Smart-Goals
Original article from Are YOUR Goals SMART ?By David Dansereau for Stroke Smart Magazine To reach your goals the first step must be to get clear on what you want to achieve. In order to reach any goal, the following smart-goals guideline tips should help. To check if your goals are smart, follow this guide: 
Smart Moves 7-Day Nutrition Action Guide
SpecificThe reason for being specific is to uncover your true “why”, or ultimate goal as well as the reasons behind it. During your stroke recovery, injury or stressful time in your life you may have gained weight. A goal to lose 10 pounds, for example, is specific, but let’s investigate why losing 10 pounds is the right goal to begin with. If you had more energy from being lighter and could move your extremities easier to exercise them more, would that be more appealing than what the scale reads? Perhaps it is not so much the number (10 pounds) but the increased energy and good feeling that would come from the process in attempting to lose the weight. So, your why for weight loss may really be to make it easier to move your body to exercise for 15 more minutes daily. You may find that the goal itself is now completely different from what it started out to be. MeasurableIf your goal is to “walk better”, it will be difficult to assess when you have actually reached your goal unless you set measurable benchmarks to provide you with specific feedback (daily, weekly or monthly) on your progress. Create a log or movie of your walking progress and record the number of minutes walked each day, days walked per week, as well as distance traveled and any assistive devices needed. Record your mood and energy level to help remind you how you felt when you reached a new walking level or hit a plateau. If you cannot measure a goal, you do not know what is working and cannot adjust what you are doing.
Action-OrientedHow are you going to reach your goal? Planning action steps will provide the blueprint to the end goal. To “walk better”, what specific walking workout is best for you? How often? Which strength and flexibility exercises should be performed for which muscles? What foods would provide the best energy for your workouts? The action steps provide the answers to your unique questions and will lead you toward your ultimate goal. Don’t overlook the process of recording action steps. Develop 5 to 8 small action steps to help lead you in the right direction towards your ultimate goal.
RealisticKeep your goals within the realm of possibility, or you will get discouraged. Let’s go back to the weight loss goal again of losing 10 pounds. If you give yourself one week to lose the weight it is not only unrealistic but could be potentially dangerous. Believe you can achieve but be flexible in the process. If you are attempting to attain a rehabilitation goal in a short time frame, you will only increase the level of stress and possibly lose sight of why you started the goal process.
Time FrameSet a time frame for your goal. Write a goal down on paper and put it on your calendar and also in an additional visible location where you can see it daily. Post it to your refrigerator, computer screen or bathroom mirror, or record this goal date in your goal movie and play it often. You need to be reminded daily of your commitments and actions. Without a time frame, your goal will only be a wish. It is certainly OK to keep the faith and wish, but record a timeline to help you keep the focus too. Don’t just wish for it, live for it!
Learn why the Oprah Challenge is one of my smart-goals
Learn more about tracking your smart-goals in my success journal
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