Goal setting is a process of determining what your goals are, working towards them and assessing whether your goals are met. Goals can be long term (life goals) or very short term like what do I want to accomplish in the next 5 minutes.

Goals can be divided into very short-term and long term. Many of us have long-term goals or at least intentions, such as having a well paying job. This strategy will consider short-term goals such as what your goals are for the class you are in. Yes, you should make goals for short times such as the next hour, the spare period you have or even for the spare time between classes.

To make effective goals, you should follow the steps of SMART goals, as well as have a way of recovering or redeveloping goals you may not have achieved.

Specific
A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:
Who is involved?
What do I want to accomplish?
Where am I going to do this?
When will this occur?
Which parts of the goal are critical?
Why do I want to accomplish this goal?

As well you need to be able to sense it with many sense such as taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing or feeling. This makes your goal tangible and allows you to experience them.

Example: A general goal would be, “Get a good mark in Math”. A better more specific goal would be: “By the end of class today, I will be able to multiply improper fractions."

Measurable
Determine the criteria for success and when you reach your goal, Smile & Celebrate. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as: “How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Example: By Saturday, I will write a 5 paragraph essay of 1500 words based on the book . . . . Within this goal you break it down into smaller goals such as by tomorrow, I will have a mind map developed to show the areas I will write about.

Attainable (Achievable, Actionable and Acceptable)
As you identify the goals, you must make sure that these goals are your goals and these are most important to you. When this occurs, you start working both consciously and unconsciously to make them come true. Sometimes you must connect your goals to long-term goals. This helps you develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you start doing small goals to move toward larger goals.

Example: You need to study for a test so you can attain a good mark to go on in your program. Building your own goal may be to attain over 70% on the test, but your own goal could be to learn the material to a high level so that you can explain to others and how it connects to your longer term career goal.

Realistic (Reachable and Relevant)
To be realistic, reachable and relevant, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work toward. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Ask yourself if you have accomplished anything similar in the past and what conditions need to exist to accomplish this goal.

Timely
Develop time frames that allow you to be able to accomplish your goals, as well as, that they are scheduled to meet any deadlines. Look at your long term, goals and work backwards so that each smaller goal works toward the larger goal and in a time frame to fit. Many place these in a to do list each day and it allows them to manage their time consciously.

Example: By the end of this hour, I will have read Chapter 5 and answered the summary questions. Within this framework of SMART goals we need to also involve others in the process both as part of a team to build groups such as study groups to help us attain your goals and also as partners to monitor our progress.

By breaking your goals into smaller goals you are able to do them in short time frames, feel the accomplishments and move onto new ones. If you do not reach a goal, feel the ‘uncomfortableness’, revise your goal and move on to completing them.

Set up a goal now to learn the steps of SMART goals. For Example: I will develop one goal using the steps of SMART goals and that will be to explain the steps of SMART goals to someone within the next hour in enough detail that we could together develop a goal.

The next step, of course, develop a goal using the steps of SMART goals that fits with something you are already working on, a reading assignment, homework, worksheet, etc. and work towards that goal, reward yourself when you reach it, develop a new goal and continue setting and achieving goals.