Goal Setting and Time Management

By Interactive Measurement Group at

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Please cite the following reference if you use or modify these materials:

Reference: Interactive Measurement Group. (2014). Goal setting and time management.

Retrieved from http://img.faculty.unlv.edu/lab/workshops/

Lesson 1: Creating and Achieving SMART Goals

Purpose

SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. This

section will take you through what these words mean in relation to setting your goals.

1. Specific: You need to decide what you truly want to accomplish. A vague goal, such as “I

want to be in shape,” can take on several different meanings. It could mean that you

want to bench press 200 pounds or that you want to run a marathon. You need to

specifically know what you want in order to know how to achieve it. In our example,

training to bench press 200 pounds is very different than training to run a marathon.

The following are some examples to consider:

a. Bad Example: I want to get a good score on my GRE.

b. Good Example: I want to get at least a score of 1500 on my GRE.

have reached “often”? You need to specifically state what you want to do. Using our

studying example, a better-defined and measurable goal would be the following: “I want

to study for 3 hours a day 5 days a week.” The following are some examples to consider:

a. Bad Example: I want to lose weight.

b. Good Example: I want to lose 12 pounds.

c. Bad Example: I want to be more active in my community.

d. Good Example: I want to do 10 hours of community service a month.

e. Bad Example: I want to spend more time with my child/friend/family/significant

other.

f. Good Example: I want to do 4 special activities a month with my

logic to your goals, and you will be able to come up with what you can do.

4. Realistic: This principle is very similar to attainability but is slightly different. The nuance

is the difference between what you can do and what you are willing to do. “Realistic” is

what you are willing to do. For instance, you could strive to lose 20 pounds in 12 weeks,

but are you really going to put in all that work at the gym, change your eating habits,

and change your lifestyle? Before establishing your goal, understand how much effort

you are willing to put into it. Again, specific examples are difficult to establish since only

you know what you are willing to put towards achieving your goal.

5. Timely: Your goals need an end date, regardless of what the goal is. Even if the goal is

something that you want to do for the rest of your life, such as developing or stopping a

due, for the remainder of the fall semester.” Selecting an end date for your goal is

important because you need to pick a point in time at which to congratulate yourself, to

consider why and how you succeeded or failed, and to evaluate what did and did not

work. The following are some examples to consider:

a. Bad Example: I want to be able to run a mile in less than 10 minutes.

b. Good Example: By my birthday, I want to be able to run a mile in less than 10

minutes.

c. Bad Example: I want to do 3 special activities with my wife.

d. Good Example: I want to do 3 special activities with my wife in July.

e. Bad Example: I want to do 200 hours of community service.

Purpose

2. Make a list of things that you need to do in order to accomplish this goal. For example, if

your goal is to work out for 30 minutes, 3 days a week, and 3 months straight, you may

need to do the following: buy training shoes, buy a gym membership, find appropriate

clothes, learn how to use the equipment, schedule time to go to the gym, find a friend

to hold you accountable, and set up a time to talk about your progress with your friend.

3. Look at this list and organize it into two categories: one-time tasks and ongoing tasks.

One-time tasks may involve such activities as purchasing shoes and finding a friend to

help hold you accountable. Ongoing tasks may involve such activities as scheduling time

to go to the gym, bringing gym clothes with you to work, and remembering to renew

your gym membership. The distinction between one-time tasks and ongoing tasks are

not always definite; use your best judgment to decide.

4. Looking at the list again, prioritize the items in order from most to least important. Most

important items should be at the top of the list, and least important at the bottom. You

may also find it helpful to consider the order of the items that you want to accomplish.

For example, if you do not have shoes in which to train, purchasing a gym membership

may not be valuable, since you cannot actually work out yet. If you need help deciding

Part 2: Managing Long Term Goals

This section will teach you how to handle long term goals. These are goals that are over 3-5

months into the future. These goals can become overwhelming and may cause someone to feel

that they are not accomplishing anything. Examples of long term goals include the following:

getting accepted to a graduate school when you are a year away from applying, losing

significant amounts of weight, starting a family when you are not dating anyone, and running a

marathon when you have difficulty running 5 minutes straight.

1. Turn your long term goal into a SMART goal. For example, if you want to be admitted to

graduate school, your goal should resemble the following: “I want to get into graduate

school by May 1 of next year.”

2. Now, make a list of everything you need to do in order to achieve that goal. For

4. Continue the previous steps until you have a list of SMART goals that are accomplishable

within the next 3-4 months. Do not disregard any goals that require more time to

accomplish; simply store them until they are achievable within a 3-5 month time

window.

5. By following the above steps, you should be able to give yourself goals that will keep

you moving forward, motivated, and on course to achieving your important life goals.

Part 3: Creating Accountability

Accountability drives people to work very diligently and finish tasks. Accountability is woven

into all aspects of our lives. Professors pass or fail students based on their work in class.

ideas of what to try.

Ideas

1. Give yourself a treat for crossing items off your list of things to do. For example, the

following is an illustration of this idea: “For every 5 things I cross off my list, I will earn

dinner out with my husband to a restaurant of my choice.” Ensure that anyone who is

involved in your reward agrees to the terms, such as the husband in the above example.

2. Give a very trusted friend a significant sum of money, informing them to hold onto the

designated date. If you do not achieve it by that date, you may decide to allow them to

keep the money.

4. Start a competition with friends and family members who have the same or similar

goals. For example, in the lab, we often have a number of students who take academic

entrance exams (i.e., GRE, MCAT, LSAT) at the same time. You could make a bet that the

person in the group that achieves the highest score gains a reward, such as a free

dinner, free movie, or certain amount of money, which will be provided by those who

lost.

5. Meet with friends or family members, who are striving to accomplish similar goals,

every week or month in order to motivate each other and talk about everyone's

individual successes.

6. Create a bulletin board that displays pictures of your goals. For example, if one of your

which you will easily see them, such as around your house or apartment or on your

notebooks. You could ask a trusted loved one to do this as well. For example, a

significant other could write motivating notes and place them on your kitchen's

refrigerator door, or a friend could send you encouraging emails weekly.

Purpose

value today will not be what you value 10 years in the future. In order to prioritize your life, it is

important to at least consider what is most important to you. Having a basic guide upon which

to reflect will help you make better and more efficient decisions. The following is an activity to

1. Without deliberation, write down the 3 things that are most important to you.

2. Look at the 3 things that you wrote down, and think about why they are important to

you. Often, what we write is not what we value, but simply a representation of the

value. For example, if you wrote, “My car,” think about what your car represents. Is it

3. Look at your wheel. Consider the following questions: Does one piece have a lot more

activities than another? Is one piece completely empty? How does looking at your wheel

following chart and activity.

1. In the proper categories of your blank Time Management Matrix worksheet, write down

your daily activities. Do not analyze them as you write them. If you do not know where

the “Urgent” and “Not Important” category? How did you feel when you wrote down

your activities? How does looking at your matrix make you feel?

3. Looking at your life in three simple pieces of paper may be overwhelming, frustrating, or