SMART Goals

Often times, many of the students we work with at Logan River Academy come to us with lofty goals and ideals which they want to aim to accomplish. Even we, as adults, continue to set our sights on things we want to obtain in life whether it’s accomplishments (getting a job promotion, graduating college, losing weight) or more physically tangible objects (buying that new boat or car you’ve had your eye on for a while). It’s a natural tendency to set goals for ourselves. Some people will even go so far as to make a “goal board” where they post pictures or sayings that pertain to the goal or item they want to achieve or obtain. The underlying problem is that often these goals end up falling by the wayside and not becoming the reality that we so eagerly strive for.

With our students at Logan River Academy, we as therapists challenge each of them to set behavioral goals that they can work towards and achieve so that they can return home and be met with success in all aspects of life. But as with so many goals, these can easily become yesterday’s fleeing thoughts as we either become caught up in other activities or feel overwhelmed by the stress of the actual work involved in achieving these goals.

We encourage each of our students to set S.M.A.R.T. Goals whether here at Logan River Academy or in other areas of life in order to help them be met with success. Each letter of the acronym S.M.A.R.T. acts as a guide to use in making any goal more practical and achievable. And, yes, even as adults, we can continue to use each of these skills as outlined below in order to outline a more plausible plan for ourselves to follow.

Specific – What exactly will I do? It’s important to almost adapt the attitude of an investigative reporter and answer these questions about your goal: Who is involved with the goal? What exactly do I want to accomplish? Where will it be done? Which requirements do I have that will help me achieve this? The more specific you can be in outlining your goal, the more realistic is will appear to be.

Measurable – Measurement is often used to gauge whether we’ve travelled an appropriate distance or have more of an item than when we started. Its how we tell if a difference is apparent and it is the same with regards to goals. Is my goal measurable?  How much, how many, or how will I know if my goal is accomplished? Can it be measured to estimate success? Good!

Achievable – It’s important to ask if there’s anything that can stop me from accomplishing my goal, including myself. Is the goal out of your reach or below your standard of performance? If so, it might be advisable to go back to the beginning and reevaluate the steps needed to achieve your goal.

Relevant – What about your goal makes it important to you? Is it a worthwhile goal? Does it meet your needs? Is it consistent with other goals you have or have had? One question I always ask my clients that most literature ignores but I feel is paramount is “Is it consistent with who you are as a person?” If I’m a person of pretty high caliber and moral fiber then it’s probably not consistent with who I am if I set a goal to start embezzling money.  

Timely – It’s extremely important to set a time limit for ourselves and our goals. When do you want to complete your goal? It does little good to set a goal of losing 30 lbs without a completion date to shoot for, right? “Oh… it’ll come off whenever I get to it”. Establishing a time limit establishes a sense of urgency and prompts better time management.

If you can ask your self if your goal meets these requirements and answer “Yes”, you’re well on your way to success. We encourage parents of our students to help engage them in continuing to set SMART goals once they return home and move to the next phase of their lives.

Brandon Bailey, ACMHC