It is just one week to the new year, so what? Many of us plan to do many things, many wonderful things in the coming year. Some of us find a paper and a pencil and start writing our goals down. Some, write them in an email to remember it every time. But what will happen to our goals at the end of the year? How do we track them? How should we claim at the end if we have spent enough time, effort and motivation to achieve our goals?

Why goals are important and tracking them is necessary?

Goal defining is the first step of doing the big things. It gives us a long term vision, motivation and focus needed to complete whatever we’ve set out to achieve. But the most important thing to achieve them is to write them down. Goals should be trackable and the way to achieve them should be clear and imaginable. According to various data, only 3 out of 100 adults write down and track their goals. Our brain needs Dopamine to feel successful and proud, Dopamine is the feeling of achieving and accomplishing the hard things. We are visually oriented and if our brain would not be able to see the planned goals and the clear ways to achieve them, It can not imagine the results, the proud and the good sense of accomplishment. So the brain wouldn’t really like to do something which doesn’t have any good sense of success.

How to define the goals more precisely?

There are different methods of defining goals, but by far the most common approach to define them is making the goals SMART. SMART is an acronym that stands for:

Specific – clearly define what you’re aiming to achieve.

Measurable – have an indicator of progress you’ll measure the  success by.

Attainable –having appropriate knowledge, skill and expertise to achieve it.

Results-focused – it should focus on results not actions.

Time-bound – and you need to specify the timeframe for reaching the goal.

Here is an example of a SMART goal:

“To increase organic traffic to the site from 35000 visits per month to 100000 visits per month by the end of December 2019.”

SMART goals are easy to reach as they are clear, have a specific deadline, clarify the vision and make you to do the required actions to achieve them. By defining your goals SMART, your brain focus  on the results and obliges itself to accomplish them. By using some applications to define your goals they would also help you track your progress easily and at the end you can find the enjoyable sense of proud by accomplishing your plans.

Most of the managers define the main business goals in their meetings and never track them to achieve. As a survey conducted by Staples, 80% of company leaders don’t track their goals. As a result, accordingly to the same survey, 77% of them don’t achieve their company visions anymore.

If you want to set smart goals for your employees and help them track their progress, apply for free our trail now.