How you can get SMART with your goals 🎯

In these Kooshlee Knowledge Series, we bring to you series of blogs by Mahima, where she talks about planning, time management, make better financial goals and motivate yourself by tracking your habits.

According to Mahima, You could be a student or a working professional or even someone who is at present a full-time homemaker, all of these are important phases in life and one life skill that is of utmost importance in order to keep up with the routine is “Time Management”! Planners help you do exactly that! Regardless of your age and gender, it is important for you to keep track of your goals, maintain your finances and organize your daily habits.

We know, that it's easier said than done. To help you better, we are providing you with some amazing templates below to include as a part of your lifestyle! These have been curated in such a way that they are extremely simple yet effective and can easily blend into your day-to-day tasks rather than standing apart as yet another chore to do! Dive in and let’s unleash all our potential and productivity with ease!

Kooshlee words: Self taught, planning, goals

Are you finding yourself procrastinating too much? Are your excuses piling up while no real work is getting done? This isn’t because you don’t have goals but more likely because you haven’t framed them as “SMART” Goals!

What does it take for a goal to be considered a SMART Goal, you ask?
In this context, SMART is actually an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

For e.g. “I want to be creative” surely sounds like a goal, but it does not easily translate into action because of how broad and vague the statement is. The statement does not answer how we plan to achieve creativity inside us, does not provide a timeline and certainly does not have a tangible element to help us visualize our progress. Here’s how this goal can be rewritten into a SMART Goal:

Our new goal would be, “I want to draw nature 20 mins each day till I master color theory”. This drawing could then turn into a routine, which will later turn into a habit. Habits like these can then help you work towards a bigger goal of building a more creative and productive lifestyle overall. The 20 mins drawing each day and desire to understand color theory fully make your goal specific, both these metrics are easy to measure, they are practical and can be achieved, relevant to you as a creative person and you can either make this goal time-bound by setting a specific number of days you will be practicing drawing or simply let it be an eternal habit for life.

Let’s understand each letter a little further.
- Specific: The goal should be very precise with no room for misinterpretation. Here add as many details as possible. What will you do? Why? By when

- Measurable: The goal should be quantifiable, and progress can be tracked. How will you measure your goal?

- Achievable: The goal should be attainable — not outlandish or unrealistic. Here, take time to reflect. Can I really accomplish this in the given timeline? Will I enjoy this deadline?

- Relevant: The goal should contribute to your broader, overarching goals. Does it align with your values?

- Time-bound: The goal should have a defined start and end date. How long is it going to take? You can tie up with your friend to be accountable.

The SMART goals can be short-term, weeklong goals. Aim to follow the goals you create for a week and then decide if you want to continue to follow that exact goal or if you want to change your goal. For example, the activity itself, or the day it will be completed. Don't become too rigid at the same time. 

Here are free templates for you to set your SMART Goals and achieve them! ✅

Stay tuned for the Monthly Finance planner, in the upcoming blog. 📅