So far, you have learned to be specific with your goals, how to measure them and make them more achievable, and how to create realistic goals. There is one more important factor in goal-setting—the time it takes to achieve them.
T = Time-Based. To make sure that your goal is time-based, simply ask yourself, When will this goal be completed? Remember to make it a realistic and achievable time frame.
When you're feeling motivated, it's easy to think that you can accomplish something very quickly. However, as you learned on the previous page, it's important to be realistic. That's why SMART is a better guide creating goals than SMAT!
Why is it so important to set goals that are specific about their time frames but also realistic? See what you can learn from Josh's experience. Click the play button below to hear how poor planning wrecked his weekend plans.
Question
What could Josh have done differently? What would have made his approach to setting a time frame for his goal more realistic?
Instead of waiting until the weekend, Josh could have worked on his room a little bit each night to make sure he would be able to hang out with his friends. Then he would have known exactly how much time he would need on Saturday morning to finish the job.
What can you learn from Josh's mistake? A good approach is to identify the date and time when your overall goal should be fully accomplished and then work back to your starting date, dividing the big goal into smaller, manageable chunks that are easier to reach.
What does it look like to create a realistic time frame for accomplishing a goal? Take a look at what Darius did.
Darius is currently a junior in high school. His goal is to be accepted into the college of his choice a year from now.
To make sure he was being SMART about his goal, Darius asked himself a series of questions. Click each question to see Darius's answer.
I will be holding my college acceptance letter in my hand and celebrating with my parents.
- Make sure that I have at least two letters of recommendation from current or former teachers.
- Meet regularly with my guidance counselor to share my goals and see what information she can provide to help me reach my goal.
- Make sure that my high school transcripts are in order and sent to my choice colleges.
- Sit down with my parents and complete all federal aid information and learn about student loans.
- Achieve SAT scores that meet and exceed the college's minimum requirement score.
- Complete the college application, and have the application essay completed.
- Submit the college application, application essay, and application fee to the college.
- Schedule an in-person tour of the university to get a good feel of the campus to make sure this is where I want to attend school.
- Join or maintain participation in extracurricular activities.
- Meet with my guidance counselor to ensure that all paperwork is correct and ready to be sent out.
- Make sure that all my financial aid, grants, scholarships, and loans have all their paperwork completed.
- Submit my college application, essay, fee, and any other documentation required by the college.
- Collect the letters of recommendation or make sure the letters have been submitted electronically.
- Check in with my guidance counselor on my transcripts' progress and see if she has any other advice.
- Set up a tentative date to retake my SATs if I want to try for a higher score.
- Ask at least two adults to proofread my college application essay.
- Attend a college visit with my parents.
- Sit down with my parents to try to understand all the financial aid information.
- Schedule a date for me to take the SATs.
- Ask my English teacher and my church pastor to write me a letter of recommendation.
- Set up an appointment with my guidance counselor so that I can share my goal with her.
- Work with my parents to schedule a college visit.
- Study for my SATs and find online materials that will help me practice.
- Research different types of college application essay questions.
- Find out what kinds of extracurricular activities colleges prefer to see on an application.
Question
Why is it better to break a big long-term goal into smaller goals?
Smaller goals are easier to achieve in short periods of time, but they all add up to help you reach your long-term goal.
