What are SMART goals? You may have heard this abbreviation before. It doesn’t mean that the goals are intelligent. Instead, the abbreviation defines a few things you should consider when setting a goal like that.
Specific – Don’t be too general when writing your goals. Focus on smaller details rather than huge goals.
Measurable – Choose something where you can see how much progress you’ve made over time.
Achievable – While you can be ambitious, don’t pick something you know you won’t be able to do.
Relevant – Focus on goals that are related to your life and will directly benefit you. Setting goals that are applicable to your daily life and bigger goals can help you with motivation and perseverance.
Timely – Set a realistic time frame to help you track your progress.
A good SMART goal: I can confidently deliver a clear presentation about my findings at the conference in June.
Why: Clearly sets out a specific goal, outlining some criteria for success (confidently, clear presentation) and sets a deadline. From the wording we can also see that this goal is relevant to the writer’s job or profession.
A mediocre SMART goal: I have a casual conversation with my teacher for thirty minutes by the end of the year.
Why: While this goal is timely it is not very measurable, specific or relevant. You could improve it by adding
A bad SMART goal: I will be fluent by the end of the year.
Why: It’s not very Specific, Measurable or Achievable. We also don’t know how it’s relevant to your bigger goals.
Writing SMART goals
Think about three things you would like to achieve regarding your English learning in the first part of 2024. Then write them down as SMART goals.
You can use the present or future simple tenses.
Remember that this activity should take you around 10 minutes. If you can’t complete it within that time you may want to think about your strategy or any gaps in knoweldge you could focus on.
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