The current generation of young people sways between their attempts to have a good job, keep up with an endless information flow, fashion, trying to stay fit and healthy, attending yoga classes, eating out to taste every new dish that becomes popular, you name it.

All this stuff takes our time and money. And, unfortunately, those are of utmost importance these days. If you can’t manage your time, you’ll spend it on distracting yourself at the gym or scrolling down a social media feed. Sure, if you’re pressed for time, you can get some essay help from the EssayHub writing service, but that will solve only some of your problems.

As time passes, you may realize that you’re standing in the middle of nowhere and need to move in a direction. But which one? However boring SMART goals may sound, they can be your answer, and here are four reasons why.

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Build a Realistic and Useful Plan

SMART criteria help one to transform their desires into achievable goals. So, every goal should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, and Time-bound.

If there is no other motivation for going to the gym besides getting abs and impressing somebody, ditch this objective. Go to therapy instead. If you try to lose weight because it harms your health, that’s it. It’s specific and relevant.

In case you plan to get yourself as fit as a fiddle in a few months after years of neglecting your body and health, ditch this goal as well. Consult a coach and/or dietician to have a realistic and measurable plan. You need timeframes and subgoals you’ll be able to stick to.

The same applies to any situation you’re trying to fix.

Set Your Priorities

This one is closely tied to the reason above. You may have a number of areas you want to excel in. For instance:

• get a promotion;
• get fit to run a marathon;
• have a kid;
• learn clay modeling;
• read 20 books;
• learn a new language;
• volunteer for a local organization to contribute to the society’s development.

In your head, all these things may sound quite realistic. If you write down everything you’d like to accomplish and try to set SMART goals, you’ll realize that they are. Just not simultaneously.

SMART goals help you to quantify how much time or assets you’re going to need to make progress in something. So, as soon as you see the numbers, you will realize that 24 hours will not be enough to do everything you’d like to. Yet, that’s all we have living on Earth.

You’re going to need to prioritize, put off the less important tasks, and that’s okay. Improve one or two spheres of your life first, then move further.

Finally, the ‘R’ in SMART often stands for relevant. So, whatever you have in your mind, you’ll have to ask yourself whether you really need it. There are people who stretch themselves too thin because they don’t know what they want and why they want it. Ask yourself what a particular accomplishment can bring you and whether it can make a difference in your life.

Of course, if you have reached the level where you’re satisfied with the way you live, you can go to whatever classes you like. Yet, if you hate your job and live in an apartment you dislike, it’s not the right time to dive into another mini-hobby and spend all your free time on it. It may distract you for a while but not really help.

The decision is up to you, in the end. However, if you take care of improving the quality of your life first, you may have more physical and emotional resources to improve the rest.

Prove That You’re a Valuable Employee

Employers adore candidates that can objectively report on what they have accomplished in the past. You may not be a pro if you enter the job market for the first time. However, if you have prepared for the position you’re about to be interviewed for, you can tell how you did it.

For instance, imagine you set a goal to obtain a position in marketing and researched everything beforehand. What can you share with the interviewer or in your CV?

While in a CV you can use cliches for describing your soft skills not to make the resume long, the interview may require proof. And past experience is the best proof you will have, even if it’s not work experience.

If you’re a goal-oriented person, you can mention it and expand on it with the example of how you set your goal of getting skills necessary for marketing. If you’re persistent and motivated, tell them what, and how much, material you processed to research the new field. So, the very experience of setting and following the SMART goals may help you impress the recruiter.

Stay Motivated

Whatever you have in mind, the SMART criteria won’t let you go past the question ‘why?’. Why do you need to do what you’re aiming for? Again, having a specific and relevant aim that aligns with our values gives you the answer and the motivation.

So, if you are on your way to your accomplishment and suddenly start thinking that maybe it’s not worth it, look at your notes with the goals. Highlight the keywords showing what you would gain from this achievement.

Put a picture of the place you’d like to travel to. In that case, if your current goal is to save money to get there, and at some point, you think that you definitely need some expensive stuff you can actually get by without, look at that picture. Recall what is really important to you right now.

In Summary

Setting priorities and reassessing your capabilities can be too hard sometimes. It takes courage, time, and effort. However, not a single successful person will tell you that it is easy. Whether it’s a popular entrepreneur or just a middle-class individual living a happy life, it always takes effort to reach that level.

Your ability of goal-setting can define what kind of person you are or can become. So, think about who and where you’d like to be deep inside your heart, what people you want to surround yourself with. Make a decision, set your goal, and stick to it.