What are SMART actionable goals and why are they crucial to your business?

It can be overwhelming trying to grow your small business. There are a lot of moving parts to running your own business. And this is why it’s important to set SMART actionable goals as soon as you can.

Use the SMART Actionable Goals Template to break your goals and objectives down to bite-sized, actionable tasks. Remember, your actionable tasks must be just as SMART as your goals. This template can help you make sure your tasks are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

Setting SMART Actionable Goals

- Specific: What is it exactly that you would like to accomplish. Do not be vague. Clearly define what it is that you want to do.

- Measurable: Define how you will determine whether the goal has been met. Are you using any metrics or analytics? How will you track your progress and the ultimate outcome?

- Attainable: Considering your capacity and possible constraints, make sure that your can reasonably and realistically achieve the goals set.

- Relevant: An effective goal must be relevant to you, your business objectives and your audience (or clients). Also make sure that your goals are aligned with your short and long term plans.

Timely: Establish a timeline. Having target dates keep you motivated to follow through. Include deadlines, milestones or frequency.

Tip: Be more active on Instagram is not a SMART goal.

It is important that you define what it means to “be more active”. Specify what you want to accomplish.

Are you measuring being active solely by the number of times you post? How about leaving comments on other people’s photos? Do you care about engaging with your followers?

Also consider: Do you have the time or capacity to engage X times a week? How does this goal help you achieve your business objectives? When will you start “being more active”? Will this be an ongoing goal?

Download Your Free Worksheet

Still unsure how to keep your goals SMART? I’ve created a simple worksheet to help get you started. The worksheet is designed to help you break your more general goals into specific, clearly defined and actionable tasks.