S.M.A.R.T Goals- And How They've Helped Me Become Less Disappointed

S.M.A.R.T goals. If you've ever gone to school in any fashion, the odds are you've been taught this. When goal setting, you want to ensure your goals are "smart". As much as I rolled my eyes at the time, I have come to realize that utilizing this tool has helped me with setting goals for myself not only on a personal level, but on a professional level as well.

What does S.M.A.R.T stand for?

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Relevant

T - Time-Based

In terms of my professional and personal life, I was finding any goals I was setting were not being met. It seemed that the goals I was setting were not realistic, and I constantly became disappointed because I wasn't achieving my goals.

I knew both professionally and personally, I couldn't handle the constant disappointment. What could I do? I realized, I had to start setting my goals a little bit differently. Switching to this mentality has greatly improved me achieving my goals, and therefore making myself far less disappointed. I feel like I'm achieving something; and it's a great feeling, especially in this pandemic world.

Starting to use Vocal has been a ride, to say the least. I found myself at first writing for myself, trying to market myself to friends and family, and the multiple Facebook Groups I have joined. I know I'm not the only one who has grown frustrated with my lack of success. After all, what drew me in was of course the "possibility to earn close to $6,000 per month". I mean, what writer would turn that down?

But let's break that goal down; earn $6,000 per month on Vocal. While the goal is specific, it is measurable, but here's where it falters; it is of course absolutely not attainable. This isn't a swipe at anyone's writing, it's reality. You can earn $6.00 per 1000 reads with Vocal Plus and even less with just a normal Vocal account. Now, consider how much content is produced per day; you're in an extremely competitive market! Not only from Vocal, but from other websites as well. Blogs and stories are everywhere, and though your writing may be great, it may get lost in translation along the way.

I found myself growing disappointed in myself. Why couldn't I generate views? How could someone even possibly become close to earning $6,000 a month on this platform? It quickly turned a passion of mine into something that was disappointing and frustrating me. This is when I realized my goal was not SMART. The point of me joining this website was not for the money, it was to do something I love, with the little side benefit of earning some extra money. So I took a step back, and re-evaluated what I wanted out of this platform, and myself.

To better show how SMART goals have helped me, I'll provide my own goal I've set, and why they qualify as "SMART".

Write one piece of work per week; story, article or otherwise

Specific

When setting your goals, you want to make sure you're as specific as possible. If you're too vague, you'll have trouble setting your goals. With my goal, 'writing one piece of work per week', it's clear that I intend on writing either a story, or an article, at least once per week. Does it have to be written all in one day? Does it have to be a specific genre? The answer to both of those is no.

I've become proud of myself for the content I've been able to write, rather than worrying about how many people were reading my work. I'm proud of the articles and stories I've written; and I'm even more impressed I've gone from giving up writing for a year because I lost my jam, to being able to write a piece a week.

Measurable

Setting a goal is great, but it also needs to be measured. I've given myself a way to measure this; the piece of writing I have come up with. The number is low starting out; I work full time, after all. But if my goal was simply "write something, a story or otherwise", how would I measure this? It's easy for me to measure my goal here; I simply look at the content I've produced.

Attainable

I previously was getting frustrated with myself and the novel I've been working on since 2016. I wrote a story called "The Bow", to which I actually won a contest for. I kept it short to entice people to read, with the plan of eventually going back and adding more. Well, that contest was in 2016, and while I have added to the story since, we're now in 2021, and I feel no further ahead than I did five years ago.

Maybe writing a novel isn't in the cards for me right now. The thought of writing any part of it slowly began to make me resent writing. I knew if I wanted to do what I enjoy, I had to change my goal. Instead of completing a novel, I just wanted to create content. If I happen to work on my novel along the way, all the better! But at this point, it's been hiding in my drafts for years, looking like it'll never see the light of day.

Relevant

This goal is relevant for me because I want to build up my profile. I want to create pieces, of all different varieties, because I love to write, and it is something that helps with my mental health. As a writer, it is an extremely relevant goal. For those who don't write? Not so much.

Time-Based

I've given myself a time frame on which I wish to complete this goal; one week. It's not a novel I want in a week, it's just one piece, and I have all week to write it. Sometimes, the idea comes to me so easily, I can't believe the thought hadn't occurred to me before. Of course, the time frame will change for everyone, but after creating a few pieces, I found a week per piece to be a reasonable amount of time.

I went from a disappointed writer, to one who felt like they were achieving their goals on a weekly basis. Of course, I still aim to get as many views as I can, but that goal I've set is much more attainable than my original. I aim to get 1,000 views in a six month time window. I have been active on here for about three months, and have amassed 550 views. I figure at the rate I'm going, getting to my goal of 1,000 in six months seems highly attainable.

In Conclusion

Don't get frustrated! It's hard not to sometimes, with all the amazing pieces I've had the pleasure to read. But don't be so hard on yourself! With the use of SMART goals, set milestones for yourself that are reasonable, and it will make you feel much better where you are as a writer, I promise.

Of course, SMART goals have also helped me in other aspects of my life, not just writing. Though it seemed like something annoying we were taught in school, the results are here for me. After I started setting the right goals, I felt much more fulfilled, and far less disappointed in myself, and what I had accomplished.