Feel like you’ve been too busy to make progress on your goals? Think again! This SMART goal setting worksheet will set you up to successfully accomplish your goals!
Alright, you guys. We’re about six weeks into the new year. Raise your hand if you’ve already set your New Year’s resolutions to the side. (Here I am, sheepishly waving my hand in the air!). You know what’s interesting? Research says that only 5% of people can stick by their resolutions. Here’s what I think: it’s tough to stick to a resolution if we don’t turn it into a smart and actionable goal. Want to learn how? Keep on reading to get all the info on how to use this goal setting worksheet (and grab your free download!)
Hi Crazy Craft Lady readers! My name is Cynthia, and I’m the DIY loving mama behind the blog Home Beautifully. Over at Home Beautifully, we’re all about empowering busy women with easy-to-follow DIY projects for beautiful, organized homes. There are lots of super useful organization tutorials, like this free pretty printable planner!
How to Use Your SMART Goal Setting Worksheet
To use this worksheet well, we need to break down a few concepts and describe the steps you’ll walk through to set yourself up for success. First, let’s discuss the nature of “S.M.A.R.T” goals, and then let’s walk through how you can use this worksheet to get going in accomplishing them.
This worksheet is available in lots of sizes, from full size letter, to A5, to half size letter, all the way down to personal planner size. Yep, you’ll find a size to fit your needs (and your binder.) We gotcha covered! So print the one you need. Click the button below to automatically download these worksheets:
Got your pen? Printed your worksheet? Let’s do this.
What is a S.M.A.R.T goal?
Here’s the thing: while most people are very well intentioned when making goals, they’re not crating their goal statements correctly. And if you’re not taking a S.M.A.R.T approach, you might not be setting yourself up for success.
What do I mean? S.M.A.R.T goals have five characteristics. They’re
SPECIFIC: Does the goal state with crystal clarity what you seek to accomplish or achieve? Does it use descriptive language or broad terms?
MEASURABLE: Does the goal include how you’ll assess your progress in meeting it? Can you put numbers on your progress?
ACTIONABLE: Can the goal be broken down into steps you can take to move forward?
REALISTIC: Is the goal accomplishable? Even if it’s a stretch goal, is it within the realm of possibility?
TIME-BOUND: Does the goal indicate when you want to achieve it?
Defining Your 90-Day Smart Goal
The first step in completing your worksheet is filling in your goal in the upper left-hand box. You’ll see that the timeframe for this goal is 90 days. Turns out that 90 days is the sweet spot for setting big but actionable goals.
Why? Research has shown that thinking much further than 90 days ahead doesn’t help us too much. We don’t have much visibility that far into the future. Things come up, priorities change, and so on. But looking about 12 weeks ahead? Ding ding! Using “quarterly thinking” (because 90 days is a quarter of a year) allows us to dream big while building realistic and actionable steps to accomplish those dreams.
So spend some time setting a S.M.A.R.T goal for the next three months. Be sure to pay attention to your motivation. Why is this important to you? What’s the purpose of this goal in your life?
As you define your 90-day goal, also pay attention to how you’re crafting it. Is it S.M.A.R.T? Have you used detailed language and included measurements for progress? Is it actionable and realistic?
Check of the S.M.A.R.T. boxes below your 90-day goal when you’re confident that it’s strongly worded!
As we move along, I’ll include an example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal setting worksheet for someone who’s been struggling with anxiety and wants to focus on wellness. (Anyone relate?)
Scaffold Your Goal with Monthly Benchmarks
Have you ever heard the following expression:
What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
As obvious at that statement may be (because how else would you eat an elephant?!), we don’t often take that approach when it comes to working towards goals.
Too often, we try to eat all of the elephant all of the time. Instead of working incrementally towards our goals, we take on too much, too fast. And you know what happens? Yup, you know it. I know it. We’ve all done it. Burn out. Major burn out.
Taking the time to “scaffold” our goals is key to our success. Sure we have a 90-day goal. But how will you take steps towards accomplishing it? How will you build a strong action plan that spreads out priorities over time?
Below your 90-day goal, fill in the monthly benchmarks. In Months 1, 2, and 3, what will you prioritize? Where will you focus? By the end of the month, how will you know you were successful?
You may also want to brainstorm incentives to give yourself either at the start or end of each month. This is a good way to set yourself up for success or reward yourself for accomplishing your monthly benchmarks.
Again, the focus here is small, measurable steps. Be realistic with yourself and your current life situation. Focus on incorporating activities that you’ll be able to sustain.
Define Your Action Steps
Now that you’ve structured your 90-day S.M.A.R.T goal and scaffolded your monthly benchmarks, now’s the time to dig into small, actionable steps you can take. Think of this as a very specific to-do list.
You might want to brainstorm action steps ahead of time. Or, you might want to fill these in as you go along. (Or both!).
Come back to your action steps often, using the worksheet as a checklist, to hold yourself accountable. You might also want to build in additional accountability measures into your action steps as well. For example, one action step might be to share your goal setting worksheet with your best friend to walk through your plans. Or create an Instagram account just for fitness selfies, if your goal’s related to fitness.
I’m so hopeful that this goal setting worksheet is a good resource for you. Pop a comment below with your feedback and let us know how you’re incorporating it into your day-to-day. Personally, I have a baby’s nursery room to re-do in the next 90 days and am using this worksheet to keep myself on task (and relatively sane!). Wish me luck!
If you’re interested in other organization printables for your home and life, be sure to check out this free 30-day habit tracker to keep yourself accountable while building new habits.
