SMR Goals
I’ve never been a fan of forcing silly acronyms to make something spell out a word. Lately I’ve been working on goal-setting and reading up on SMART goals. That is, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. The idea of SMART goals isn’t new and tons of reputable sources have written on the subject. But really, haven’t we worked awfully hard to spell out the word SMART?
With the first two, Specific and Measurable, I’m fully on board. They are absolutely key to a goal worth setting. So far we have SM.
The next two start to bug me because we really only need one of them. For a goal to be Attainable doesn’t it have to be Realistic? And to be Realistic doesn’t it have to be Attainable? Assuming we all agree that only one is needed, that leaves us with SMA or SMR. I’m fine with either, so let’s see where things go next.
Timely. Sorry, but that’s a weak way to force the word SMART. Should a goal be timely? Well, I suppose, but how do we define timely? Timely in what regard and by what measure? The notion of timely is relative and while in this case I take it to mean “in short order and not dragging on forever,” some goals do indeed take awhile to achieve. Timely is weak and I’m not gonna use it.
So, that leaves me back with SMA or SMR. While I still see them as largely interchangeable, I’d rather hang my hat on Realistic than Attainable so I guess it’s SMR Goals for me. Say it out loud…SMR…has a nice ring to it, eh?
