to it.

An achievable goal will usually answer questions such as:

• How can I accomplish this goal?
• How realistic is the goal, based on other constraints, such as financial factors?

You might need to ask yourself whether developing the skills required to become head of marketing is realistic, based on your existing experience and qualifications. For example, do you have the time to complete the required training effectively? Are the necessary resources available to you? Can you afford to do it?

Beware of setting goals that someone else has power over. For example, "Get that promotion!" depends on who else applies, and on the recruiter's decision. But "Get the experience and training that I need to be considered for that promotion" is entirely down to you.

4. Relevant

This step is about ensuring that your goal matters to you, and that it also aligns with other relevant goals. We all need support and assistance in achieving our goals, but it's important to retain control over them. So, make sure that your plans drive everyone forward, but that you're still responsible for achieving your own goal.

A relevant goal can answer "yes" to these questions:

• Does this seem worthwhile?
• Is this the right time?
• Does this match our other efforts/needs?
• Am I the right person to reach this goal?
• Is it applicable in the current socio-economic environment?

You might want to gain the skills to become head of marketing within your organization, but is it the right time to undertake the required training, or work toward additional qualifications? Are you sure that you're the right person for the head of marketing role? Have you considered your partner's goals? For example, if you want to start a family, would completing training in your free time make this more difficult?

5. Time-bound

Every goal needs a target date, so that you have a deadline to focus on and something to work toward. This part of the SMART goal criteria helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over your longer-term goals.

A time-bound goal will usually answer these questions:

• What can I do six months from now?
• What can I do six weeks from now?
• What can I do today?

Gaining the skills to become head of marketing may require additional training or experience, as we mentioned earlier. How long will it take you to acquire these skills? Do you need further training, so that you're eligible for certain exams or qualifications? It's important to give yourself a realistic time frame for accomplishing the smaller goals that are necessary to achieving your final objective.

Used with Permission from The Meyer Resource Group,® Inc.

The Pros and Cons of SMART Goals

SMART is an effective tool that provides the clarity, focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals. It can also improve your ability to reach them by encouraging you to define your objectives and set a completion date. SMART goals are also easy to use by anyone, anywhere, without the need for specialist tools or training.

Various interpretations of SMART have meant that it can lose its effectiveness or be misunderstood. Some people believe that SMART doesn't work well for long-term goals because it lacks flexibility, while others suggest that it might stifle creativity. For more information on the potential weaknesses of SMART, see our article, Locke's Goal-Setting Theory .

Frequently Asked Questions About SMART Goals

What does smart stand for.

SMART stands for S pecific,  M easurable,  A chievable,  R elevant, and  T ime-bound.

What about SMARTER goals?

In this expanded acronym, the E stands for Evaluated, and the R for Reviewed.

Who invented SMART goals?

The SMART goals concept is commonly attributed to Peter Drucker, author of Management by Objectives . The first-known use of the term was in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran.

What’s an example of a SMART goal?

Let’s say you’re a marketing executive, and you think you'd like to become head of marketing. This is a specific goal. You might measure your goal of gaining the skills to become head of marketing by deciding it will take five years. Ask yourself whether gaining these skills is achievable , based on your existing experience and qualifications. Are you at the right point in your career? Is it relevant to what you want? Give yourself a realistic time frame for accomplishing the smaller goals that are necessary to achieving your final objective.

How do I write a SMART goal plan?

• Start by asking exactly what you need to accomplish. This will make your goal specific.
• Quantify your goals. Measurable goals are easier to track, so build in milestones.
• Your goal should be achievable. Is this something you can do with the resources at your disposal?
• Think why you’re setting this goal. How will it improve your life or career? This is what makes it relevant.
• Know exactly when you’ll have reached your goal. Have a firm schedule, and stick to it.

For other goal-setting resources, see our articles, Golden Rules of Goal-Setting , Using Well-Formed Outcomes in Goal Setting , Personal Goal Setting , and Treasure Mapping .

• SMART is a well-established tool that you can use to plan and achieve your goals.
• While there are a number of interpretations of the acronym's meaning, the most common one is that goals should be S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, and T ime-bound.
• When you use SMART, you can create clear, attainable and meaningful goals, and develop the motivation, action plan, and support needed to achieve them.

Rubin, R. (2002). Will the Real SMART Goals Please Stand Up? [online]. Available here . [Accessed January 27, 2016.]

Meyer, Paul J. (2003). " Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and Beyond ." Waco, TX: Meyer Resource Group.

Haughey, D. (2014). A Brief History of SMART Goals [online]. Available here . [Accessed January 27, 2016.]

Smart Goals Guide, (2014). Why Goal Setting Is Important [online]. Available here . [Accessed January 27, 2016.]

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Your complete guide to SMART goals (with examples & a free template)

Most professionals realize the importance of establishing workplace goals. They spur great performance, increase motivation, align teams, boost engagement levels, and even drive profitability. However, the majority of companies still fail to set effective objectives: 51% of organizations don’t even attempt to develop aligned goals (1), leading to 1 in 3 employees being unsatisfied with internal goal setting (2) and as many as 90% of businesses not achieving their strategic objectives (3).

There’s certainly a disconnect between how vital people think putting productive goals in place is and how often companies do it well.

The well-known SMART guidelines constitute one strategy that ambitious, dynamic organizations can use to start setting better goals that are equal parts meaningful, realistic, and actionable. In this article, we’ll not only explain what SMART goals are, but we’ll also provide you with a free, downloadable SMART goal template and discuss a couple of detailed examples.

• Phoenix Business Journal , 2020
• Leapsome Workforce Trends Report , 2023 ‍
• Economist Impact , 2021 ‍

💡 Want to make your goals SMART? Simply download our free SMART goal template and we’ll help you write your own. 👉 Download the template

What are SMART goals?

SMART is a framework that enables people to establish goals that are both actionable and achievable. That’s because it prompts them to carefully define and evaluate their objectives, while also helping them keep track of their progress along the way. SMART goals were initially developed in the 1980s by George T. Doran , but the world has seen several versions and iterations since then.

As defined in Dr. Osahon Ogbeiwi’s 2017 study on SMART goals : “Writing objectives as SMART statements is the gold standard for goal setting because it gives a clear direction for action planning and implementation.”

SMART goals are popular in professional contexts such as project management and performance management, but some also use them for personal development. Most importantly, the framework is popular because it’s easy for just about anyone to use, doesn’t require any specific training, and makes goal setting a more structured process. The SMART acronym is most commonly broken down as follows:

S — Specific

M — Measurable

A — Achievable

R — Relevant

T — Time-bound ‍

💡Pro tip: SMART goals and objectives and key results (OKRs) are two of the most common professional goal-setting frameworks. If you’re curious about the differences between SMART goals and OKRs , we’ve got a detailed article dedicated to just that topic.

Leapsome’s SMART goal setting template

Many professionals have a general understanding of what SMART goals are and what the acronym means, but they nevertheless find it hard to put the criteria into action when establishing their own objectives. This template will get you on the right track by proposing a series of reflective questions that’ll empower you to set goals that are more specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

🧠 Never set a SMART goal before? Our convenient free template includes the top questions you should ask yourself when formulating yours. 👉 Download the template

The breakdown: How to develop your own SMART goals

Though the SMART guidelines are known for their simplicity, many people still have trouble putting them into action. It might sound great to develop objectives that are measurable and relevant, but how does that look in practice?

Let’s break down what each part of the SMART acronym stands for and consider how to integrate it into your goal-setting process in a meaningful way. ‍

Many people make the mistake of establishing objectives that are too vague or that they haven’t defined and reflected on sufficiently. This is a serious misstep: Unclear goals are far more difficult to reach, because you won’t really understand what you’re working toward. They’re also less motivating and satisfying, since you can’t clearly visualize what you’re striving for. This was proven as early as 1976, when a famous study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology on goal clarity, goal setting participation, and job satisfaction found that the more specific people’s goals are, the more motivated they become. That, in turn, increases the likelihood of individuals accomplishing their objectives successfully.

When developing your own SMART goals, ask yourself the following questions to make your objective more specific:

• What’s the most precise version of my goal? (Remember to account for the who, what, where, when, and why.)
• What will my goal accomplish?
• What granular actions will I have to take to reach my goal? ‍

Next, define how you’ll monitor your progress while working toward your goal and, ultimately, how you’ll know when you’ve been successful. It’s also ideal to leverage goal-setting software like Leasome to streamline the way you keep track of your advancement and connect your objectives with those of the team and company.

In his 2013 study Making SMART Goals Smarter, Les Macload underlines some of the reasons why building measurable goals is so crucial: “Specific measurement criteria will eliminate the possibility of future disagreements. Also implicit in the measurement criteria is the important concept of accountability. It’s much more difficult to avoid accountability when measurement criteria are clear and not subject to interpretation.”

Consider the following questions to transform your goal into something more measurable:

• How will I know when I’ve achieved my goal?
• How will I keep track of my progress while I’m working toward my goal?
• Will I leverage any specific metrics to monitor how I’m moving toward my goal? Which ones and why? ‍

Any objective should be at least a little bit ambitious, but consider whether you’ll realistically be able to accomplish your goal with the time and resources you have and the situation you’re currently in. There’s no point in establishing a goal that you won’t be able to follow through on, as it’ll be both frustrating and demotivating.

Indeed, a 2020 study from the Queen Mary University of London found that when people consider the effort that’s necessary to achieve a goal and focus on the rewards of those efforts in the long term, they’ll be more likely to accomplish their objective.

Keisha Moore-Medina , a therapist at the Menninger Clinic in Houston, TX, specializes in goal setting. In an NPR article, she further explains why setting achievable goals is so vital: “It’s a reality check on just how much time and resources you have to devote to it. And, it sometimes begs a bigger question: ‘Why should I commit to this goal?’”

Try reflecting on these questions to check that your goal is achievable:

• Do I have the skills, time, and/or resources I need to achieve my goal?
• If not, can I acquire them or get additional assistance? ‍

Now, think about why the goal you’re establishing should be prioritized above other potential pursuits. If you’d like to set a target for career growth, consider how it fits in with your present professional situation. Imagine you’ve been thinking of learning Spanish. If you’d like to eventually pursue a transfer to the Spanish branch of the company, this would make it an important and time-sensitive goal. If your interest is not tied to a current need for the language, it would be better for your professional development to focus on other, more immediate objectives and consider learning Spanish as a longer-term personal development goal.

There’s also another aspect to this guideline. Even if your goal might not immediately appear relevant to your current professional situation, intentionally reflecting on its relevance will give you a chance to dig into and justify why it actually does deserve priority at that time.

These questions can help ensure your goal’s relevancy:

• Why am I establishing this goal now? 
• How does my goal fit with my short and long-term professional objectives?
• How is this goal helpful or meaningful to me? ‍

Last, define when you want to fulfill your goal. It’s essential to specify the timeframe for effective goal setting as it’ll encourage your focus on this target within a certain period and let you know whether you’re on track with the initial time estimate. To avoid having to adjust the timeline as you go, consider defining deadlines for different milestones — especially if you’re pursuing a more complex objective.

Les Macload discusses why ‘time-bound’ is an essential part of the SMART goal framework in his 2013 study : “As soon as possible is simply not an acceptable time frame. Without a predetermined deadline, there’s only a general notion about due dates, which in turn generates a less than rigorous pursuit of closure. Where there’s only a loose expectation of closure, prioritizations and associated time management requirements are more apt to lack needed discipline.”

The following questions will prompt you to add a time-bound element to your goal:

• When do I want to achieve my goal?
• Does my goal encompass several milestones, or is there one solid deadline? What are they?
• Are the milestones and/or deadlines I’m establishing for my goal realistic? ‍

🤝 We’ll help you write your own SMART goals Our template uses intentionally designed questions to guide you from vague aspirations to detailed objectives ‍ 👉 Download the template

2 examples of professional SMART goals in action

Now that we’ve discussed what SMART goals are and provided you with the template and complementary information you need to begin writing yours, let’s consider a couple of examples of how SMART goals can look in professional settings to give you some initial ideas. ‍

1. Build a remote freelancer onboarding process

In this case, let’s imagine that a team lead needs to create an onboarding process for remote freelancers . They’re working with freelancers more and more and have realized that their current approach to onboarding isn’t ideal for remote workers.

Now, let’s improve this goal with the SMART guidelines:

• Specific — I’ll revise our current approach to freelancer onboarding, discuss it with colleagues and community members and ask for their input, do my own industry research, determine which aspects I can keep and which aspects I need to change, and share the finished result with the people team for a last review.

• Measurable — Once new hires have gone through their first 90 days with the company, I’ll send them an employee survey on the onboarding process and ask for their feedback on it. Leapsome’s Surveys module will analyze their responses and use the resulting data to keep track of onboarding satisfaction rates. I’ll also rely on the Instant Feedback module to prompt team members for input on their experience with freelancers who have gone through the revamped onboarding program and investigate whether they seem more informed and better equipped to carry out their work than before. ‍ ‍
• Achievable — I have the skills and resources I need to build an excellent onboarding process for remote freelancers. The leadership team agrees that we need a revamped onboarding approach for remote freelancers. They’ve given me the okay to time block an hour and a half each day to work on this, which will provide me with the time I need. ‍ ‍
• Relevant — We’ve been working with an increasing number of freelancers over the last quarter, and it’s become clear to me and the broader team that our current onboarding approach isn’t adequately preparing them for their work or meeting their needs. ‍ ‍
• Time-bound — I’d like to have the new remote freelancer onboarding process ready to upload into our project management software one month from now. I’ll need approximately two weeks to take stock of the situation and do my research, a week to come up with an initial draft, and another week to ask colleagues to give it a final review.

Of course, it’s not realistic to include all those details in the final SMART goal, but consider how much more reflection, intention, and planning went into the SMART version of this objective when compared with the initial idea. The finished SMART goal might look something like this:

• Revamp our onboarding process for remote freelancers over the next month to better integrate rising numbers of them into our workflows, prepare them to effectively collaborate and carry out their work sooner, and increase their satisfaction rates. ‍

2. Improve attention to detail

Now, let’s consider a marketing team member who’s been with the organization for a year. Overall, they’re performing well, but in the recent review with their manager, they collaboratively decided that they needed to improve their attention to detail skills.

Let’s consider how to elevate that goal with SMART guidelines:

• Specific — I know that my work is strong in general, but it could be made even better if I was more thorough and meticulous in my attention to detail. More specifically, I want to learn more about our company’s tone of voice (TOV) and try out strategies to ensure the marketing content I produce aligns with it more consistently. I also struggle with unclear writing and typos from time to time, which I find hard to correct with self-editing alone, so I’d like to focus on that as well. ‍ ‍
• Measurable — I’ll refer to my Q4 performance review scores to gauge how well I’m progressing toward this goal. For Q3, my skills in this field were rated slightly “below expectations,” and in Q4, I’d like to be rated as “consistently meeting expectations.” I’ll also ask my colleagues for peer assessments and informal feedback on my attention to detail to get a more balanced, nuanced view of my development.

• Achievable — I’m performing well overall and my manager and peers had actionable recommendations for growth in this category, so I’m well-positioned to improve over a relatively short period with a combination of learning materials, 1:1 check-ins, and coaching and shadowing sessions with colleagues and more senior team members. ‍ ‍
• Relevant — This is the competency where I need to improve the most, so it makes sense to prioritize. Once I excel in all the performance categories that are relevant to my current role, I’ll be able to progress through my department’s career development framework and work toward an eventual promotion . ‍ ‍
• Time-bound — I’d like to work on this consistently throughout Q4 and make an improvement before my quarterly performance assessment.

Considering all the information above, the marketing team member’s SMART goal could be:

• Improve my attention to detail during Q4 using a combination of learning activities, development-focused check-ins, coaching, and shadowing sessions, and reach a score showing that I “consistently meet expectations” on my next quarterly performance review. ‍

💭 Need guidance developing SMART goals? Our free, downloadable SMART goal template will prompt you to consider all the necessary details for complete, actionable objectives.   👉 Download the template

Elevate your goal-setting & tracking process with Leapsome

Goal setting is crucial for people-centered, forward-thinking organizations that want to motivate and engage employees, foster a collaborative work environment, and drive great performance. However, many leaders fail to support their people in defining goals that are both challenging and achievable, which leads to them missing out on top-level results.

As we’ve seen, SMART guidelines are one strategy that professionals can use to establish effective goals across all levels of their organization. However, it’s even better to use holistic goal-setting software like Leapsome to set, collaborate on, track, and revise individual, team, and company goals.

Our Goals module supports different goals frameworks — including SMART and OKRs — and enables users to visualize their progress, prompt colleagues for feedback, and align their aspirations with company objectives.

Leapsome knows that establishing great goals is one thing, but leveraging intelligent software to meaningfully integrate them into people’s day-to-day workflows will take their impact to new heights. ‍

⚡ Supercharge your SMART goals Leapsome’s Goals module integrates with Reviews, Instant Feedback, and Meetings to enrich the goal-tracking progress, promote collaboration, and foster success. 👉 Book a demo

 FAQs about SMART goals

1. what are the benefits of a smart goal.

There are several benefits to SMART goals. Some of the most significant ones are simple: The framework is easy for anyone to use, doesn’t require specific training, and prompts people to carefully consider their goals while they’re establishing them, which leads to better, more achievable objectives. More specifically, the SMART goal approach enables professionals to:

• Cut through the noise, reflect on what they want to accomplish, and get precise about their aspirations
• Strike a balance by setting targets that are both realistic and challenging
• Define specific metrics and criteria to help measure goal progress and success
• Reflect on how their goals align with the company’s big-picture objectives and long-term success
• Break down goals into milestones and set deadlines that are both sensible and motivating ‍

2. How do SMART goals help employees?

SMART goals help employees because they’re more intentional, actionable, and achievable than the basic goals people come up with in brainstorming sessions. The beauty of the SMART framework is that it provides people with simple, easy-to-use guidelines that prompt them to carefully consider their goals anddefine how they’ll keep track of their success. This process results in employees establishing more gratifying goals that are aligned with their current priorities and realistic for them to attain. ‍

3. OKRs vs. SMART goals: Which is more effective?

The question shouldn’t be whether OKRs or SMART goals are more effective. Instead, focus on determining which of the two goal-setting frameworks better suits your circumstances and fulfills your needs. To help you make that decision, here are some of the biggest differences between OKRs and SMART goals :

• SMART goals follow a set of guidelines, whereas OKRs are based on a structured framework.
• SMART goals focus on the how, whereas OKRs focus on the why.
• SMART goals are better for short-term and smaller projects, whereas OKRs are best for long-term goals.
• SMART goals are more fixed because of their short-term nature, whereas OKRs are often evaluated and adjusted over time.
• SMART goals are ideal for single-metric targets, whereas OKRs work well with multi-metric objectives.

Leapsome Team

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OKRs vs. SMART goals | Comparison & use cases

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Setting SMART Goals: How to Write and Achieve Them With Examples

Setting SMART Goals is a vital aspect of personal and professional growth. Learn how to write smart goals to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound with our comprehensive guide. Achieve your dreams with clear, actionable steps. Get started today!

Are you tired of setting goals that you never achieve? Do you feel like you're constantly falling short of your own expectations? It's time to start setting SMART performance goals that will set you up for success.

Setting goals is an important part of personal and professional development. However, many people struggle to achieve their goals because they are not specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Getting off track and losing motivation is easy without a clear plan and structure.

If you want to increase your chances of success, setting SMART performance goals is crucial. These goals are designed to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, providing a clear roadmap. By setting SMART goals, you can track your progress, stay motivated, and ultimately achieve the desired success. In this article, we'll explore the importance of SMART performance goals and provide practical tips on how to set them effectively.

What are SMART Goals?

Smart goals are the perfect way to ensure you stay on track and make progress towards your objectives. This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Each of these steps is essential for creating successful and achievable goals.

Setting a goal using the SMART framework should be specific by identifying exactly what needs to be done. You should make sure that your goal is measurable so that you can track your progress over time and analyze your success. Your goal should be attainable with some effort involved but not impossible so that you stay encouraged and keep going. The goal should also be relevant to what you are trying to accomplish and tie into the bigger picture of what needs to be done. Finally, the timeline it will take to reach this goal or objective needs to have a realistic deadline with manageable chunks of work along the way. Following the SMART method when setting any type of goal will help ensure that they remain achievable and motivate and challenge along every step.

What's The Importance of Setting SMART Goals?

SMART goals are important for helping people to achieve their objectives and stay motivated in the process. By ensuring that the goals set are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, it's possible to break them down into more manageable chunks that can be worked on over a certain amount of time to produce meaningful results. This method of goal setting provides a map of where you want to go and how you'll arrive there to help motivate yourself along the way.

With SMART goals providing clear benchmarks, tracking progress toward achieving a desired outcome is easier. Plus, creating achievable goals with a designated timeline it puts more focus on what is essential and cuts out the unnecessary tasks or activities that might take away from reaching your main objective. Overall, setting SMART goals is an effective way of increasing overall productivity and motivation so you can reach your desired aim with efficiency and efficacy.

How to Write SMART Goals

Now, let's examine the five components of creating a SMART goal.

S — Specific

Having specific goals that are clear and comprehensive is key to achieving success. Without precision, your goals will be vague and difficult to carry out. A good way to evaluate the specificity of your goal is by showing it to more than one person and having them rephrase what you are trying to do. If everyone who proofreads the goal has a different understanding of what you’re trying to do, it means your goal is not specific enough.

Specific goals consist of details that allow for successful execution. These details help break down tasks and create a concrete timeline towards completion. To ensure that you have set specific goals, look for measurable milestones or criteria within the goal itself. This allows you to track progress and reflect on successes or areas needing improvement along the way to keep making progress with every step taken.

M — Measurable

Measurable goals are essential to success and can help keep you organized and productive. Setting clear objectives that include an end result that can be tracked keeps everyone on the same page and motivates team members to continue striving toward their goals. For example, if your goal is to increase sales by 10%, you can measure your progress on a weekly basis, adjust your strategy as needed, and track changes over time.

Another advantage of measurable goals is that they offer more concrete results than qualitative targets or subjective plans. This helps ensure that everyone involved in the process understands what needs to be done and provides an easy way for you to determine if your plans are working. Having metrics such as timelines, budgets, quotas, or benchmarks in place allows you to make adjustments when needed and quickly identify what’s working well and what needs improvement. As long as you have measurable goals in place that are aligned with your ultimate objective, it’s much easier to track progress and see tangible results along the way.

A — Attainable

Attainable goals are necessary for any team striving to achieve success. Although these goals may appear difficult, they should never be impossible due to the capabilities of one's team. It is crucial to take the unique qualities of your team into consideration when setting attainable objectives, as well as the various problems and blockers you collaborate to tackle.

Always start with a bigger idea or goal when setting ambitious, achievable targets. Brainstorm potential outcomes by writing a list that considers everything from the most idealistic outcome to what is practicable with the available resources. Give yourself a break and come back afterward to review it while considering any challenges, questions, and critiques you can think of regarding your initial list. Remember that aimless tasks are not valuable in terms of growth and will not spark enthusiasm in your squad if they are too easy to accomplish.

R — Relevant

Having relevant goals is an important part of setting objectives when it comes to managing a business. These goals need to support the company's mission, vision, and priorities so they can succeed and reach their full potential. The best way to ensure the goals are relevant to the organization is by reviewing the company’s mission and vision statements and any communications related to business priorities. This allows us to stay on top of what is important and ensure our objectives are pertinent. After drafting SMART goals, it is beneficial to run through these documents again to maintain our focus on what needs to be accomplished. This way, we can stay within scope and make sure our objectives are relevant to our business goals.

T — Time-Bound

Creating time-bound goals is an important part of any goal-setting process. Adding an element of urgency and defining when the goal should be achieved helps focus efforts and work towards a successful outcome. Having a specific deadline encourages people to take action to reach their goals, as they become aware that failure to act within a set timeframe may have undesirable consequences.

Time-bound goals are often used to help employees prioritize tasks, ensure progress happens quickly and efficiently, and ensure everyone is on the same page regarding their work obligations. Time pressure can be especially beneficial when teams strive for big achievements or long-term goals since it creates energy and excitement about what needs to be done quickly. Deadlines motivate people to focus on the job at hand instead of procrastinating or getting distracted by other tasks. Ultimately, setting deadlines and creating a sense of urgency allows for better organization, faster project completion time, improved productivity overall, and increased employee motivation.

Benefits of S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals is one of the best tools any business can have in its toolbox for achieving success. Many advantageous benefits come with setting these specific types of goals, and all businesses should consider utilizing them to complement their plans for growth and development. For starters, these goals allow us to set a clear objective, making it easier to find strengths and weaknesses in a project or plan of action. By breaking down the overall goal into smaller achievable steps, each part of the project can be looked at separately and realistically rather than attempting to tackle all parts simultaneously, which may not end successfully due to a lack of focus on one specific part.

Using S.M.A.R.T goals also allows us to better assess our progress along the way and develop a realistic timeline for completion that is achievable without putting too much strain on resources and personnel involved in the process. It also serves as an efficient way to track performance over time since different aspects contributing to the overall goal can be monitored with precision utilizing this system of goal-setting methods from start to finish, aiding towards high levels of success as well as further development and adaptation required through continuous evaluation processes post-completion depending on the situation at hand or environment circumstances involved in the project’s progress moving forward.

Steps to Consider Once Your SMART Goals Are in Place

Once you have created your SMART goal, the next step is to ensure that it remains in focus. This means keeping it visible and highly accessible throughout the entire process. Tracking your goals in emails, meetings, or spreadsheets can be an effective way to do this—you’re certainly not alone if that’s how you choose to go about it! The most important thing is finding a system that aligns the goals with your team's daily work so everyone can remain focused on the ultimate objectives. But beyond a tracking system, finding ways to keep the goal visible within your workspace can be extremely useful.

Share your SMART goals

When embarking on an important project, sharing your SMART goals with project stakeholders and team members is essential. Establishing the overall objectives of a project before beginning work helps everyone involved stay focused, motivated, and on the same page. By keeping their goals in the same place as everyday progress, teams ensure that everyone has full visibility into their progress while holding them accountable for hitting those goals. And, there's no need to worry about hiding these objectives in documents or decks; by connecting them directly with day-to-day work, each team member remains engaged and aware of where they should spend time and energy. In this way, ensuring that everyone knows exactly what needs to be done and why can provide a massive boost in momentum for any project kickoff!

Regularly monitor the progress

Project success should never be determined by a surprise at the end. It’s important to regularly check in on progress so that any necessary course corrections can be made before it’s too late. SMART goals are great for determining specific, measurable objectives and should be leveraged to ensure the project meets expectations.

One of the most impactful ways of checking in on progress regularly is to send weekly project status updates. This should include which tasks have been completed, any upcoming milestones that need attention, and whether you’re currently on track with the project. The weekly reports should also allow team members to highlight successes that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Regular check-ins help keep everyone informed and create an effective team-building atmosphere. Ultimately, this will enable teams to evaluate their performance and make informed decisions about how best to reach their goals in time for the deadline.

Evaluate your success

Evaluating your success at the end of a project is important to assess how close you came to meeting your original goals. Using SMART goals can bring clarity and focus to the goal-setting process so that success can be accurately measured. If you successfully hit your targets, it is worth celebrating! However, it is also important to remember that even if you fall short of reaching the desired target, it does not necessarily mean total failure; often, stretch goals are set as a way of pushing yourself and team members further, with full knowledge that things may not always go exactly to plan.

Rather than neglecting shortfalls to maintain a positive outlook on achievements, regularly evaluating progress helps you identify where that could have gone wrong and gives insight into where improvements can be made next time. It is easy to blame external factors or downplay our abilities when facing disappointments; however, a more constructive approach will let us focus on what can be improved and evaluated in future projects.

SMART Goals Examples

Goal setting is an important part of personal and professional development. Goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. If goals are not crafted in the correct way, it can lead to a lack of motivation and failure to achieve results.

For example, if someone’s goal is “I want to complete a project” or “I want to improve my performance,” then no specific objective can easily be measured or attained. These goals lack specifics, such as what kind of project they want to complete or what type of performance improvement they need. Furthermore, these statements need more clarity on timelines to motivate the person to take action. Additionally, a goal setter must consider whether this goal is realistic given their current situation; does the person have enough resources and time during their current stage in life? It would also help each goal include a plan describing how they will reach this milestone or accomplish this task.

For the first example of completing a project, a specific SMART goal might be something like “I will complete my project within six months by creating two progress reports each month.” Measurable in this context means establishing how progress will be tracked (making two report updates), attainable because six months is a reasonable timeline for most project goals, relevant because that amount of reporting shows genuine commitment, and time-based because it dictates how often progress updates should occur.

For the second example of improving performance, the specific SMART goal might become “I will improve my score on assessments by 10% in 3 months by studying 2 hours daily.” This specific goal provides measurability (improving scores by 10%), attainability (given consistent effort over three months), relevance (enables future success), and a time frame allowing for progress trackability (2 hours of study daily).

By setting SMART goals, individuals are better equipped to stay motivated and accountable as they strive toward success. In this way, SMART goals serve as a roadmap for success, allowing people to take control of their future and reach the heights of achievement.

Goal setting is an important tool for organizational success. Leaders must think beyond traditional goal-setting practices and find the balance between realistic difficulty and the level of motivation that encourages peak performance. SMART goals provide the best practice for organizations, stimulating employees to do their best without sacrificing their mental and physical health.

When goal setting, understanding how challenging a task should be versus how attainable it is is key to reaching success. Setting unreasonable goals can cause stress, fatigue, and anxiety, leading to employee attrition and ultimately affecting the company's growth. Leaders must understand that sustaining a healthy work-life balance is imperative among employees for organizations to reach new heights of excellence.

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38 Examples of SMART Goals for Students

The SMART Goals framework, also written as S.M.A.R.T Goals or SMART Objectives, is a template for setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based goals.

While originally used in leadership and corporate management, the framework is now extensively used in education to help students to set personal and academic goals for themselves.

The following examples of SMART goals for students show how students can set achievable goals by following the five elements of the framework.

SMART Goals Example

For the SMART framework, a student should set one goal that meets five clear criteria. The goal should be:

• Specific – Be clear about exactly what the goal is and what will be done to achieve it. Consider giving details about what, when, where, why, and how.
• Measurable – Make sure you have a way to assess whether you have achieved your goal.
• Attainable – State how you believe reaching the goal is within your power.
• Relevant – State how the goal will help you to meet your overall goals as a student.
• Time-Based – You need to set a time by which you will complete your goal to keep yourself accountable.

SMART Goals Template for Students

The student should write down their goal in a quote above the table then enter an explanation of how their goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.

Get the Google Docs Template Here

Goal: Write your goal above the table. Carefully think about your goal and fill out the sentence with details that will ensure that it is S.M.A.R.T.

SMART Goals for Students

1. get an a in my next essay.

“I will get an A in my current essay in my Psychology class.”

2. Improve my Research Skills

“I will improve my research skills by using library resources and taking notes from the recommended readings for my course. I will do this every Friday afternoon for 3 weeks. I will aim for a subjective statement on my end-of-semester feedback about my research skills.”

3. Type at 60 Words per Minute

“I will learn to type at 60 words per minute within two months.”

4. Study 5 Days a Week for 5 Weeks

“I will study for my math class for one hour each afternoon Monday to Friday for 5 weeks.”

5. Improve my Productivity

“I will improve my productivity by using a Pomodoro timer when studying and closing all other tabs on my computer. I will do this every time I study for 2 months.”

6. Improve my Focus

“I will improve my focus during class this term by leaving my phone in my bag, sitting alone instead of with friends, and ensuring I turn up well-hydrated and rested.”

7. Memorize 100 flashcards within 3 weeks

“I will create a deck of 100 flashcards related to my Spanish course and memorize all 100 flashcards within 3 weeks by spending 20 minutes per day on the task.”

8. Complete my Assigned Book for Class

“I will finish reading the book that has been assigned by my teacher within 5 weeks.”

9. Obtain the Confidence to Give a Public Speech

“I will obtain the confidence to give a public speech by practicing speaking from note cards in front of a mirror and friends for the next 3 weeks.”

10. Re-Submit my Essay for a Higher Grade

“I will use the feedback provided on my essay to re-submit for a higher grade within the 2-week timeframe I have been given by my teacher.”

11. Follow a Study Calendar for the Next 5 Weeks

“I will use a study calendar that states when and what I should study. I will do this for 5 days a week for 5 weeks.”

12. Borrow One Book per Month from the Library

“I will borrow one book per month from the library for six months and read it fully in order to deepen my knowledge of sociology for my sociology class.”

13. Complete my Assignments 2 Weeks Before Due Date

“I will complete all assignments 2 weeks before the due dates so I have 2 weeks of free time to edit the work without stress.”

14. Maintain a Study Journal for 15 Weeks

“I will keep a daily study journal Monday to Friday for 15 weeks that will record what I studied, notes on key things I need to revise, and how long I studied. This will help me reflect on my improvement over time.”

15. Minimize Study Stress

“I will minimize the amount of stress I’m experiencing by exercising an hour a day, only studying for a maximum of one hour per day, and meditating for 15 minutes after each study session. I will do this for 5 weeks.”

SMART Goals Examples for High School Students

16. apply for five colleges.

“I will apply for five colleges within 3 months.”

17. Go to Four University Open Days

“I will go to four university open days within the next 2 months to learn more about the universities and see which one I would prefer.”

18. Study for an Hour Before Class Daily

“I will study for one hour between 8 am and 9 am daily before class Monday to Friday. I will study for the class that I will be sitting that day and keep a journal of progress.”

19. Maintain a Regular Sleep Routine

“I will sleep for 9 hours a day by making sure I get into bed by 10 pm every night and set an alarm for 7 am each morning. This will keep me fresh for classes.”

20. Research Five Potential Career Options

“I will spend 3 hours every Thursday night researching a potential career option for 5 weeks straight. At the end of the 5th week, I will rank all the career options based on my research.”

21. Have Three Meetings with my Careers Advisor 

“I will book in three meetings with my careers advisor over the next six months to check in and re-evaluate my thoughts about what I want to do after I finish high school.”

SMART Goals Examples for University Students

22. decide upon a major for my degree.

“I will lock in a major with my advisor by the end of the month and select the appropriate courses for next semester.”

23. Meet Each Instructor in Open Office Hours Once per Semester

“I will meet each of my instructors during their open office hours on Week 8 of the semester to go over my essay drafts.”

24. Meet with my Advisor for Feedback on my Progress 3 Times per Year

“I will meet with my advisor to check in on my progress in my degree 3 times this year. I will meet her in March, July, and September.”

25. Attend One Library Skills Seminar per Month

“I will attend one library skills seminar per month until I have attended all the training sessions they have on offer. This should take 6 months and help me incrementally develop my academic skills.”

26. Meet with my Study Group Weekly All Semester

“I will meet with my study group at 2.30 pm every Tuesday in the library for one hour to compare notes about our studies. We will also meet to check each other’s drafts during this period when necessary.”

27. Complete All Homework Tasks by Wednesday each Week

“I will complete my homework tasks by Wednesday each week this semester. To do this, I will remain at the university library on Tuesdays from 12 noon onwards.”

28. Turn up to Class on Time

“I will turn up to class five minutes before class begins for the entire semester in order to change my habit of being late. To make this happen, I will take the 8.05 am bus each morning.”

29. Apply for Five Summer Internships

“I will apply for five summer internships by the end of next week.”

See more SMART internship goals here.

30. Apply for Five Part-Time Jobs in my Career Field

“I will apply for five part-time jobs in my career field by the end of next week.”

31. Write 400 Words per Day for my Essay

“I will write 400 words per day for 5 days to get my first draft of my essay complete.”

SMART Goals Examples for Online Students

32. post five forum responses per week.

“I will log into my online course between 4 pm and 5 pm each weekday to read a forum task and post a 100-word response on the discussion board. I will continue this for the rest of the semester.”

33. Re-watch my Online Lectures and Take Notes for my Essay

“I will re-watch the eight one-hour online lectures for my course. I will watch one per day between 9 am and 10 am and take notes daily on anything relevant to the essay I’m writing.”

34. Reply to Three other People’s Forum Comments per Week

“I will reply to three forum comments on my online discussion board per week for the next three weeks in order to engage with other students in my class.”

SMART Goals Examples for International and Exchange Students

35. speak only in spanish for a whole day.

“I will speak only in Spanish for the whole day during my exchange at Barcelona University.”

See a Full List of Communication Goals Here

36. Apply for an Exchange Scholarship by May 1st

“I will apply for an exchange scholarship to get funding to go to Barcelona for a semester. This application will be a 1000 word essay and completed by May 1st.”

37. Join a Cultural Club at my new Unviersity

“I will join one cultural club at my university by the end of the social club sign-up day tomorrow.”

38. Apply for a Work Visa for after I Graduate so I can Stay Here

“My goal is to apply for a work visa by 5 pm on the 30th of December so I can stay in the country after I have completed my degree.”

The SMART framework is valuable when setting educational goals because it helps you to articulate exactly what your goal is. The five criteria within the framework will force students to set goals that can be clearly explained and are achievable. By setting SMART goals, students can see greater levels of success whether it’s short-term goals or long-term goals and have a clearer idea about what they need to do to meet their goals.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples

5 thoughts on “38 Examples of SMART Goals for Students”

I have tried it before but soon forgot about it, which means I have made my calendar or schedule with a goal on top and worked toward it, and then I forgot to do it again for my next semester’s class. but it does not hurt trying again one more time.

This method is useful and essential. That why I have been using it since high school.

This method is very significant in my study I have been using it.

This method is essential and productive, i still use it even today to achieve my goals.

One of the best online learning articles I have come across. Rarely give comments at over 69yrs and a lot working in education. But you are clear, and straight to the point. Good job! Recommended.

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• Goal Setting and Time Management

Research has shown that goal-setting can “positively influence an individual’s motivation, effort, persistence, and ultimately performance” (Sorrentino 2006 --- Bowman, N.A. et. al). By setting thoughtful goals, students can clearly identify what they want to achieve, the pathway to get there, and resources they can use along the way as well as a plan to manage obstacles they may encounter. The acronym “SMART” provides a framework for which to create an achievable goal. 

The SMART acronym encourages users to create goals that meet the following criteria:

Ambiguous goals such as “I want to get good grades” do not identify how you define good grades or how you will accomplish the goal. However, a goal such as  “I aim to earn an 85% or higher on each of my homework assignments in BIO 101 by attending each class, starting the homework the same day as class, turning the assignment in on time, and asking for help when needed”  follows the SMART acronym in that it is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. It will also allow time for periodic evaluation of success in order to make necessary adjustments. 

So why is the second goal more helpful than the first? Here are a few reasons:

• The goal clearly identifies a  specific ,  measurable  action over the course of a period of time . Homework assignments allow students to practice and apply concepts that are discussed in class and found in course readings. Implicit in this goal is the commitment to completing all of the homework assignments, which, in and of itself, is a helpful academic practice.
• The goal states an  attainable , and  realistic  grade. Of course, it would be great to earn 100% on each homework assignment (and hopefully you will!); however, building in some grade flexibility can help you achieve your goal.
• Midway through the semester, it may be valuable to evaluate the goal to see if it should be adjusted. Are you able to adjust your goal to earning 90% on each homework assignment based on past success?

After identifying your SMART goal, consider what  obstacles  you may encounter and create a  plan  and available  resources  to overcome the challenges. For example, could time management make completing your homework difficult? If so, block off weekly time on your calendar to complete the assignments. In the beginning, it might be helpful to overestimate how much time you will need to finish the assignment so build in some scheduling flexibility if it takes longer than you initially thought. Also consider what resources could be valuable to your success. You could plan to attend your professor’s office hours for questions, schedule time to go to the library with a friend to work on the assignment independently (unless your instructor allows you to work with other students), sign up for tutoring, or stop by the Center for Academic Success for more strategies. 

Now that you have accomplished your goal, be sure to revisit what went well and what you could do differently next time. You will be able to apply what you have learned to a future course. Your reward will be successfully learning the material!

Bowman, N.A., Jang, N., Kivlighan, D.M. et al. The Impact of a Goal-Setting Intervention for Engineering Students on Academic Probation. Res High Educ 61, 142–166 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09555-x

“Within an educational setting, goal-setting theory assumes that students who set goals tend to perform at higher levels than students who do not set goals (Friedman and Mandel 2009). Goal-setting is theorized to positively influence an individual’s motivation, effort, persistence, and ultimately performance (Sorrentino 2006).”

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10 SMART goal examples for your whole life

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What are SMART goals?

Where do smart goals come from, how to use smart goals to improve your career, 10 examples of smart goals, 8 extra tips for using smart goals, setting goals is the first step to reaching them.

If you want to make progress on your aspirations, it pays to be SMART. Setting goals isn’t something you should rush into without an action plan — it requires plenty of thought and purpose.

That’s where the SMART goal-setting method comes in handy. It lays the groundwork to achieve personal desires, business targets, and professional development milestones.

This tried-and-true method requires effort, but detailed SMART goal examples can provide inspiration to get you started. Use these examples and step-by-step instructions as a springboard to write your own SMART goals. Soon, you’ll know exactly what you need to accomplish your ambitions.

SMART goals follow a specific framework to achieve goals. You can use this method for any type of goal — personal, professional, financial, and more. You can also use the SMART goal framework for short-term and long-term goals .

SMART is an acronym that stands for:

Specific: Your goals should be limited to a single area. Instead of trying to “be a better person,” try focusing on your listening skills or positive self-talk .

Measurable: The goal must align with explicit metrics, such as saving a specific amount of money or qualifying for a particular certification. This indicates when you’ve accomplished your mission.

Attainable: The goal needs to be realistic . Maybe you won’t qualify for the Olympic basketball team, but you could improve your free throw percentage.

Relevant: Goals should move you in the direction of your values, dreams, and ambitions.

Time-bound: Time-based goals create urgency and encourage efficient time management. There must be a due date for completion so you can pace your efforts.

Once you’ve checked all these boxes, you’re left with a detailed goal-setting plan that keeps you focused and headed in the right direction. 

Using the SMART goal framework helps direct your actions toward reaching your goals. Framing your plans this way highlights potential challenges, letting you chart a detailed course that accounts for obstacles.

Developing an action plan that works for you can be difficult. But talking to friends or a life coach can help you set goals that will most benefit your future. And it gives you the social support you need to feel motivated and stay accountable.

Goal-setting theories and studies have been around for quite some time, but we have George T. Doran to thank for the SMART acronym and its accompanying goal framework. Building on existing goal-setting theory , Doran published his method in 1981 for use in business and management.

When he came up with the framework, many US businesses weren’t effectively setting goals or implementing successful planning processes. Doran used his framework to ensure managers had a solid template for creating meaningful, detailed objectives, such as increasing profitability and setting team benchmarks.

Doran’s original acronym stood for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-related, focusing on delegating tasks in a corporate structure. It has since been adapted to fit a wide range of personal and professional ambitions.

Fast-forward to the present, and thousands of organizations and individuals use the SMART goal-setting method to achieve all manner of organizational and life goals.

Setting SMART goals can further your career development . Learning how to set goals and achieve them is an invaluable skill. They can be about improving, increasing, developing, or controlling outcomes at work. By creating these goals, you’re showing that you care about finding purpose in your career and are willing to put in the time and energy to do so. 

For example, imagine you’re starting at a new company as an entry-level employee. If you want to become part of management one day, you need to set detailed goals to get there. You’ll have to learn the necessary leadership skills , what warrants a promotion , and how many steps there are in the employee ladder. 

Your goals should help you visualize precisely where you want to be and the path you must take. Practical SMART goals chart a worthwhile action plan to get you there.

Before setting your own professional and personal goals , it may help to see some practical examples. Take note of these leadership, personal development , and work goals :

1. SMART goal for running a marathon

• Specific: I’d like to start training every day to run a marathon.
• Measurable: I will use a fitness tracking device to track my training progress as my mileage increases.
• Attainable: I’ve already run a half-marathon this year and have a solid baseline fitness level.
• Relevant: I value my health and wellness, and this fitness goal will help me sustain that.
• Time-bound: The marathon is in June of next year, so I must be ready by then.

2. SMART goal for writing a book

• Specific: I have an idea for a story, and I want to turn it into a novel.
• Measurable: It should be at least 100,000 words long, and I want to spend at least three hours each day working on it.
• Attainable: I’m retired, so I have more time for this project. I am an avid reader and writer, so I know what makes a good story and a compelling read.
• Relevant: Reading and writing have always been a passion of mine, which motivates me to become an author myself.
• Time-bound: I’ll start writing in the first week of July and finish my first draft by December.

3. SMART goal for building a better relationship

• Specific: I want to build a better relationship with my father, in which I’m more aware of his well-being.
• Measurable: I’ll talk to him over the phone twice weekly and meet up for breakfast every Sunday. I will set reminders on my phone to check in with him about the life events he mentions.
• Attainable: We live close to each other, and I recently improved my work-life balance , meaning I will have the necessary time and energy to dedicate to our relationship.
• Relevant: I want to strengthen our bond, build autonomy in relationships, and understand my family members more, starting with him.
• Time-bound: I will call him this Friday and ask him to breakfast. I will maintain this plan until the end of the month and then set new goals for the end of the year.

4. SMART goal example for a side business

• Specific: I will start a side business selling flowers from my garden.
• Measurable: I’ll spend at least two hours daily planning and marketing my business.
• Attainable: I used to sell home-grown vegetables, so I already have the equipment, knowledge, and reputation to get my business off the ground.
• Relevant: I love growing plants and sharing them with others, plus it would earn me extra money.
• Time-bound: I’ll start working on my marketing plans and growing my flowers to be ready for sale by July.

5. SMART goal example for increasing sales

• Specific: I’ll learn new sales techniques to improve my work performance.
• Measurable: My goal is to double my sales from their current rate. I’ll keep a log of my current sales that directly compares to my sales at this time last year so I know whether I’m on track.
• Attainable: I’ve been a sales associate for two years now. I know the basics, and I’m ready to learn more.
• Relevant: I want to feel more confident at my job and learn new skills . This would put me in a better position for a promotion.
• Time-bound: Tomorrow, I’ll start doing a LinkedIn webinar course on sales tactics, and I’ll implement them on Monday. I have four months to see results.

6. SMART goal for becoming a better leader at work

• Specific: I’ll ensure my team members can count on me by becoming a better leader . I want them to trust me and enjoy working for me.
• Measurable: I’ll survey my team members each week to compare how supported they feel. The standardized form will contain multiple-choice questions ranking satisfaction from one to five. In addition, I’ll include an open-ended section for nuanced feedback.
• Attainable: I’ve been in this position for six months now, and I have management experience from my prior job.
• Relevant: As our company grows, I want to ensure that I’m supporting my team so they can learn and grow, too. If I’m a better leader, everyone’s work will become easier and more efficient.
• Time-bound: I’ll improve my average scores on each metric by 2 points by the end of this quarter. This will ensure I’m a better leader when the company takes on new projects and hires more staff.

7. SMART goal for establishing better communication at work

• Specific: I’ll help my remote team communicate more effectively to streamline workflow.
• Measurable: I’ll use Slack channels to organize team communication , monitor how often they’re used, and track team productivity .
• Attainable: We are all tech-savvy and understand that communication skills are essential for a team , so I’d like to strengthen those abilities.
• Relevant: Our company will remain remote for the foreseeable future, so we need to get better at communicating entirely online with one another.
• Time-bound: I will send Slack invites to everyone tomorrow morning. In a month, I’ll ask everyone how they feel about team communication and review my metrics.

8. SMART goal for improving emotional regulation

• Specific: I will gain better control over my emotions and feel calmer.
• Measurable: I’ll write in my journal each night and rate my mood. Every Friday, I’ll review my feelings and thoughts from the week.
• Attainable: Journaling is free, easy, and takes little time. I’ve been working on mindfulness , so I know I have the awareness to track my emotions.
• Relevant: I’ve started seeing a therapist, and they have encouraged me to set goals related to my well-being.
• Time-bound: I’m getting my degree and entering the workforce in three months. I want to improve my mood and stress tolerance before then to prepare for my new position.

9. SMART goal for waking up earlier

• Specific: I want to wake up earlier to have more time for my morning routine.
• Measurable: I’ll track how many times I snooze my alarm and when I finish my morning routine.
• Attainable: My schedule allows me to go to sleep early , so I can still maintain at least eight hours of sleep.
• Relevant: I feel rushed trying to get to work each day. Developing better sleep hygiene would help me feel calm.
• Time-bound: In four weeks, I want to wake up two hours earlier than when I usually wake up now.

10. SMART goal of learning French

• Specific: I want to learn how to have conversations in French to better communicate with my fiancée’s relatives.
• Measurable: I’ll use a daily language-learning app to hold me accountable and track my progress.
• Attainable: I know French speakers that I can practice with.
• Relevant: I can’t communicate with my in-laws very well now since they only speak French, and I’d like to deepen our relationship.
• Time-bound: I want to be able to hold a conversation in French in a year, in time for my wedding day.

Some people struggle with goal setting , and that’s okay. Take comfort in knowing this is a skill you can grow. Your first goal might not be detailed enough, or your measurement system may prove inadequate. Even an objective that doesn’t meet all the SMART criteria is still a learning opportunity.

Each time you set a goal, you’ll learn what practices work best for you and which ones to avoid.

Here are eight tips for using the SMART goal-setting framework:

• Keep it simple: You may struggle to make large-scale or long-term goals specific enough to fit into this framework. For example, a career change or lifestyle shift may be too nebulous to tackle all at once. If your goals feel too big, break them into more achievable short-term goals to keep you moving forward.
• Treat yourself: Sometimes, you’ll need more than just the satisfaction of a job well done. Reward yourself as you reach milestones, giving you something to look forward to.
• Goals aren’t one-size-fits-all: The same metrics, time constraints, and motivations may not work for every goal you set. Welcome a different approach for work, personal, and health goals .
• Ask yourself why: Before you set off on any significant goal, take time to introspect. If your Relevant statement is “because I want to” or “because I should,” step back and reevaluate. Determine what you hope to gain, and you’ll learn how to better motivate yourself .
• Know your limits: To set attainable goals, make sure they fit your abilities and values. If a task is far outside your range of capabilities, it might be a good idea to set smaller goals along the way. 
• Write it down: Ambitions won’t become a reality if they stay in your head. Writing out each of the SMART statements reminds you of why you’re working so hard. In addition, write out your time frame in a calendar or planner to track progress and minimize procrastination.
• Stay flexible: No plan is perfect. It may become evident that your initial trajectory won’t lead to a successful outcome, and staying the course would only mean wasted effort. Don’t be afraid to adjust or reset your action plan if things aren’t working out.
• Learn from setbacks: Obstacles provide an opportunity to learn and grow. Take time to evaluate what went wrong so you can become even more effective. But know when to move on. Once you’ve learned from your struggle, don’t continue to dwell on it.

Hopefully these SMART goal examples have inspired you to try setting some goals of your own. After all, measuring your goals provides a clear path to achieving them. It’s hard to gauge progress without metrics. If you can’t tell whether you’re on the right track, you won’t know if and when you need to course-correct.

Closely tracking your goals also helps you manage your energy . They can show you when you’re tired and need a break or when your motivation typically spikes.

SMART objectives support your future self. Just remember: all progress is progress. If you’re struggling to measure something abstract, such as being kinder to those around you, that’s normal. Regularly check in with yourself to see if you feel like you’ve grown, and be proud of yourself for trying.

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Madeline Miles

Madeline is a writer, communicator, and storyteller who is passionate about using words to help drive positive change. She holds a bachelor's in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies and lives in Denver, Colorado. In her spare time, she's usually somewhere outside (preferably in the mountains) — and enjoys poetry and fiction.

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28 SMART Goals for Smart Project Managers: A Complete Guide With Examples

By Kate Eby | May 23, 2023

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Creating SMART goals for project management can help ensure project success and boost your career as a project manager. 

In this article, you’ll find examples of SMART goals for project managers and for each phase of project management , as well as tips , templates , and cheat sheets to help you get started creating your own.

What Are SMART Goals in Project Management?

In project management, SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives that guide project planning and execution. They ensure that teams are aligned and working toward achieving specific project outcomes within a set timeframe.

Sometimes called SMART objectives , SMART goals are used by project managers and leaders to create and communicate clear and measurable desired outcomes for people and projects. 

These are the criteria for a SMART goal:

• Specific: The specifications are clear and exact.
• Measurable: The outcome can be quantified or measured.
• Achievable: The goal is realistic to achieve.
• Relevant: The goal relates to the goals of a particular project or the larger goals within an organization.
• Time-Bound: The goal includes a deadline or date by which success or failure will be determined.

SMART goals originated in the early 1980s to help individuals and organizations set clear and effective objectives. The term SMART is credited to George T. Doran , who published an article in Management Review in 1981 outlining the creation of goals that are specific, clear, measurable, relevant, and time-bound. Project managers adopted the concept to improve project planning and execution by creating clear and measurable objectives.

More recently, the concept of SMART goals has expanded with the development of OKRs (objectives and key results) , which take the SMART framework and add a layer of specificity and focus on outcomes.

How Do SMART Goals Help Leaders Manage a Project?

SMART goals help teams manage a project by providing clear and measurable targets to work toward. This allows teams to align their efforts, track progress, and adjust course as needed to achieve their objectives within a given timeframe.

SMART goals can give project managers specific metrics to measure the success of their projects and teams at each phase and milestone. Keeping track of your goals over time can also help quantify improvements in processes across similar projects.

“SMART goals are a framework for defining, tracking, and achieving project goals. They help project managers ensure that the team is making progress toward their overall project objectives,” says Omer Usanmaz, CEO and Co-Founder of Qooper .

Why Are SMART Goals Important to Project Management?

SMART goals are important to project management because they provide clarity, focus, accountability, measurability, alignment, and time management. Most importantly, they increase the likelihood of project success.

“SMART goals are a great tool to help project teams stay focused and provide a clear roadmap for project success. SMART goals clearly communicate project expectations to stakeholders, which helps to align their efforts and ensure that everyone is working toward the same goal,” says Usanmaz.

These are some key reasons that SMART goals are important in project management:

• Clarity: SMART goals can help teams understand goals and how they are measured, making them easier to work toward.
• Scope Management:  

• Focused goals help teams manage expanding requirements. “ Scope creep can be dramatically reduced by comparing change requests to the SMART goals established at the outset and judging whether or not it meets goal criteria. If they do not, then change requests can be removed or deferred accordingly,” explains David OBrien , a project manager with more than 25 years in the industry.
• Focus: SMART goals can help prioritize or highlight the factors that are most important to project success.
• Accountability: Effective goal setting can establish accountability for specific tasks and objectives.
• Measurability: SMART goals allow teams to track progress and use real numbers, enabling them to report estimated future needs.
• Expectations Setting: SMART goals outline project expectations from the outset, making ongoing communication with stakeholders easier. “The project manager can communicate in a common language with the stakeholders with the full knowledge of the stakeholder's priorities,” says OBrien.
• Alignment: SMART goals align the efforts of the entire project team.
• Time Management: SMART goals aid in time management by setting clear end dates for measuring goal success.
• Increased Likelihood of Success: SMART goals help increase the likelihood of project success by providing a clear target for teams to work toward.

Project Management Smart Goals Examples

You can use SMART goals to help improve each stage of the project management lifecycle. Set goals to improve at every stage, from more thoughtful project planning to more effective project monitoring and forward-looking project closure.

We’ll expand on some SMART goals for each stage of the project management lifecycle in the sections below.

Example SMART Goal for the Project Initiation Phase

SMART goals for the project initiation phase should relate to organizing and collecting the information you’ll need to get your project started, and making that process simpler for future projects.

As an example, you might set a SMART goal for the initiation phase of improving the likelihood of early sponsor approval by submitting a comprehensive project charter within two weeks of every new project inception. You can achieve this by creating or using a project charter template that includes all the necessary information and by establishing a system of documenting this information for each project you begin.

• Specific: The goal is to increase the occurrence of stakeholder approval for new projects by using a comprehensive project charter template.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable because it will require fewer back-and-forth conversations and documents to satisfy the sponsor and get their approval.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable with the creation or use of a comprehensive project charter template.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because it will reduce the time spent in the project initiation phase and decrease the total timeline of the project overall.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time-bound, with two weeks to put together a charter for each new project.

Example SMART Goal for the Project Planning Phase

SMART goals for project planning should include comprehensive documentation of the expectations for a project, including timelines, budgets, project scope, and risk management. They should focus on effective planning strategies and build on successful projects from the past.

An example of a SMART goal for the planning phase is to create a project plan template that can be used in future projects to more accurately anticipate budget needs and timelines, outline project scopes, and identify potential risks. 

• Specific: The goal is to create a customized project plan template that can be used to more accurately plan future projects.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because we will be able to see how it functions over time as it is used on future projects.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable because many of these functions are already in place; it’s simply a matter of combining them into a single, shareable document.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because accurate project planning is important for project prioritization, company-wide budgeting, and overall project success.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time-bound as the customized project plan template must be completed and ready for use by the start of the next project.

Example SMART Goal for the Project Execution Phase

SMART goals for project execution should include processes that make it easier for the team to complete their project tasks. This might include creating more detailed project schedules or holding frequent check-ins with the team to discover blockers.

An example of a SMART goal for the project execution phase is to boost visibility by creating a Gantt project schedule that lists every project task, who it is assigned to, and which tasks are dependent.

• Specific: The goal is to create a project schedule that lists project tasks, dependencies, and assignees and that allows stakeholders to see a project’s status at a glance.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because the goal is complete once the schedule has been created.
• Achievable: This goal is easily achievable with access to project management software or the use of a Gantt template .
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because it will increase overall project visibility for team members and stakeholders.
• Time-Bound: The schedule must be completed before the tasks are assigned and the project begins.

Example SMART Goal for the Project Monitoring Phase

SMART goals for the project monitoring phase should focus on effective tracking of project progress. This might include regular updates, proactive changes to procedures, and unforeseen risk management strategies.

An example of a SMART goal for the monitoring phase is to establish a weekly project tracking process to check the accuracy of the project’s timeline and budget and update project documents to reflect the current reality.

• Specific: The goal is to make weekly checks of a project’s status and update the budget and timeline documents to reflect the current reality.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable because there will be a weekly record of updates to project documents when required.
• Achievable: This goal is easily achievable if the project manager makes time in their schedule to check the status and update project documents every week.
• Relevant: The project will allow stakeholders to check a project’s status at any time by referencing updated documents, freeing the project manager to complete other tasks.
• Time-Bound: This goal should be implemented when the project monitoring phase begins.

Example SMART Goal for the Project Closure Phase

SMART goals for project closure should center around the evaluation of success or failure, to document the lessons learned and ensure that project data is organized and accessible for future reference.

An example of a SMART goal for project closure is to hold a lessons learned meeting after the end of each project and to document those lessons so that they can be referenced by future teams on similar projects.

• Specific: The goal is to hold a lessons learned meeting after each project and ensure that those lessons are documented and stored for easy retrieval. 
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because it is achieved when the meeting is concluded and the notes from the meeting are documented and stored.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable because the project manager can make time to learn how to hold a lessons learned meeting and how to document those lessons for future projects.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because it ensures that the knowledge gained through projects can be passed to teams on future projects, increasing their chance of success.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time-bound because a lessons learned meeting should be held within two weeks of the official end of a project.

SMART Goals for Project Management Cheat Sheet

Download a SMART Goals for Project Management Cheat Sheet for Microsoft Word | Google Docs

Use this SMART goals for project management cheat sheet to reference examples of SMART goals for each phase of project management lifecycle. Copy and paste to use these examples as is, or edit them directly in the template to customize them to your needs. This cheat sheet also includes a reminder of factors to consider when creating your own SMART goals for each phase of the project management lifecycle.

SMART Goals Template for Project Management

Download a SMART Goals Template for Project Management for  Microsoft Word | Google Docs

Use this SMART goals template to outline your goals and ensure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This colorful template features plenty of space to write notes and includes helpful prompts for each SMART element to get you started thinking about your project goals. This template is fully customizable and can be used for project goals in all industries.

Download SMART Goals for Project Management Slide Template

Download a SMART Goals for Project Management Slide Template for  PowerPoint | Google Slides

Use this SMART goals for project management slide template to easily present your SMART goals to the team. This colorful template includes space to describe all the elements of your SMART goal in one place, with a professional look and feel. This template is completely editable and customizable and can be used by project managers from any company.

How to Set SMART Goals as a Project Manager

To set SMART goals as a project manager, first identify your goal’s specific outcome. Ensure your goals are measurable, achievable, and relevant to your overall objectives. Finally, set a deadline to achieve them. 

These are the steps that project managers can follow to set SMART goals for their team:

• Identify the Goal: State clearly what you would like to achieve with your goal. What is the desired outcome?
• Define Measurable Criteria: Determine the metrics you will use to measure the success or failure of your goal and track progress.
• Make Sure Your Goal Is Achievable: Review the resources you have available, and determine if your goal is achievable. If the resources are not available, see if there are other ways to achieve the goal in a satisfactory way.
• Ensure the Goal is Relevant to the Project's Overall Mission: Your goals should be related to current or completed projects, or be aligned with the overall goals of the organization.
• Set a Deadline to Meet the Goal: Choose when you will determine whether or not you have achieved the goal and measure its success.
• Adjust as Needed: Often, project managers can improve SMART goals and use them for similar projects down the line. “Don't be afraid to seek feedback from others,” suggests Usanmaz. “Stakeholders might have valuable insights that can help you choose more effective SMART goals.”

To learn more, read this all-inclusive guide to writing SMART goals .

Examples of SMART Goals for Project Managers

SMART goals for project managers should focus on process improvements, team building and management, and ensuring successful project completion. We’ll break down 16 different SMART goals for project managers below.

1. Increase Production Output: Our writing team will increase published article output by 10 percent this year by reducing the time spent in meetings and streamlining existing processes.

• Specific: The goal is to increase the number of articles published by 10 percent over the previous year by reducing meeting time and making processes more efficient.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because the total output of each year is measurable.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable as long as we can redirect the team’s time from meetings and inefficient processes.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant as a 10 percent increase in output translates directly to increased profits for the company
• Time-Bound: This goal will be measured at the end of the year.

2. Improve the Reporting Process: The project manager will improve the project status reporting process by creating real-time dashboards that are accessible to stakeholders. This new process will be implemented during the planning phase of the next project.

• Specific: The goal is to improve the status reporting process by creating dashboards for each new project.
• Measurable: This goal’s progress can be measured by the time saved in responding to update requests and drafting status reports.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable using project management software or dashboard templates . 
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because it will save the project manager and stakeholders time that would otherwise be spent asking for and drafting status updates.
• Time-Bound: This goal will be completed during the planning phase of each successive project.

3. Develop the Skills of Team Members: The project manager will dedicate time to developing the skills of the people on the team. Senior employees will mentor a less experienced team member on a project at least once a year to improve the skills of newer employees.

• Specific: The goal is for senior employees to mentor newer team members to develop their skills and pass down legacy information.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable because the output of new employees performing specific processes can be tracked and compared to their starting point.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable by limiting the mentor relationships to one per year so as not to overwhelm more experienced team members.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because institutional knowledge will be lost without encouraging new employees to learn from existing ones.
• Time-Bound: This goal is time bound because each senior employee will mentor one new employee per year.

4. Try New Project Management Tools: Once per quarter, the project manager will try out a new time-saving technology tool or template. If the tool is successful in saving significant time, they will implement it into their processes going forward.

• Specific: The goal is to try out new technology or templates and see if they are worth implementing at scale.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable by trying one new tool or template per quarter.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable using free trials of new software and free project management templates from around the web.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because it helps the project manager stay up-to-date on the latest technology and practices, which can improve overall efficiency and productivity in project management.
• Time-Bound: This goal is time bound because the project manager has one quarter to try each new template or technology.

5. Perform a Process Audit: The project manager will perform an audit of all project process workflows once per year to ensure that they are efficient and remain necessary.

• Specific: The goal is to perform a process audit once per year.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because the number of documented processes is known and can be checked off a list as they are completed.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable with help from a small team.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant to ensure that project teams are operating as efficiently as possible.
• Time-Bound: The audit occurs once per year.

6. Plan Regular Team-Building Events: The project manager will schedule quarterly events to aid in team building and cohesion. 

• Specific: The goal is to plan and execute a team-building event once per quarter.
• Measurable: The goal is accomplished as each event occurs.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable with time and budget allotments for the event planner.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because more cohesive teams perform better on projects.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound and occurs once per quarter.

7. Find New Vendors or Business Partners: The project manager will identify and evaluate a new third-party vendor or agency to support the operations of their team by the end of the following quarter.

• Specific: The goal is to identify and evaluate a new vendor or agency to support the team  in their operations.
• Measurable: It is measurable because the project manager will track the evaluation period against their requirements.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable because there are likely to be many vendors to choose from, and evaluating them is reasonable in the given time frame. 
• Relevant: It is relevant because the team is currently overtaxed and can use an agency to free up time for more important tasks.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound to the end of the next quarter.

8. Increase Customer Satisfaction by Decreasing Business Response Time: Within the next quarter, the project manager will lead the customer service team in decreasing the response time to customer inquiries by 20% compared to the current average response time.

• Specific: The goal is to decrease the time between customer inquiry and employee response by at least 20 percent.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable by comparing the old and new average response times after changes have been implemented.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable using automated responses and by forwarding inquiries directly to support inboxes.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because current negative feedback from customers commonly touches on the length of time spent waiting for a response.
• Time-Bound: These new approaches will be implemented within the next quarter.

9. Reduce the Time the Team Spends in Meetings: The project manager will reduce the time each team member spends in meetings by 10 hours a month by the end of the month.

• Specific: The goal is to reduce the time the team spends in meetings by 10 hours per month.
• Measurable: The goal is easily measured by comparing the time spent in meetings at the beginning of the month to the time spent in meetings after changes have been implemented.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable by making more efficient use of existing meeting time to reduce the number of meetings needed.
• Relevant: It is relevant because the team is currently concerned with the amount of time each week they are spending in meetings rather than executing tasks.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound to the end of the month.

10. Improve the Efficiency of Team Meetings: The project manager will make weekly team meetings more efficient using a meeting agenda populated by the team with the most important topics. This change will go into effect starting with the next team meeting.

• Specific: The goal is to make the time spent in weekly team meetings more productive by using a meeting agenda that is built by the team for each meeting.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because teams can compare the time spent deciding what to cover in each meeting before and after the agenda is implemented.
• Achievable: This goal is easily achievable by creating a shared document for team members to add agenda items to before each scheduled meeting.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because the team currently spends the first 10 minutes of each meeting fielding suggestions for what to cover in the meeting.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound because it will begin with the next scheduled team meeting.

11. Improve Team Communication and Collaboration: The project manager will increase the effectiveness of team communication by encouraging the use of an asynchronous communication tool and setting up regular individual check-ins by the end of the month.

• Specific: The goal is to increase the effectiveness of team communication.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable by tracking the number of team members actively using the new tool and attending check-ins.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable because there are many proven asynchronous tools to choose from, and it is easy to set up a regular check-in cadence based on the schedules of the team.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because it will improve collaboration among team members and decrease duplicated messaging across multiple platforms.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound because it needs to be completed by the end of the month.

12. Improve Team Productivity and Performance: The project manager will utilize the company’s new project management software to create a new task management system and improve the team’s productivity and performance on the next project.

• Specific: The goal is to increase the team’s productivity and performance on the next project by using a new project management tool.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable by comparing the amount of time spent on similar project phases and tasks before and after the implementation of the new tool.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable using new software already approved by the company to create automated task assignments and reminders.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because the company purchased this software to be used by project teams to increase their efficiency.
• Time-Bound: The new task management system must be set up before the start of the next project.

13. Achieve Project Goals Within Constraints: Within the next month, the project manager will create a risk management plan template that can be used to achieve project goals within constraints.

• Specific: The goal is to create a risk management plan template that can help the team achieve project goals within certain constraints.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable by comparing actual project needs to the constraints they are meant to stay within.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable using risk management plan templates and customizing them to meet the needs of the project.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because staying within constraints allows the company to more accurately forecast budget and scheduling needs.
• Time-Bound: The goal will be completed within the next month.

14. Stay Proactive to Mitigate Risks: The project manager will use a risk management plan and  perform regular risk assessments during each project phase to anticipate and mitigate risks.

• Specific: The goal is to use risk assessments and a risk management plan to respond proactively to project risks.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because the team can track the number of risks identified, the severity of each risk, and the effectiveness of the risk mitigation strategies implemented. 
• Achievable: The goal is achievable because risk assessments and risk management plans are proven to help address risks early.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because mitigating risks saves time and money for the company in the long term.
• Time-Bound: The risk management plan must be completed at the beginning of each project, and risk assessments should occur at each new project phase.

15. Align Project Goals With Company Goals: The project manager will ensure that project goals are in line with leadership’s goals for the company by clearly outlining project goals with a project plan at the outset of each project.

• Specific: The goal is to create a project plan that outlines project goals and compares them to the company’s overall goals to ensure alignment.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable because the project manager will create an outline for each of the organization’s stated goals.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable if there is a firm understanding of organizational goals and a project plan that includes a clear goal statement.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because projects that align with company goals are more likely to have the support of leadership and are, therefore, more likely to succeed.
• Time-Bound: The project manager will create a goal statement and align it to company goals at the outset of each project.

16. Manage Stakeholder Expectations: The project manager will create a project communication plan during the planning phase of each project to establish the frequency and detail of communication with each project stakeholder.

• Specific: The goal is to create a project communication plan to help manage stakeholder expectations throughout each project phase.
• Measurable: The goal is measured by comparing feedback from stakeholders on previous projects to their feedback once the change is implemented.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable using a communication plan template and customizing it to the needs of the project.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because managing stakeholders’ expectations from the outset helps save time spent asking and answering questions related to a project’s status.
• Time-Bound: The project team creates the communication plan during the planning phase of each project.

SMART Goals for Project Managers Cheat Sheet

Download a SMART Goals for Project Managers Cheat Sheet for  Microsoft Word | Google Docs

This cheat sheet includes each of the 16 examples of SMART goals for project managers outlined in this article. Easily copy and paste these goals into your own documents for use in your work, and customize them to fit the needs of your project. This cheat sheet is completely editable, so you can use the examples as written or change them to reflect your own individual situation.

Examples of Professional Goals for Project Management

Many different kinds of professional goals can benefit those interested in expanding a career in project management. These include upgrading skills, executing high-impact projects, attending workshops, and more.

We’ll break down seven SMART goals to aid in professional advancement in the field of project management below:

1. Certify Your Project Management Skills: The project manager will complete one training class and become certified in a new project management software or skill by the end of the year.

• Specific: The goal is to complete a project management course and receive a certification.
• Measurable: The goal is measured by the completion of the skills course and passing the final certification exam.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable because numerous organizations offer project management training and certifications that are relevant to the organization.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because certifications serve as proof of expertise, which increases the trust of project teams and the likelihood of project success.
• Time-Bound: The goal needs to be completed by the end of the calendar year.

2. Work on Soft Skills and Improve Feedback From the Team: The project manager will raise their average employee feedback score by 20 percent on the next annual employee survey by improving their soft skills.

• Specific: The goal is to increase the project manager’s feedback score from team members by 20 percent on the next annual employee survey.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable by comparing last year’s score to this year’s and tracking the difference.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable by practicing soft skills such as proactive listening and building positive relationships with the team.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because teams that feel good about their project manager are more cohesive and communicate more effectively.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound to the next annual employee feedback survey.

3. Balance Employee Needs With Company Needs: During the planning phase, the project manager will create a shared calendar for the team that overlays each employee’s time away on the project schedule to help identify gaps and balance the team’s needs with the project’s needs.

• Specific: The goal is to create a shared calendar that overlays employee time away on the project schedule to identify when help might be needed to cover gaps.
• Measurable: The goal is measured by the creation of a shared calendar and project schedule.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable by using shared online calendars and project scheduling tools.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because creating this calendar system will help avoid situations when critical project tasks are required during an employee’s scheduled time away.
• Time-Bound: The schedule will be created during the project planning phase.

4. Execute High-Impact Projects: Before the next project kickoff, the project manager will identify and prioritize high-impact projects that align with the organization's strategic goals and have the most significant impact on the business as a whole.

• Specific: The project manager will identify and prioritize the projects with the highest impact on the business.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable using prioritization matrices to compare the priority of projects and their potential impact on the business.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable because project prioritization helps you rank potential projects in the order of whatever criteria you choose, including business impact.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because the project manager can ensure that resources are allocated to the projects that will have the most significant impact on the business as a whole.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound because it needs to be executed before the next project kickoff.

5. Deliver the Greatest Possible Value to the Business Within Your Role: Before the next annual employee review, the project manager will identify areas for improvement, set clear objectives, and implement best practices in their work to deliver the greatest possible value to the business.

• Specific: The goal is for the project manager to identify opportunities for improvement in their work and implement best practices to improve.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable by comparing metrics such as budget and schedule adherence, team feedback, and stakeholder satisfaction over time.
• Achievable: The goal is achievable by using a SWOT analysis to analyze the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in their role as a project manager and by working with leaders to improve in the areas identified.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant because proactively identifying areas of weakness and working toward improving them shows leadership that you are a valuable employee worth considering for advancement opportunities.
• Time-Bound: The project manager will complete this initiative before their next annual review.

6. Stay Up to Date on Industry News: The project manager will read five newsletters or articles each week about industry news to stay up to date on trends and best practices.

• Specific: The goal is to read newsletters and articles relating to industry news and best practices.
• Measurable: The goal is measurable by keeping track of the number of articles and newsletters read per week.
• Achievable: This goal is easily achievable by setting aside 15 minutes per day to find and read articles and newsletters around the web.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because keeping up to date on current industry news and best practices helps project managers stay informed and operate efficiently.
• Time-Bound: The goal is time bound to five articles weekly, repeating each week.

7. Attend Industry Workshops and Trade Shows: To ensure the project manager has an understanding of the newest industry software, skills, and best practices, they will attend a trade show each year and participate in two workshops while there.

• Specific: The goal is to attend an industry trade show and participate in skill classes or informational workshops.
• Measurable: The goal is measured by keeping track of trade shows and workshops attended each year.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable because there are numerous trade shows and workshops to choose from, many of which offer virtual attendance as well.
• Relevant: The goal is relevant because trade shows and workshops are some of the best places to discover cutting-edge technology and new processes related to your industry.
• Time-Bound: The goal will be achieved each year before the end of the calendar year.

SMART Goals vs. SMART Objectives in Project Management

SMART goals and SMART objectives are often used interchangeably, but objectives are more specific and related to specific project deliverables, while goals are broader and relate to overall project success. 

An example of a SMART goal might be to reduce the time required for overall planning of the next marketing campaign by one week. An example of a SMART objective might be to reduce the time required to write a marketing campaign project plan to five days.

Project Management SMART Goals Tips and Best Practices

There are several best practices for creating SMART goals in project management that are proven to be effective. For example, keep goals focused, communicate goals to the team, and review ongoing goals.

Here are some best practices and proven tips on setting SMART goals for project managers, from experts:

• Keep Goals Focused: Use the SMART framework as a guide when writing your goals. Keep them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound to ensure that they are as focused as possible. “Focus on one part of the SMART acronym at a time. I like to focus on 'time' first. Once the project becomes time bound, then we can get more specific with the requirements and make them measurable. Do not be too rigid in your approach,” advises OBrien.
• Communicate Your Goals: Part of creating goals is sharing them with the team. Sharing goals with others will help keep you and your team accountable.
• Review Ongoing Goals: Some SMART goals are ongoing, meaning they should be achieved regularly, month after month or year after year. Andrew Lokenauth , Founder of Fluent in Finance, encourages project managers to review their ongoing goals and make sure they still align with the overall goals of the company. “Ensure each goal is aligned with the overall project vision and is relevant to the organization's needs. Use data and previous experiences to inform decision-making, and constantly evaluate and adjust goals as necessary,” he says.
• Adjust as Needed: Sometimes, you might discover that a goal was unrealistic or your time frame was too long or too short. Don’t be afraid to revise your goals as needed so that they are achievable within the set parameters. “For example, if the time frame does not allow for the scope, do not be afraid to ask what the stakeholders priorities are: time or scope. One may have to adjust to meet the other. In the end, the project must be realistic in order to be attainable,” explains OBrien.

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How to Set SMART Goals

Every great achievement comes from setting goals. Each leader, entrepreneur, and go-getter achieved their dreams by creating an attainable goal-setting process to help them follow through and succeed.

Whether you have personal development goals, project management goals, or broader business goals to accomplish, everyone can benefit from creating SMART goals .

Find out what the SMART acronym stands for and why SMART goals are important. I will also share some helpful SMART goal setting examples, how to set attainable SMART goals , and tips to help you achieve your professional and personal goals using the SMART framework.

What Are SMART Goals?

SMART goals have been around for over 30 years. In 1981, consultant and former director of corporate planning for Washington Water Power Company, George T. Doran, published a paper titled, “There’s a SMART Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives.

 He introduced the SMART goals criteria as a way to improve your chances of accomplishing your goals. Since then, we can see the SMART term occurs in a copious amount of research studies, self-help books, articles, blog posts, and more.

What does it take for a goal to be considered a SMART goal? In this context, SMART is an acronym that stands for:

Think of your SMART goals as a personal mission statement. The SMART framework acts as a tool to help you ensure that the goals you want to achieve are attainable and geared to you and your means of success.

SMART goals are versatile and can be applied to both personal and professional areas of life. For example, SMART goals are absolutely essential for managers when figuring out how to motivate their employees .

Creating a SMART goals action plan in the workplace can stimulate productivity and overall achievement.

A personal goal example may be committing to taking a walk every day before work. This walk could then develop into a routine, which will later lead to a habit. Habits like these can then help you work towards a bigger goal of building a healthier and more productive lifestyle overall.

The Importance of SMART Goal Setting

Creating a routine is important for your productivity, but your goals are what navigate your productivity to your success.

Goal setting allows you to create the willpower to move the needle in your life and prevent feeling stagnate and stuck.

Setting both long and short-term attainable goals helps you build focus, measure progress, and hold yourself accountable.

By setting goals, you can stop making excuses and procrastinating and start heading towards success.

But, not all goals are the same. Goals have to be thought out and specific to you and your situation. If you set goals that are vague, it’s much more difficult to determine how successful you are in achieving them.

If you don’t put thought and effort into your goal setting , you may never achieve the success you want. That’s why it’s important to aim before you shoot.

How to Set Achievable SMART Goals

Now that you have a general understanding of what a SMART goal is, let’s break the SMART acronym down to help you understand each element.

Using the SMART goal framework is very simple. To create an attainable SMART goal, focus on each word of the acronym itself.

The goals you create should embody all of these elements. Once they do, you will see the true potential of this term and how you can utilize it to achieve success in your life.

Let’s start at the beginning.

S – Specific

Good goals are not ambiguous or vague. Rather, they are clear and concise. You should know what you want to focus on, even if you aren’t quite sure how to get there yet.

For example, rather than saying, “I want to get into shape,” you could say, “I want to lose fifteen pounds by March 20th by using my gym membership three days per week.”

The first statement gives you a very broad definition of what it means to be “in shape.” But your version of “in shape” may be entirely different than someone else’s — it leaves too much room for interpretation and less room for action.

You can see how the latter example is a more specific goal allowing for much more effective planning.

At first, being specific with your goals may add some extra pressure. However, the specificity of your goal will allow you to hone in on what you are looking to achieve and attack it directly rather than dance around it. Your focus will be narrow, efficient, and precise.

M – Measurable

Tracking the progress of your goal is an important part of keeping yourself motivated and holding yourself accountable.

Setting measurable goals allows you to track progress by identifying milestones you can celebrate when you achieve them and reevaluate if you don’t.

Some goals are measurable by numerical or financial terms. Some can be broken down into steps, each of which infers that the previous step has been completed and progress has been made toward your measurable goal.

Some goals are more difficult to quantify, though, in which case you can evaluate your endurance and efficiency when completing that task by writing down how you felt doing it on a daily basis. This also allows you to measure changes in mindset during your journey.

A SMART goal example for this could be simply “being more positive.” While that’s hard to assign key performance indicators to, you can measure progress by noting how much easier it gets to be positive on a daily basis when you are actively working on it.

Make sure you measure your goals regularly in order to help you stay on track or adjust as needed. The progress you make will motivate you to continue moving forward.

A – Achievable

While your goals should challenge you, they shouldn’t be impossible for you to accomplish.

Far too many people fall into the trap of setting unrealistic goals for themselves. While big, exaggerated goals may be motivating for a while, they will usually leave you feeling depleted and distraught in the long run.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reach for the stars, it just means you should be reasonable about your output. Once you’ve reached your goal, you can then aim for something higher.

Make your goals achievable. Before you set your goal, make sure that you can actually envision yourself achieving it and can create a SMART goal action plan for doing so.

This plan should consider if you can achieve the goal within the constraints of time, money, skill level, external environment, and the other constraints contained both inside and outside of yourself. When you make your goal attainable, you are more likely to stay motivated and succeed.

Even if your long-term goal is grand, start with a more achievable goal and work your way up.

R – Relevant

Not all goals are created equally. Some may be much more worthwhile to you than they are to your coworkers or friends. Unless your goal is relevant to the overall plan for your life, achieving it may not contribute to your ultimate success.

Your goals should be within the bounds of reality. Some goals are inspirational and do not necessarily reflect your current reality. Always create goals that are actionable and attainable; ones that do not require the wave of a magic wand.

In order to ensure that your goal is beneficial and relevant to you, make sure that it aligns with your values and larger, long-term goals. If a goal doesn’t contribute toward your broader objectives, rethink it.

Always ask yourself why the goal is important to you, how achieving it will help you, and how it will contribute toward your long-term goals.  When you have a good answer for each of these questions, you know you’re setting the right kind of relevant goals that you can achieve.

T – Time-Bound

Effective SMART goals should follow a time frame. A goal deadline promotes motivation and prioritization while giving you confidence through the tracking of your progress.

Here’s a SMART goal example that is time-bound:

You want to start reading more books, but rather than saying, “I want to start reading more books,” you could say, “I want to read twelve books in the next six months.”

You will notice that the first statement is all-around vague — “more” could mean as few as one book or as many as 100 books. It also does not set a target date, making it more difficult to track consistently.

The second goal is much more specific as far as quantity and time frame go, allowing you to keep track of your progress and see how far away you are from reaching your goal within the deadline.

When you specify schedules for the attainment of each part of the goal and the completion of each part of the task, you will find it much easier for you to stay on track.

Having Trouble Accomplishing Your Goals? Find Success Fast With My SMART Goals Cheat Sheet!

SMART Goals Examples

When planning out the SMART goals you want to achieve, write down each of the five criteria within the SMART goal setting structure, and write a sentence or two about how your goal fits into each.

If you can create a goal that aligns with each element, your goal will prove to be more elevated and beneficial than a general goal.

In case you’re still unsure what exactly qualifies a goal as being “SMART,” let’s take a look at a few specific SMART goals examples to inspire you as you are developing your own goals.

SMART Goals Example for Saving Money

Let’s say that your goal is to start saving more money.

Now, in and of itself, this isn’t a SMART goal, but it can easily be modified so that it is one. For example, you could say:

“I will save $10,000 a year for the next 10 years in order to prepare for a comfortable retirement.”

Now this goal is considered a SMART goal. Using a SMART goals template will also help you see how each criterion is being accounted for:

S (Specific) = You have designated a specific amount of money you hope to save ($100,000).

M (Measurable) = You are able to track how much money you’re putting away towards your goal ($10,000 per year for 10 years).

A (Achievable) = After accessing your financial situation, you have deemed an appropriate and realistic amount.

R (Relevant) = Saving money will allow you to achieve your goal of having a comfortable retirement fund.

T (Time-bound) = You have set a time frame for when you should have $100,000 in savings (in 10 years).

SMART Goals Example for Leadership

Let’s say that your goal is to hold a team leadership role within your organization. Here’s what that goal looks like as a SMART goal:

“I will earn a team managerial promotion in my department during my yearly evaluation in six months by working harder and taking on more responsibility for my team without being asked.”

Now let’s look at each element of the SMART goal to help you better understand and achieve it:

S (Specific) = You are working towards the exact team position you want to be promoted to within your department.

M (Measurable) = Your success can be measured by the promotion.

A (Achievable) = Your current role is the stepping stone to the team managerial role if you go above and beyond your current job description.

R (Relevant) = The managerial role aligns with your desired career trajectory.

T (Time-bound) = Your goal is time sensitive as you are working towards being promoted to a team manager during your yearly management review in six months.

SMART Goals Example for Writing a Book

Now let’s say you have a personal goal of writing a book. Instead of leaving this goal vague, we will turn it into a personal SMART goal. Your personal SMART goal is:

“I will finish writing the manuscript of my book by the fall of next year by writing five pages a day starting today.”

S (Specific) = You have specified the deliverable (the manuscript).

M (Measurable) = You have a set amount of pages that you have to write per day in order to finish by next fall (five).

A (Achievable) = You enjoy writing and are very motivated to finish your book, so writing five pages a day is doable.

R (Relevant) = Finishing the manuscript will get you much closer to eventually publishing the book to a bigger audience.

T (Time-bound) = You are working towards the manuscript being completed by the fall of next year.

SMART Goals Templates and Smart Goal Worksheets

Along with writing down the criteria for your SMART goals and checking that the goal you set matches each criterion, you may find it beneficial to use additional resources, such as goal-setting templates and worksheets.

These resources will help you write SMART goals action plans, help you organize your thoughts in a clear way, and can be referenced throughout your journey.

How you decide to use a goal-setting template depends on the template itself. A SMART goals template includes helpful tips on how you can create the right kind of goals, how you can keep track of your progress, ways to stay motivated, and more.

Writing SMART goals is much quicker when you use a template. I find the most benefit from the templates when I print them and manually fill them out. I can then use the SMART goal worksheets as physical and mental references as I work towards my goals.

To do this, simply fill out each section of the template you choose as it applies to your specific goal at the time.

If enjoy using templates, planners, and other written tools to help you stay organized, goal-setting templates may be an essential tool in your SMART goal creation.

The good news: You can  download my SMART Goals Template now for free. A SMART goal template makes it easy to create goals specifically designed for you and your vision of success.

Tips for Achieving SMART Goals

Thoughtfully setting up your SMART goals means you’re well on your way to success. Now I’d like to give you a few tips to help you  accomplish your SMART goals and make sure you have achieved your dreams.

Write Down Your Goals

People who write down their goals are three times more likely to achieve them than those who do not. Designate a journal, template, software program, or another resource where you will write your goals down like a personal mission statement and refer to them often.

Check Your Goals Regularly

For best results, you should consult your goals every day. This helps you do a reality check often to make sure your goals are attainable. It will keep you focused and help you tailor your daily to-do list to reach your goals. And it will also help you keep your end date front of mind.

Revise Your Goals as Needed

At times, you may find you’ve created unattainable goals, need a more realistic deadline, or something unexpected happens that requires your to course correct to you meet your goal within the time frame. Remember that your goals are important as written, but they are also fluid and you can make changes when necessary. The most essential thing is you continue progressing forward.

Add Positive Affirmations to Your Daily Routine

Practicing daily positive affirmations is a proven way to maintain the motivation you need to achieve your goals. Affirmations is one of my favorite positive thinking resources and will help ensure you don’t fall short in meeting your goals.

Celebrate Your Wins

A huge benefit of SMART goals is that they are measurable. This way, you can break each goal into smaller goals and check off your progress. The motivation you’ll experience along the way will lead to an acceleration of your progress and help you accomplish your goals.

Overcoming Obstacles

You may have reasons as to why you are not achieving your objectives, but sometimes we use excuses that can be overcome.

Consider the excuses you may tell yourself. Common excuses are not having enough time, knowledge, or experience. Other excuses have to do with needing to overcome bad habits or stepping out of our comfort zone.

Many excuses can be turned into opportunities when you take accountability for your decisions and develop a plan for yourself.

While success is not achieved overnight, it’s important to remain realistic and remember all the little steps you must take in order to reach the finish line.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You may get tired and want to stop, but just remember, starting was the most difficult part and you’ve already made it past that — so keep going.

If you are struggling with moving forward, start with one small step. This can be done by setting some daily realistic goals before bed. Then, wake up and start creating a routine with these daily goals in mind.

It all starts with that first step and proper time management to stay on target.

Get on the Road to Success by Setting SMART Goals Now

By following these SMART goal tips when setting personal and professional goals, you will see that making realistic SMART goals important to your process will inspire you, challenge you, and push you towards the best version of yourself — the version you are destined to become once you commit to achieving your goals.

Set yourself up for success by downloading my free  SMART Goals Template now. When you use this and other helpful resources, you’ll be on your way to writing your SMART goals and turning your dreams into reality.

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook , Pinterest , Linkedin and Youtube .

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Module 2: Goal Setting and Time Management

Setting smart goals, learning outcomes.

• Describe SMART goals

Goals should also be SMART. In this case, the word smart is not only a clever description of the type of goal, but it is also an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. These are all desirable traits for your goals because they not only help you plan how to meet the goal, but these traits can also contribute to your decision-making processes during the planning stage.

What does it mean to create SMART goals?

• Specific —For a goal to be specific, it must be defined enough to actually determine the goal. A goal of “get a good job when I graduate” is too general. It doesn’t define what a good job is. In fact, it doesn’t even necessarily include a job in your chosen profession. A more specific goal would be something like “be hired as a nurse in a place of employment where it is enjoyable to work and that has room for promotion.”
• Measurable —The concept of measurable is one that is often overlooked when setting goals. What this means is that the goal should have clearly defined outcomes that are detailed enough to measure and can be used for planning of how you will achieve the goal. For example, setting a goal of doing well in school is a bit undefined, but making a goal of graduating with a GPA above 3.0 is measurable and specific. If your goal is measurable, you can know ahead of time how many points you will have to earn on a specific assignment to stay in that range or how many points you will need to make up in the next assignment if you do not do as well as you planned.
• Attainable —Attainable or achievable goals means they are reasonable and within your ability to accomplish. While a goal of “make an extra one million dollars by the end of the week” is something that would be nice to achieve, the odds that you could make that happen in a single week are not very realistic.
• Relevant —For goal setting, relevant means it applies to the situation. In relation to college, a goal of getting a horse to ride is not very relevant, but getting dependable transportation is something that would contribute to your success in school.
• Time bound — Time bound means you set a specific time frame to achieve the goal. “I will get my paper written by Wednesday” is time bound. You know when you have to meet the goal. “I will get my paper written sometime soon” does not help you plan how and when you will accomplish the goal.

In the following table, you can see some examples of goals that do and do not follow the SMART system. As you read each one, think about what elements make them SMART or how you might change those that are not.

Write SMART GOALS

Try writing two SMART goals—something with a one-week time frame and something that you will accomplish over the next year. Make certain that you include all the appropriate elements—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound.

Aids to Successful Goal Setting

The following video examines five aids to help ensure that your goal setting will be effective, “take hold,” and serve you in the short and long term.

You can view the transcript for “Five Rules of Goal Setting: How to set SMART Goals” here (opens in new window) .

• College Success. Authored by : Linda Bruce. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• College Success. Authored by : Amy Baldwin. Provided by : OpenStax; Modified by Lumen Learning. Located at : https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/3-6-goal-setting-and-motivation . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Five Rules of Goal Setting: How to set SMART, Motivating Personal Goals. Authored by : MindToolsVideos. Located at : https://youtu.be/aVstw9HYl-o . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

SMART Goals Template

Set a specific goal and develop realistic strategies to reach it with the SMART goal template. Keep focused and set your team up for success.

Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies

About the SMART Goals Template

The SMART Goals template helps you think strategically about your targets and develop a clear plan to accomplish them without sounding too vague or unrealistic. The SMART method points you in the right direction, and that’s why many professionals and teams use this methodology to create their strategies. It’s a great tool to design a plan and keep track of your progress.

What are SMART goals?

SMART is a framework that stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Keep each of these parameters in mind anytime you set a goal to adhere to the SMART framework. Setting SMART goals ensures that your objectives are both achievable and clear to all team members.

The SMART model can also be used to reevaluate and refine goals during the run of a project.

Benefits of setting SMART goals

Setting goals can be overwhelming, especially for a big project. It’s hard to conceptualize every step from the beginning, leading to objectives that are too broad or too much of a stretch.

SMART goals, by contrast, allow you to set goals that are clear, actionable, and effective. When working with a team, SMART goals help you stay aligned, agree on objectives, and keep up with deadlines. As an added benefit, you can loop in new employees without conducting extensive, time-consuming training and inform stakeholders easily by sharing the SMART Goals template.

Set your own SMART goals

Miro is the perfect tool to create and share your team’s SMART goals. Get started by selecting this SMART Goals template. Then, follow these steps to fill in each section:

S - Specific

What do you want to accomplish?

To be specific, add as many ideas as you can to identify patterns and determine the particular goal you want to pursue. Be careful not to get too broad and instead think about a specific area of focus.

As you brainstorm, add sticky notes, move them around the board, and cluster ideas with shapes and frames to stay organized.

M - Measurable

How will you know when you accomplished your goal?

Make sure your goals are measurable by adding details, metrics, and performance indicators, making note of anything you want to track. You can also add more templates to your board like Gantt charts , milestone charts , or action plans to have a more complete overview of a project.

A - Attainable

How can the goal be accomplished?

To make your goals attainable, consider splitting them into smaller steps that you prioritize so you can achieve results quickly. And, think about whether the goals are realistic, given constraints like financing.

R - Relevant

Will the goal meet your short- and long-term needs?

To ensure your goals are relevant, be sure to align them with your company’s goals, mission, and vision. You can easily share your goals with leaders to get their input.

When will the goal be accomplished?

To create timely goals, make sure each one gets assigned a deadline, whether short-term (“what can I do today?”) or long-term (“what can I do in six months?”). Time-bounded goals ensure lofty ideas can be broken down into actionable steps and make tracking milestones easier and more efficient.

Example of a practical SMART goal framework

Here is a practical example of how you can put the SMART Goal framework into practice within the marketing context:

GOAL: your marketing team will increase brand awareness by 5% this quarter by revamping the content strategy and creating new content that improves your lagging brand awareness.

Specific: to increase brand awareness by 5%.

Measurable: if they achieve less than 5%, fail to revamp content strategy, or do not create new content, they have not reached their goal.

Attainable: the team has outlined the necessary steps for achieving this goal.

Relevant: the team acknowledges that their current brand awareness is lagging.

Time-based: the team has determined that they will achieve their goal by the end of the quarter.

Why use SMART goals?

The SMART Goals framework helps you to set objectives in a way that is not confusing or vague, giving you a concrete and clear framework to reach your desired outcome. It’s a straightforward tool, and that’s why many professionals use SMART to keep their plans in check and track progress as they execute their strategies. The SMART Goal method is also a great way to design growth plans, either professional or personal, creating room to develop a purpose and fulfilling path.

How do you write a SMART goal?

Start writing a specific goal with as much detail as possible. Then, add a measurable action to achieve it, followed by what is needed to accomplish this action and what’s relevant and might influence your process. Set deadlines and timelines to keep track of your progress to finalize it. Remember, write goals that seem realistic and detailed, so you can easily follow what you are setting out to do.

Get started with this template right now.

Icebreaker Template

Works best for:.

Icebreakers

There’s no better way to kickoff a meeting or workshop than by building comfort and familiarity between your guests — to put them at ease and get them ready to participate and collaborate. That’s just the kind of human connection that icebreakers create, which make them great for remote gatherings or introducing new team members. There are many icebreakers to choose from, including: Describe yourself in one word. Share a photo of yourself as a baby. And if you were an animal, what would you be?

Random Words Template

Ideation, Brainstorming, Mind Mapping

Random word brainstorming is a simple, creative technique using random words to generate new ideas and creative solutions to your problems. Using random word prompts allows you to step beyond traditional boundaries and address challenges from a different direction. Random word brainstorming allows your team to unlock their creativity to solve business problems, create new inventions, improve existing ideas, or just think about problems in a new way.

Quick Retrospective Template

Education, Retrospectives, Meetings

A retrospective template empowers you to run insightful meetings, take stock of your work, and iterate effectively. The term “retrospective” has gained popularity over the more common “debriefing” and “post-mortem,” since it’s more value-neutral than the other terms. Some teams refer to these meetings as “sprint retrospectives” or “iteration retrospectives,” “agile retrospectives” or “iteration retrospectives.” Whether you are a scrum team, using the agile methodology, or doing a specific type of retrospective (e.g. a mad, sad, glad retrospective), the goals are generally the same: discovering what went well, identifying the root cause of problems you had, and finding ways to do better in the next iteration.

Growth Experiments Template

Leadership, Desk Research, Strategic Planning

Many ambitious companies are eying the future and aiming to grow. But growth decisions can be leaps of faith that are risky and costly. That’s why growth experiments make so much sense. They offer a systematic six-step method that reveals which strategies are most effective, how they’ll affect your revenue, and how they compare to your past approaches. By helping you test out your strategies for scaling your business before you fully commit, growth experiments can save you serious time, resources, and money.

Entity Relationship Diagram Template

Flowcharts, Strategic Planning, Diagrams

Sometimes the most important relationships in business are the internal ones—between the teams, entities, and actors within a system. An entity relationship diagram (ERD) is a structural diagram that will help you visualize and understand the many complex connections between different roles. When will an ERD come in handy? It’s a great tool to have for educating and onboarding new employees or members of a team, and our template makes it so easy to customize according to your unique needs.

Concept Map Template

Education, Mapping, Brainstorming

Use the concept map template to create new ideas, structure your thoughts, and bring your innovations to life. It allows you to explore connections between concepts and let your creativity flow in an organized format. As a result, you’re able to visualize how to bring your new ideas to reality and how various concepts relate to each other.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES

How to write SMART goals plus examples

• Cecilia Lazzaro Blasbalg
• Jul 21, 2020

Have you ever felt that no matter how hard you work, you’re still falling short of reaching your objectives? Whether it’s running your first marathon or starting a small business, it takes more than good intentions to turn a vision into action. Only when you know exactly what you’re going after, how you’ll get there and why it matters - can you be more efficient about making your goals achievable.

Setting SMART goals can ensure that your goals are clear and reachable ones. After all, by knowing precisely what you need in order to complete each step toward your goal, you’ll increase your chances of staying on task and realistically attaining the desired result.

Whether you’re training to get ready for a big race or creating an eCommerce website for your new business venture, here’s everything you need to know about what SMART goals are, how to write and execute them, plus some of the best practices.

What are the 5 SMART goals?

The SMART acronym stands for “specific,” “measurable,” “attainable,” “relevant,” and “time-bound.” Setting SMART goals can help you develop professional growth . It consists of breaking down big ambitions into a plan of smaller ones.

Each SMART goal should incorporate all five criteria, in order to create clear and tangible objectives (and allowing you to go beyond motivational quotes alone) which you can achieve over a certain period of time. Think of it as a series of vital questions you’ll need to answer before getting started:

What do you specifically want to accomplish?

How are you going to measure your progress?

Is your goal achievable?

Why does this goal matter to you?

How much time do you need to meet your goal?

01. What do you specifically want to accomplish?

Be specific about what your goal is. Objectives that are too broad or vague are less motivating, and therefore harder to accomplish in the long run. When framing your goal, try to answer the five “W” questions: Who, what, where, when and why.

Who is involved in your goal?

What do you want to achieve with your goal?

Where will the goal be attained?

When do you want to accomplish your goal?

Why do you want to reach this goal?

02. How are you going to measure your goal?

Your goal must be measurable so that you can determine your progress along the way and know if you’re on the right track. Setting milestones can make your goal trackable and help keep you in check. Each step in your plan will provide an opportunity to evaluate whether you’re moving toward your goal, or need to redirect yourself back on course.

03. Is your goal achievable?

Set goals that you can realistically achieve to keep you motivated and on task. Be as honest as possible with yourself about your ability to actually get them done.

To make your goal attainable, be clear on how you will accomplish it, and if the goal is not currently within reach, what skills or steps are required so that you’ll get there. Think about what you need around yourself to achieve your dreams, such as types of resources.

04. When do you want to achieve your goal?

Ask yourself why achieving your goal matters to you. Is it worthwhile to try it at this exact time or does it align with your current needs? Among other ambitious dreams waiting up the pipeline, you’ve selected this particular goal to take on because it resonates with your needs or desires at this moment. Make sure you understand what sets this one goal apart.

05. How much time do you need to meet your goal?

Every goal needs to be time-bound to provide a sense of urgency, keep you motivated and help you prioritize to meet it. But your timeframe should also be realistic so that you’ll be able to make your deadline, meaning it should neither be too far away nor too close from the moment you’ve set your goal. If your timeframe spans over too long, then your efforts might begin to dwindle down. If it’s not enough time, then you'll most likely become frustrated and want to give up.

What are SMART goal examples?

Goal 1: starting a business.

Let’s say your goal is starting a business . A SMART way of setting this objective would be to sell your jewelry within six months after completing business courses and gaining the knowledge you’ll need to do so.

Specific - Your goal of opening an online store is well-defined by your ability to answer the five “W”s. As a skilled jewelry maker, you want to achieve selling your crafts to customers through opening a business.

Measurable - Your goal of becoming an entrepreneur can be measured by certain milestones you’ve set for yourself, like increased revenue, number of sales or networking for new clients .

Achievable - You're basically already a small business owner with an inventory of jewelry that you sell to your friends and family. By taking business courses, conducting market research and building your own brand and professional website, you'll attain the skills and tools you need to succeed as a business owner.

Relevant - You’re planning on selling your own creations which is your passion and also readily available to you. You’ve also reached a point where you can explore new and exciting opportunities for your career and life.

Time-bound - You’ve set a deadline to achieve your goal of entrepreneurship in six months, the time it takes to acquire the tools you need before starting your business.

Goal 2: Boost web traffic

After successfully launching your online store , you want to boost your online traffic by the end of the year.

Specific - Your goal is to gain more potential customers by increasing traffic to your website.

Measurable - You’re hoping to increase your web traffic by 50%. To measure if the amount of visitors to your site is growing, you can track its progress using any number of website analytic tools .

Achievable - There are many proven methods to drive traffic to your online store. In addition, being able to track and manage your business online means that you can evaluate the successes or failures of your entire operation in-depth, from increased revenue to the number of visitors on your site.

Relevant - An extra boost of traffic could lead to more sales on your site, which is your main objective as a business owner.

Time-bound - You’ve given yourself until the end of the year to try and test different ways to improve your web traffic.

Best practices for setting SMART goals

Individuals and businesses are likely to set themselves up for failure if their goals are too broad or unrealistic. Instead, goals need to be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely - to increase your chances of achieving them and giving you a sense of motivation to succeed.

Use clear language: Don’t use vague language such as “I want to always be a winner.” This can leave a lot of room for interpretation and cause you to lose your focus. The more specific you are, the better you’ll be at planning the steps you’ll need to take to get to your goal and how you’ll meet each one.

Quantify your goals: Add milestones along the way. Once you pass a milestone, it should push you to move forward to the next one, leading you closer to your desired results.

Let time be on your side: Give yourself sufficient time to meet your ambitions. For example, it is impossible for anyone to compete in a marathon without having practiced or completed training months in advance. There’s even a registration deadline to race.

Stay focused: When making a SMART goal for your business, don’t lose sight of what benefits your company. Your goal should be providing extra support, not competing against your own business’ interests.

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35 SMART Goals Examples for All Areas of Your Life

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When you think five, ten, or fifteen years into the future, what do you hope will be significantly different than it is today?

Your income? Your health? Your relationships?

We all have visions for the future, and whatever yours may be, setting effective goals can help you get there by keeping you motivated, helping you feel confident, and making sure you stay focused.

You may be able to recognize goals from your past that were unattainable because they were vague, lofty, or not planned out very well, which probably felt discouraging.

Trying to follow through with nonchalant goals often leads to failure, which will prevent you from achieving any significant growth.

The key to being successful in any area of your life is to be intentional about your goal-setting by creating the right kind of goal and sticking to it. 

Anyone willing to try can benefit from creating SMART goals . Crafting goals is a skill that, once mastered, can help your success grow exponentially. This is where the SMART goals concept comes in. 

In this article, we will do a quick overview of what SMART goals are, and then go over five examples of SMART goals in each of the seven areas of your life — for a total of 35 examples.  

Let’s start by reviewing what SMART goals are.

Table of Contents

What are SMART Goals?

The SMART goal acronym stands for:

S pecific, M easurable, A ttainable, R elevant, and T ime-bound.

Each element of this goal-setting framework plays a part in making a clearly planned path to achieving your objectives and tracking your progress along the way. This will give your goals a strong foundation that will increase your chances of realizing your vision.

Here’s a breakdown of each letter:

S: Specific

Specific goals answer your six “W” questions: who, what, where, when, which, and why .

Answering these questions will define your goal and eliminate ambiguity. 

• Who is involved?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• Where will you work toward your goal?
• When do you want to reach it?
• Which requirements and constraints might get in your way?
• Why are you doing it? (This will also tie into the R ).

The more specific your goal is, the more clearly you will be able to define the steps you need to take to get there.

M: Measurable

How will you know you’re making progress toward your goal? Measurable goals are defined with precise times, amounts, or other units that will clearly define how far you’ve come and how far you have left to go.

Measurable goals will help you keep track of your pace along the way and give you a chance to re-evaluate and shift direction as needed. 

A measurable goal will typically answer questions such as how much or how many .

A: Attainable

Attainable goals are challenging, yet realistic. 

When you’re creating an attainable goal, you can expect to encounter obstacles along the way , but even if you fail, you’ll still make significant progress in some area of your life.

R: Relevant

Relevant goals fall in line with your values and your ultimate vision . Why is your goal important to you and how does achieving it help you make progress toward your broader objectives ?

T: Time-bound

Time-bound goals have specific deadlines, which will help you prioritize and stay motivated. The deadline for your goal may be days or decades away, you just have to check back with the “Realistic” component to determine this. 

To set a reasonable deadline, try working backward from your designated finish line and develop appropriate habits . Watch the video below to learn about the five-step process for turning your goals into simple habits.

And, because your goals are specific, when your deadline approaches, you will know whether or not you’ve achieved your goal. 

Let’s look at some examples of SMART goals for all areas of your life. We will go over both process and outcome goals to give you a variety that will help explain this concept in a more comprehensive way.

SMART Goals Examples for Your Career

Being goal-oriented is an important part of having a successful career and preventing yourself from staying stagnant in the same position for years on end.

Whether you have a professional skill that you want to refine or you want to own a worldwide corporation, you need to have goals that will challenge you to push beyond what you believe to be your limits. 

Here are five examples of SMART career goals:

• Acquire new clients: “I will acquire five new projects for my Web design consultancy through referrals, networking, and social media marketing campaigns within two months.”
• Improve job performance : “I will redo my company’s website design by May 1st. This will be done by finding the right graphic designer and Web programmer, then using their skills to create a dynamic visual presentation.”
• Increase profits: “I will increase profits by 20 percent this year by acquiring two new clients each week, finishing projects 10 percent faster than I have in the past, and cutting $1,000 per month in expenditures.”
• Start your own business: “I will start my own business within five years so I can incorporate innovative ideas into my industry to fill unmet needs. I will start by researching how to start a business, current business trends, and funding resources.”
• Get hired: “I will find a job in the next 6 months that is in line with my knowledge, skills, and abilities. I will do this by applying to at least three jobs and speaking to at least one professional contact each week.”  

Check out these other examples to help you set SMART goals for your career:

• 7 SMART Goals Examples for Your Small Business Development
• 6 SMART Goals Examples for Social Workers
• 6 SMART Goals Examples for Engineers
• 7 Examples of SMART Goals for Project Management
• 6 Examples of SMART Goals for Your Work or Job

SMART Financial Goals Examples

Whether you’re aiming to save for retirement, buy your dream home, plan a vacation, or simply get out of debt, setting SMART financial goals will ensure your success.

Here are five SMART finance goals you can set:

• Regular savings: “For the next year, I will save 20 percent of every paycheck and invest it in index funds through my 401k.”
• Living within a budget: “I will create a budget of $4,000 every month. Then I’ll use the envelope  budgeting system to track every expense and make sure I’m spending less than this amount.”
• Eliminate credit card debt: “I will pay the outstanding balance of $5,000 on my credit cards in installments and become totally debt-free in three years. This will be done by asking each credit card company to reduce my APR. Then I’ll systematically pay off the cards with the highest interest rates down to the lowest interest rates.”
• Buy a house : “I will buy a house around $400,000 within two years with a 20% down payment. I will do this by increasing the money I set aside from each paycheck to $300 by reducing all unnecessary spending .”
• Retire early : In order to retire early, I will read at least three books on saving for retirement within the next six months in addition to investing at least $10,000 into my retirement accounts each year for the next ten years.”

SMART Goals Examples for Your Health

Setting SMART health goals will help you stay committed and accountable in an area of life that can quickly become a slippery slope.

When creating a healthy lifestyle, your goals might involve eating a clean diet, losing weight, or becoming more physically active.

Here are five SMART health goals you can set:

• Eat more vegetables and fruits: “I will eat a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables daily by March 31 by mapping out my meals each week, going shopping twice a week, and eating one to two servings per meal.”
• Get regular exercise: “I will work out a minimum of 30 minutes per day, three days per week by December 31.”
• Healthy habit: “By June 15, I will drink 64 ounces (or 2 liters) of water at work every day. I will do this by setting a reminder at night to fill up my bottles and take them with me when I leave for work in the morning.”
• Build muscle : “I will be able to do six consecutive pull-ups in the next three months to help increase my muscle mass. I will do this by strength training on my own at the gym twice a week in addition to meeting with a personal trainer once per week.”
• Mental health : “I will learn how to gain better control of my emotions by the end of this year by writing in my gratitude journal for ten minutes per day to help myself maintain perspective when life feels challenging .”

For other health goal ideas, check out these SMART goals for your physical education .

SMART Goals Examples for Your Relationships

Relationships and goals often go hand in hand, whether you’re focusing on your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, or even your relationship with yourself.

These goals could focus on your relationship with one person or an entire group of people.

Here are five SMART relationship goals you can set:

• Express love to my spouse: “I will identify three things I really love about my partner and tell her about them on Friday night. This will be done by scheduling a 30-minute block on Tuesday so I can reminisce about all the good times we’ve shared together.”
• Spend quality time with your family: “I will strengthen my bond with my family by taking them for a vacation at least once in the next six months. This will be accomplished by setting aside an hour each month during my weekly review session and planning out future trip ideas.”
• Strengthen friendships: “Each month, I will plan and coordinate one activity with my closest friends. This task will also be completed during my weekly review session.” 
• Improve communication: “I will spend 15 uninterrupted minutes at least four nights per week touching base with my partner regarding things going on in our everyday lives and our plans for the upcoming days to eliminate miscommunication.”
• Your relationship with yourself:  “I will read one self-help book per month for the next year to get rid of existing self-sabotaging behaviors .”

SMART Leisure Goals Examples

Don’t mistake ‘leisure time’ as a free pass to sit around doing nothing. Instead, optimize this time by catching up on unfinished tasks or developing new skills .

Stay productive by focusing on activities that can benefit you either personally or professionally, such as travelling, engaging in hobbies, or relaxing your body.

Here are five SMART leisure goals you can set:

• Family fun : “I will enjoy the Maid of the Mist boat ride in Niagara Falls with my family on August 31st. On Saturday (March 1), I will spend two hours planning this trip and making all the necessary reservations.”
• Learn new skills: “I will learn rock climbing this summer and climb a simple Class 4 at Yosemite. This will be accomplished by joining the local climbing class that meets on Saturdays during the wintertime. Then I’ll join a week-long course in the summer to exponentially develop my climbing skills.” 
• Outdoor activities: “I will spend at least one hour outdoors every day tending my garden, jogging or power walking. This will be done by blocking out an hour for each day during my weekly review and setting a daily reminder to get outdoors.”
• See friends: “I will go out to lunch at least once a month with a friend that I don’t often see to help myself disconnect from everyday life and maintain interaction with people who are outside of my close circle.”
• Learn a language : “I will attain fluency in French in the next 18 months in preparation for travelling through France at the end of next year. I will do this by practicing speaking French for at least 45 minutes per day and reading at least one book that’s written in French per month.”

SMART Goals Examples for Your Personal Growth

We all want to increase our quality of life, achieve more, and be the best version of ourselves that we can.  Setting personal development goals will help you be successful in these areas by helping you get a little better every day.

Here are five SMART personal growth goals you can set:

• Self-Education : “ I will read one book every two weeks for the entire calendar year. Some of this reading will be accomplished during my morning routine.”
• Getting Up Early : “For the next 3 months, I will wake up 30 minutes early, so I can build a morning routine .”
• Build a Morning Routine : “For the next 3 months, I will pick 5 important habits that will be added to my new morning routine and complete this routine every morning.”
• Self-care : “I will engage in self-care for one hour at least three times per week to increase my ability to be resilient in the face of adversity and improve my capacity to help others by helping myself first.”
• Prioritize : “I will spend at least one hour per week analyzing my personal well-being, including reviewing my work/life balance , addressing my limiting beliefs , and internalizing a mindset that encourages my actions to align with my goals.”

SMART Spirituality Goals Examples

For many people, spiritual well-being is as important as their physical or mental health. Your spiritual goals should be designed to help you connect to your inner beliefs, which has a different meaning for everybody.

This could include activities like meditation, prayer, yoga, or anything else that helps you experience peace of mind and connect with something bigger than yourself.

Here are five SMART spirituality goals you can set:

• Meditate regularly : “ I will meditate for 10 minutes each morning. This habit will be developed by setting an alert for 7:20 a.m. using the alarm app on my phone.”
• Being thankful : “I will take five minutes each day to give thanks for everything that’s good in my life . I will develop this habit by setting aside time right before my lunch to remember what’s important.”
• Prayer : “I will set aside 10 minutes each day and pray to God. This habit will be added to my nighttime routine — right before I go to sleep.”
• Self-reflection: “I will do one hour of self-reflection every Sunday to make sure my daily actions align with my values and beliefs. This will help me remain on the right spiritual path and stay true to myself.”
• Create peace: “I will promote peace in my life by pinpointing sources of conflict that can be addressed and setting boundaries on what I will and will not tolerate. I will spend 30 minutes problem-solving each week to ease tensions and cultivate peace and spiritual growth.”

Final Thoughts on SMART Goals Examples

Despite which area of your life you’re focusing on, if you aim at nothing… you will probably accomplish nothing. The SMART goals listed in this article are meant to provide you with a foundation to identify what you want to improve in your life and how you plan on doing that.

Choose some goals from this article that you can relate to (and alter any numbers as needed) and let the SMART goal-setting method do the work for you.

You’ll likely find that you can achieve more than you originally believed and, with a strong sense of direction, you will know exactly where you want to go next after you achieve each goal.

If you need more help setting and accomplishing your SMART goals, be sure to check out these blog posts:

• 87 Action Verbs for SMART Goals
• 13 Steps to Write & Set SMART Goals
• 12 Steps to Discover What is Your Why?
• 23 Goal Ideas to Set and Achieve for a Better Year
• 13 Free SMART Goals Templates to Edit, Download, and Print

Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals .

Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.

15 Best Examples of Professional Goals [+Tips to Achieve Them]

Published: May 01, 2024

“So, where do you see yourself five years from now?” Oof, that can be a tricky interview question, especially if you’re unsure of your professional goals.

When I graduated from college and started interviewing in my chosen field, I felt like I needed to plan my entire professional life, complete with one concrete end goal.

To be honest, it was overwhelming. I desperately needed actionable advice to plan steps to reach my professional goals.

In this post, we’ll define professional goals, provide examples, and give you tips so you can plan, meet, and exceed the goals you set for yourself.

What are professional goals?

Professional Goals Examples

Tips for Achieving Professional Goals

Work Towards Your Professional Goals

What Are Professional Goals?

Professional goals are achievements or milestones you hope to achieve in your career. These include personal and professional development, skill development, salary increases, career advancement, and switches.

Professional goals are often personal, but they don’t have to be. You can set professional goals for yourself and your team to help improve your organization and elevate it to the next level.

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What makes a good professional goal?

What separates a professional goal from a wish is that professional goals are attainable and achievable when designed with the appropriate framework.

It’s important to point out that you might have one overarching professional goal, like “become professionally bilingual.”

However, under your overarching goal, you might have smaller, more manageable goals with a specific, actionable framework attached to them to help you reach your biggest goal.

The SMART goal framework is the perfect framework to apply to reach your big and small goals. The letters of SMART stand for:

Let’s examine each letter so that you understand how to structure your goals for maximum achievement.

When writing your own professional goals, you need to be specific. For example, if you want to become bilingual to position yourself ahead of your competition in the job market, you need to be specific about the language you’ll need to learn.

There are over 2,000 languages worldwide, but only one or two will be relevant to your job market. Take some time to research your field before choosing your second language.

In other words, you need to ensure your smaller goal is specific enough to help you reach your overarching goal.

If your goal is measurable, you can easily track your progress. You can make your goals measurable by including a number. For example, if your goal is to learn Spanish, a more measurable goal would be, “Learn five new Spanish vocabulary words.”

The difference between “Learn five new Spanish vocabulary words” and “Learn Spanish” is that you now have something to work on. Making your goals measurable can help break down the task, too.

If your goals aren’t attainable, there’s a good chance they’ll fall into the “wishes” category. By adjusting your goals to your ability, you have something to work towards.

Once you reach your initial goal, you can change your objectives for continued improvement.

Attainable goals are helpful because they help you see how far you’ve come from your baseline. Small wins are encouraging and can help you push through to the end.

The trick to the SMART goal framework is to keep your objectives relevant. For example, if I wanted to learn Spanish as a global sales rep, I would need to focus on learning vocabulary specific to my job.

While watching Spanish comedians might be a great way to learn new slang, it won’t help me communicate effectively and professionally with my clients.

Before setting your goals, ask yourself, “Will this goal help me reach my desired objective?” If the answer is yes, make sure it’s specific enough, measurable, and attainable. If the answer is no, this might be a goal you set aside and pick back up later.

Putting a time frame on your goal helps you increase your motivation and stay accountable for your progress. Plus, when your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, and relevant, you can track your progress and better visualize your wins.

If you’re like me and tend to get off track, SMART goals are your best friend.

Writing and implementing SMART goals can help you reach your professional goals much faster because you can break your ultimate objective into actionable steps. Think of them as your plan for success!

Professional Goal Examples

Ready to set a goal for yourself, but you need some examples? Here are FIFTEEN examples of professional goals:

1. Land an internship

If you’re a college student looking for work experience or want to enter a new industry, landing an internship is an excellent goal. Internships are a great way to gain the skills you need to be successful in your industry.

Plus, you’ll gain insider knowledge. You can acknowledge your experience on your resume, giving you a leg up on your competition.

Pro tip: Check with your local labor unions or your university’s Student Success Center for leads on potential internships.

2. Grow Your Network

When I decided to become a freelance writer, I knew I needed to grow my network and connect with others.

Growing your network is a good idea for many reasons, including collaborating with like-minded people and uncovering career opportunities.

Becoming active on social media platforms, like LinkedIn, and attending in-person meetings is a great way to make yourself available and gain new connections.

Pro tip: If you want to grow your network online, commit to regularly posting updates on social media. Social media management tools can help you keep up with your posts and nurture relationships with your followers.

3. Learn a New Skill

Increasing your skill set is a fantastic professional goal. Think about the skills you need to be successful in your work. Are there any skills you need to brush up on?

Or, if you’re looking to change careers or get a promotion, which skills will make your transition easier? Make a list and find ways to gain those skills, like taking a class or attending a seminar.

Pro tip: After making your list of desired skills, use the SMART goals framework to create an actionable learning plan.

4. Start a Podcast

Kaitlin Milliken, Senior Program Manager HubSpot, made starting a podcast one of her professional goals. Podcasting is a great way to gain technical and interviewing skills.

Milliken says, “One of my professional goals was to start a podcast. I was lucky enough to work as a multimedia producer at a startup that was looking to kick one off. I started by listening to other shows for inspiration — Reply All, The Journal, and Post Reports were really big at the time.

Miliken says she spoke with a few folks who had started their own hobby shows to get a sense of what gear was available within her budget.

"After that, I pitched ideas, wrote scripts, and started booking interviews. The big challenge was finding the time," she says. "I was still reporting stories, making newsletters, and creating videos in my role."

She explains, "I had to be very intentional about blocking off time on my calendar so I could accomplish this professional goal.”

Pro Tip: If starting a podcast is one of your professional goals, listen to related podcasts for inspiration for your own.

5. Earn a Professional Certificate

Depending on your job, you may need a professional certificate to advance your career. As a teacher, I needed to become licensed to teach my chosen subject. So, I spent a lot of time taking education courses to gain licensure.

If earning a professional certificate is on your list of professional goals, look for classes that offer relevant certifications. Then, commit to signing up for and completing the course.

Pro tip: Many companies offer continuing education courses for their employees. Take advantage of these offerings to advance your career and deepen your knowledge base. HubSpot Academy is also a great resource for learning new skills and receiving certifications.

6. Start a New Business or Company Initiative

Your personal goals can double as a company initiative, too. Not only will you benefit from gaining new skills, but your company benefits from your efforts, too. Caroline Forsey, Principal Marketing Manager at HubSpot, made starting a new company-wide initiative one of her professional goals.

Forsey says, “A professional goal I set for myself was to own the first thought leadership program at HubSpot -- I succeeded in doing so by leaning into team and company-wide goals and ensuring my program became indispensable to hitting those goals."

She explains, "So, for instance, I knew our team-wide goals were to grow organic traffic on the SERPs."

Rather than leaning into social or email views for my program, Forsey ensured she kept organic views top-of-mind with each piece of content she created for the program.

"I continued to ask myself: Does this have search intent? Is there MSV? Can I make it more SEO-optimized?" she explains. "It's always tempting to lean into personal interests when creating and working towards a goal, but it’s critical you keep the larger picture top-of-mind if you want it to gain buy-in from stakeholders.”

7. Become a Pro at Time Management

If you’re anything like me, the workday can slip by before you know it. And in times like that, productivity seems to go out the window. Becoming better at time management is an excellent professional goal and a necessary skill for many jobs within any industry.

To improve your time management, you might need to reduce your distractions or use a planner to schedule your workday.

Pro tip: Time blocking is a fantastic way to stay on task. At the start of each day, write down your to-do list and break it into smaller chunks that you can complete in a certain amount of time. Then, commit to completing those tasks during your given timeframe.

8. Increase Your Sales

If you’re in sales, you know how important it is for your company to reach your sales and revenue targets yearly. So, setting “Increase My Sales” as a personal and professional goal is not a bad idea. Take a look at your numbers, then determine where and how you need to improve it.

Pro tip: Check with your managers about their sales enablement program. Sales enablement can help you learn how to manage your sales more effectively.

9. Be a Star Employee

Becoming a star employee is really about advancing your career within your company. Erica Santiago, Marketing Manager at HubSpot, made this one of her professional goals and told me how she did it.

Santiago says, "A professional goal of mine at HubSpot was to really own a lane in terms of content so that I could be a go-to for certain projects and really get my name out in the company."

She says she noticed other writers and contributors seemed to really own a topic, and it helped them stand out.

"I wanted to do the same to set myself up for opportunities," she says. "I achieved this by taking a moment to ask myself what my strengths are, what topics I enjoy, and how these things tie in with HubSpot's greater goals."

Eventually, Santiago realized that the creator economy is a topic that she's really familiar with, thanks to the content creation she does outside of HubSpot.

She then realized there are content creators who could benefit from HubSpot’s marketing products and blog content.

"From there, I took it upon myself to write more content centered on creators and eventually started my series 'The Creative,'" she explains. "It‘s still getting off the ground, but the content that’s come out so far has proven it to be a promising project."

She continues, "Now, I‘m regularly assigned creator economy-based content, and I’ve carved my own niche within the marketing blog.”

10. Become a Mentor

If you feel you have a lot of industry experience and knowledge to share, consider making "Become a Mentor” one of your professional goals. As a mentor, you’ll gain leadership skills, like teaching, while positioning yourself as a leader in your field.

Pro tip: If you want to become a mentor, consider partnering with your manager to design a mentorship program for new employees. If your organization already has a mentorship program, sign up to share your knowledge with others.

11. Create a Work-Life Balance

As someone who works from home, it can be tempting to work 24/7. But one of the biggest reasons I started my own business was to have time for the things I wanted to pursue—like running a half marathon and working on my personal blog.

So, making it a goal to create a better work-life balance was a must! Time to refresh and recharge is critical to decreasing the chance of burnout.

Pro tip: Commit to keeping your work at work. That means getting into the habit of leaving unfinished tasks on your desk for the next day. You can always pick up on your tasks later.

12. Get a Promotion

Many people share the professional goal of working towards a promotion, which often comes with a salary increase.

Martina Bretous, Editor of HubSpot’s Next in AI blog, made getting a promotion her goal. But she didn’t sit idly by and wait for her managers to notice her. Instead, she made a plan and shared it with me.

Bretous says one of her professional goals was to become a blog editor at HubSpot.

"The first thing I did was ask blog editors to shadow them. This was a key part of my learning," she recalls. "I had to understand the day-to-day of the role and ask questions to understand initiatives, goals, and challenges.

She then took any opportunity to fill in when an editor was out of the office. This gave her the hands-on experience she was looking for before she was actually in the role full-time.

"All of this prep work set me up nicely so that when an opportunity presented itself to fill in that role, I was a shoo-in because I knew the property very well," she says. "Other editors could recommend me as someone who understood the blog and confirm that I had hands-on experience."

13. Become a Pro at Technology

Technology is constantly changing, which sometimes means our jobs change with it. If using technology is integral to your job, consider becoming a pro or super user of your tech stack.

This will help keep your skills current and set you up as the office go-to for assisting others in learning, too.

Pro tip: Depending on the tech you use in the office, many organizations offer training courses on how to use their products. Sign up for their email newsletter to stay on top of their training and product releases.

14. Publish Your Research

Publishing your research can set you up for success and position you as an industry expert. Consider writing and publishing your work in industry publications if this is a career goal.

You’ll gain new writing skills and learn how to promote your work to experts in the field.

Pro tip: Research industry publications and their submission guidelines. Each publication may have different submission guidelines, and it’s helpful to know them upfront to save time in the submission process later.

15. Receive an Award

It’s nice to be recognized for your dedication and hard work. Plus, recognition can add to your credibility and credentials as an expert. Receiving acknowledgments and an award takes time, though.

But if this is your professional goal, it’s well worth the effort.

Pro tip: Consider the backgrounds of the award winners within your industry. What did they do to stand out amongst the crowd? Use what you learn from their experiences to map your own path to success.

Be sure to make it your personal roadmap, though, to stand out.

Ready to set your goals in motion? Here are five tips from me and our HubSpot experts for achieving professional goals.

1. Lean Into Your Network

Your network is a gold mine of opportunity. Instead of “gold mine,” rebrand it to “goal mine.”

Milliken offers expert advice on using your network to achieve your professional goals:

“Make the most of your network. The chances are there’s someone you already know who has accomplished the professional goal you want to achieve. In my experience, people have been really generous about sharing their advice. You just need to reach out.”

2. Break Your Goals Down

If you’re not careful, your professional goals can become too big to achieve and manage. Instead, follow Bretous’ advice and break your goals into smaller pieces.

Bretous says, “My advice to anyone with a goal is to break it down into bite-size pieces. Because having a goal can get overwhelming when you see how much you have to accomplish to get there."

She explains, "To avoid that, break it into measurable, smaller goals that you can tackle on a daily or weekly basis. And don’t forget to lean on colleagues and managers for help in achieving this goal.”

3. Find a Mentor

You don’t have to tackle your goals alone. Support, especially from a mentor or manager, is invaluable.

Santiago suggests reaching out to your manager. 

“Share your goals with your manager so they can help steer you in the right direction," she explains. "When I first thought of The Creative, I wasn't sure how to pitch it or what direction to take it in. So, I reached out to my manager, and he helped me fill in the blanks."

4. Be Your Own Advocate

Advocating for yourself is a tough lesson to learn. However, if you want to achieve professional goals, you need to learn to be your own advocate.

Forsey agrees and offers two essential tips for advocating for yourself. Forsey says, “My tip for achieving personal goals is a) ensure your personal goals are aligned with larger business goals, and b) be a major advocate for yourself!"

She explains, "Let people across the company know the impact your goals are having on the company— and, equally importantly, make sure your manager as well as leadership is aware of your personal goals."

Forsey says to continue asking your manager things like, “My personal goal is X. What is your advice on how to get closer to that goal?” or “My personal goal is X. How am I measuring up when it comes to meeting that goal?”

"Having leadership aware of your personal goals helps create personal momentum even on the days that you're feeling less motivated," she says.

5. Seek Feedback

My last tip for achieving professional goals is to seek feedback. In my experience, feedback is an invaluable tool for guiding your personal improvement.

If your manager doesn’t directly offer feedback, don’t be afraid to ask for it. Their insights into your work can help you identify areas for improvement that you might not have been aware of.

Work Toward Your Professional Goals

Professional goals are more than things to check off your to-do list. Instead, they help advance your career and give you a purpose for your hard work.

Don’t let your goals get out of hand, though. Set yourself up for success by using the SMART goals framework and breaking your goals into smaller tasks. With this framework in place, you’ll hit your targets in no time!

Don't forget to share this post!

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A free template to help you create SMART goals for marketing campaign success.

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