When you work from home, even though you lose the 9 to 5 schedule, you still need to be organised and thoughtful about what you are doing, why you’re doing it, and when you need to complete it by. Planning becomes important, as does measuring your progress against your goals. Which leads to a good question – what are your goals??
A really simple method of goal setting is SMART goals. “What are they?” I hear you ask.
The SMART goal setting model
SPECIFIC – your goals need to very clear about what it is you want to achieve.
MEASURABLE – your goals must be able to measured so you know if you have met them or not. This could include the number of words you publish every week, the number of site visitors you receive each week, how much your site earns per month.
ACHIEVABLE – your goals must be achievable, or you are setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. With that being said, they also need to stretch you so that push yourself and your business. When you are a small business entrepreneur, or anyone establishing a career from home, there is no one pushing you to succeed but YOU. You are in charge of what you achieve, so make it count.
REALISTIC – make your goals realistic, or again you are setting yourself up for failure. Don’t expect that the moment you set up a website people will magically flock to it and buy what you have on offer. It will take time. You aren’t going to make easy money, and it certainly won’t be overnight.
TIME-BOUND – put a timeframe on your goals. You need some realistic deadlines that you can measure yourself against.
Why are SMART goals important?
The importance of SMART goals should not be underestimated. They will help you clearly identify what you should be doing, how much of it you should be doing, and when you should complete it. You are also setting them up to be achievable and realistic, so tracking your progress against them is very important. You are also setting them to help take your business to the next level of where it needs to be.
Some SMART goal setting examples
Here are some examples of SMART goal setting:
1. “I will research two ‘making money from home’ ideas including publishing a post of 800-1,000 words on each, per week”
This goal is specific. I know the topic area I will be researching, and what the expectations of posting area.
The goal is measurable – 2 posts per week, each containing between 800 and 1,000 words. I will know very easily if I meet this or not.
The goal is achievable – knowing my workload, the goal is achievable, yet also represents a stretch for me at this point in time.
The goal is realistic – the topic area has an abundance of research material available, so sourcing the information I need to meet my goal will not be difficult.
The goal has a timeframe – I know what I want to achieve with this goal on a weekly basis.
2. “I will read one personal development book every month, and share a post about it.”
This goal is specific.
The goal is measurable. I will either read the book within the month or not, and I will either share a post about it or not.
The goal is achievable. For my workload this is achievable.
The goal is realistic. I have access to personal development books, and they are a pleasure for me to read and review, so this is definitely realistic.
The goal has a timeframe. I have stated that I will do this monthly.
What if I were to write the following goal:
I will be successful by December 2018?”
Is this a SMART goal?
Let’s break it down.
Is it specific? No. What does ‘being successful’ actually mean? Does it mean that I have made enough money to retire? Does it mean that I am making $100 per week? Or does it have nothing to do with money at all? Does it mean that I am happy? Success could mean anything.
Is it measurable? No. Because we can’t define ‘successful’, we have no way of measuring it.
Is it achievable? Given that we can’t define it or measure it, we will never really know if it is achievable or not.
Is it realistic? Again, depending on what we mean by ‘successful’ then we will never know if it is realistic.
Does it have a timeframe? Yes. However because the goal is so vague, the timeline is largely irrelevant.
FREE SMART Goal Setting Template
Click here for your FREE SMART goal setting template
SMART Goals Template
What is your WHY?
When you are writing your goals, I find it useful to come back to the ‘why’. Why do you want to do something, and what you will and your business gain from doing it?
The why is important. Why is it important that you can achieve those goals?
To retire early? To spend more time with your family? To help you be your own boss?
There could be a multitude of why’s.
For me, the why is my family. I want to be with them. I want to give them a great life. I want them to see me succeed so they know that dreams are possible. It’s all for them.
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What are your goals? Leave me a comment or a question and I’ll be very happy to respond.
I actually have a website of my own and I admit my organisational skills are shocking.
I think I would benefit hugely from using SMART.
thank you.
Thanks Craig. I hope you get some value out of using the SMART goals technique.
I also have another tool which is around longer term planning, combining both operational and strategic goals which you may find interesting. It’s called Hoshin Kanri, and the link to my post is here:
https://winningcareerfromhome.com/hoshin-kanri-the-management-compass
Be sure to let me know how you go!
This is an awesome plan to help me improve on my writing techniques. Work from home has indeed proved to be so realistic this days and very helpful to unemployed people. I really recommend starting career from home for everyone who needs additional financial support.
Hi Peter, thanks for your comments. I agree that working from home can be a great way for anybody who needs to get back into swing of work but may be having difficulty getting paid employment. Work from home can really suit so many people. Especially something like Wealthy Affiliate where you learn as you go. It can suit people at different stages of life too:
https://winningcareerfromhome.com/what-is-wealthy-affiliate
I hope your work from journey is going well.
Best,
Melissa
Hey Melissa, your SMART goal setting method further to finishing off with the big question WHY? is inspirational, thank you for creating this article.
I never contemplated setting goals to fulfil my work schedule until I enrolled on a short course explaining the benefits and what a turn-around in production my work schedule has undergone.
I agree with regards to setting goals that are realistically achievable within a given time frame, reason I set daily, weekly and monthly goals that I can attain however I make sure each daily goal is completed before finishing a day’s work.
I’m quite staggered how beneficial a straightforward method such as this progresses your business to another level, simply down to being organised & determined to set in place & accomplish,
Simon.
Hi Simon, thanks so much for your comments. I completely agree about how beneficial such a straight forward method such as SMART goals really is. And of course determination plays a huge role too. Thanks Simon and I wish you all the very best.
Hi Melissa
I really like how this was written. Why is a huge key factor in any undertaking. Its the main desire that causes us to want to reach something. For me goal setting is the same, although what I have found out with bob proctor is going after what you want versus what you think you can get.
When I have gone after what I want, I notice I put more energy into it. My goals can be very illogical sometimes and the time frame not right, but eventually it bares fruit, and more so because I was thinking from my desire as already accomplished and operating from that state of feeling towards the goal. Really enjoyed this read. Whats been a big help to you in settings goals that was a turning point in your life?
AJ
Hi AJ, thanks for your comments. I’m going to do some research on Bob Proctor now as I’m not familiar with his work. It sounds fascinating.
I agree that when you WANT something, it is somehow much easier to put more energy in because it doesn’t seem so much like a chore.
You asked what has been a help to me in goal setting. I have been involved in goal setting all of my working life, but the thing that made me set goals that I really care about was when I started my work from home business. The WHY became my driver. And for me, my why is my family. 100%. It’s all for them. Working from home allows me the time and space to be with them and enjoy all of the precious moments.
Thanks so much AJ for visiting, and for connecting with this post. I wish you all the very best, and I hope that your goals continue to bare fruit.
Hello Melissa, your article is quite motivational. From experience I have learnt that setting goals help me take the right steps.
Thanks Peter. I’m glad that goal setting gets you where you need to be!
Best,
Melissa
It is really important that you set goals. It will keep you on track to try and achieve and at the very least makes you ambitious. I downloaded SMART-Goals-Template.pdf
thanks for the share.
Hi Nigel, you’re very welcome. I wish you all the very best!
Cheers
Melissa