T - Time-based

Howdy everyone! Today we are reaching the last letter in SMART; yay, we've made it! I'd like to review the letters we've covered so far and what they stand for. So far we have covered S for specific, M for measurable, A for attainable, and R for relevant/realistic. All of these elements should be present when you are creating a SMART goal.

Today we will look at the letter T which stands for time-based. This element of SMART goal making answers the question "when." Remember, this needs to be specific. The time frame must be aggressive while also being realistic. (See how all of the elements overlap?) So what does it mean to have a time-based goal? Well, here's a pretty cool video to demonstrate a time-based goal.

So what was his goal that he stated? Right, he said that he would paint a painting in a minute and a half or less. Now, this was not necessarily a smart goal in other aspects, but where time is concerned it was rather specific. And it seemed somewhat unattainable, but for this man it certainly wasn't! I thought that video was pretty awesome.

It's important to make your goal time-based because this goes along with attainability. If your goal isn't time-bound you may have trouble completing the goal. Why would it impede the completion of my goal, you may ask? Well, if a goal isn't time bound, you may not feel the need to do it or you may lose interest or procrastinate. Being time-bound is important because it gives you a deadline and therefore some degree of urgency. Remember, within every aspect of SMART goal is specificity so be very specific about when your goal is to be completed by. If the overall goal will take a rather long time (as can occur with businesses or scholastics) then make some smaller goals within the overall goal so that you are still making progress the entire time and not procrastinating.

I hope this has helped your understanding of making your goals time-based!

Happy goal making!!