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Achieve Big Audacious Goals The SMART Way

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Confession time…I want to lose over half my body weight, and reach and maintain an optimal weight for me. That is a huge goal to me. Add to that my past experiences of failing at weight loss, and the fact that I want to develop spiritually, and write a book about weight loss and healthy living when I’m done, and it turns into a Big Audacious Goal. So what am I doing to achieve this goal? I am applying the principles of SMART goal setting to it.

Step 1: Set a Big Audacious Goal

Do you have a dream that flashes in your mind every now and again? Or something nagging that is constantly beckoning to you? This is the making of a Big Audacious Goal (BAG). BAGs are passion driven goals. They are immeasurable, and more than likely, complete in your mind, but difficult to explain to others. BAGs often impact more than one aspect of your life in a major way. If we continue with my example, my BAG impacts my entire life. My health, purpose, finances, personal development, and spiritual growth will all feel the weight of this goal.

Maybe you want to start a business. Not just any business. You want to build a Fortune 500 internet business that enhances the world, honors your customers and sticks to a core philosophy. You may have been telling your friends that you want to start a small business just to test the waters on its receptivity. Why not share your real dream? You’ve been walking around with the perfect idea. It may seem overwhelming to turn your idea into the company that you imagine, but ALL things are possible. Write your goal down and move on to step 2.

Step 2: Break Your Big Audacious Goal into Smaller SMART Goals.

What’s a SMART goal you ask? Well, it’s like a milestone. It is:

Specific - These goals go into the details, the nitty gritty. Attain and maintain an optimal weight is a vague goal. On the other hand, walk for 30 minutes every day is specific.

Measurable - There is a clear criteria for accomplishment. Whether or not the goal was achieved should be answerable in binary fashion (yes or no). Did I walk every day this week for 30 minutes? Yes!

Attainable - I’ll repeat again: ALL things are possible. Maybe a better word here would be believable. At some level you believe that your Big Audacious Goal can be accomplished. If you didn’t you would not conceive it. Here’s the clincher, belief happens at different levels. You might believe that this goal can be accomplished because you’ve seen other people do it. You think it’s neat. You’d like to try it, but you don’t know where to begin. Achievable goals are within your sight. For me, losing half my body weight is a tough pill to swallow. However, walking every day for 30 minutes is extremely attainable and within my current realm of believability.

Realistic - Are you willing and able to do what it takes to achieve the goal? If the answer is a true yes, the goal is realistic. Take heed, that if you don’t even know what it takes then you miss this criteria. With Big Audacious Goals, a lot of steps may be completely unknown. Breaking the goal into small SMART goals enables you to do the things you know to do. As you start getting through the smaller goals, more information about how to achieve your BAG will become clear.

Timely - Define a time by which the goal will be accomplished. In the example, “every day” is that time definition. Within every 24 hour period I walk for 30 minutes. When setting SMART goals that will lead to the
achievement of a Big Audacious Goal, I suggest that the goals be attainable within a month. That gives you a near term benchmark that signals that you are on your way. Keep track of these accomplishments and refer to them regularly so that you can see your progress.

Just 2 steps to attaining your dreams. Even though, step 2 may be repeated many times in order to do so. Do not dismay. Your dreams can become a reality. ALL things are possible!

Update: This post was submitted to Problogger’s How-To Group List Writing Project.

Entry Filed under: Personal Development, Goal Setting and Achievment

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