Criteria for goals
To be useful, goals should be defined according to certain criteria. Various criteria have been proposed – see e.g. SMART and its alternatives. Here are possible criteria – aspire to satisfy as many of them as you can.
- Positive: the goal should state what you do want and not what you don’t want
- Specific: concentrate on a specific outcome
- Detailed
- Clear: it should be clear what the goal means
- Relevant: the goal is in line with the bigger picture and vision
- Realistic: the goal should me achievable given the available resources
- Ambitious: the goal should stretch our abilities a little beyond our comfort zone and what we think is possible – so that we make sure we don’t miss reaching something we’re able to reach (even if eventually we reach less than the goal – we still achieve impressive results, more than we originally thought possible)
- Motivating: the goal should be phrased in a way that inspires motivation
- Milestones: it should be possible to break the goal into smaller milestones on the path to the goal
- Measurable: it should be possible to track and measure our progress towards the goal, and identify when we achieve it
- Timely: make sure the goal is achievable by a relevant time point
- Agreed: all relevant stakeholders should agree on the goal’s formulation
- Assignable: who is going to act to achieve the goal?
- Ethical
- Ecological
- Internal locus of control