Learn: Supercharge your goals.

We can write vague goals—“I want to be a good person”—that have broad implications but aren't specific, measurable, or actionable.

"I want to be a good person" isn't specific or actionable because we don’t know what needs to be done to become a good person. Should we treat others more respectfully? Be more helpful to others? Say fewer hurtful things?

"I want to be a good person" isn't measurable because we don’t know when the goal has been achieved. It’s hard to know and quantify when someone has become a good person.

Vague goals don't do much to motivate learning or promote growth. SMART goals, on the other hand, drive accountability to ourselves and also spur action.

Let's take a look at another nonSMART goal, written by a guy named Eric—“I want to run a marathon in a month.” This goal may be a great goal for some people, but not for Eric.

A bit of backstory on Eric: he hasn’t exercised in over two years, eats a lot of junk food, and plays video games from dawn to dusk. Eric's goal is not realistic and also not actionable because we don’t know what he is doing to achieve his goal.

What is something you care about doing well—in or outside of school? Write a SMART goal to help you learn to do your chosen thing well.

Here are some things to consider when writing your SMART goal.

Specific: Is the goal linked to one activity or one thought?

Measurable: Can I plot my progress on a graph? Can I say how much I’ve improved from the previous day or week?

Actionable: What task or action will I be doing? Can I draw a picture of someone doing that action?

Realistic: Are there examples of people who have achieved this level of success in this amount of time?

Time-bound: Did I include a set time period in which I want to achieve my goal? Days? Weeks? Months?

You have completed part 2 of 3 for this activity: Learn!