Setting goals-realistically

I read an article this morning on setting achievable goals. Many of you may have heard of SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. To me, the biggest question of those five has to be the realistic part. Couple the attainable with the timely and you come to the point of realistic. However, one person's realistic goal can be another person's unrealistic expectation.

The point of the article was to set goals that stretched us, but did not put us over the edge. For example, setting a goal of losing 50 pounds in 3 months would seem rather ambitious (and possibly unsafe.) Whereas a goal of losing 50 pounds in a year might be more realistic and manageable. An educational example for a school district might be to move all students to proficient on a certain assessment in one year. Depending on the number of students below proficient and how far each is below that score, that goal may be too steep. The district may have to adjust the timeframe for completion. Setting goals that are too difficult can lead to frustration and eventually failure.

I am an idealist, however. And I tend to think that nothing is impossible, that we just haven't figured out how to make our extremely lofty goals happen. Maybe it's time to start breaking down goals into long-term and short-term objectives and see if that helps in the process. Going back to the goals you have set for the new year, check to see if they are SMART.