by Anisa Marku
The Art Of Setting
SMART Goals
Set winning goals and live a life of abundance, success, and achievement.
Anisa Marku
Copyright © 2019 by [Anisa Marku]
The Art Of Setting SMART Goals
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Although the author has made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.
Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, including international, federal, state and local governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising, and all other aspects of doing business in the US, Canada or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the reader and consumer.
Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of the consumer or reader of this material. Any perceived slight of any individual or organization is purely unintentional.
The resources in this book are provided for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace the specialized training and professional judgment of a health care or mental health care professional.
Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for the use of the information provided within this book. Please always consult a trained professional before making any decision regarding treatment of yourself or others.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to:
My Boys
-Thank you for always inspiring me, loving me, and bringing me joy! You are always my inspiration and motivation for everything I do.
My Best Friend
-Thank you for supporting me and my crazy ideas and never giving up on me. Thank you for being my best friend, my rock, and my partner for life. I can do anything with you by my side!
My Parents
-I am your only child but I have not been the easiest one to raise. Thank you for never turning your backs on me.
“Setting goals
is the first step
in turning the
invisible
into the visible.”
– Tony Robbins
Contents
Preface: What is My Why?
Introduction
Chapter 1: My First Steps of Goal Setting
Chapter 2: Intro to S.M.A.R.T Goals
Chapter 3: Create Your Vision Board
Chapter 4: Find Your Passion – Find Your WHY
Chapter 5: The Power of Goal Setting
Chapter 6: Possibilities Are Endless
Chapter 7: Letting Go of What Doesn't Serve You
Conclusion
Appendix
Acknowledgments
About The Author
One Last Thing...
Preface
What is My Why?
I am writing this book because I want to help people improve their lives. I am inspired to motivate, encourage, and help them be the best version of themselves.
It is my main goal that this book not only has a positive effect on anyone who reads it but that it also helps them achieve their own goals by following the steps that I share.
Introduction
Have you ever thought of how your life would change, if you accomplished something really important?
If you haven’t already figured out what this big, important thing is, don’t worry—I would love to help you out.
This book will be your guide to find out exactly:
1. What you want to accomplish
2. Why you want to accomplish it
3. How you are going to accomplish it
Are you ready to get started? Let’s go!
We all have the desire to change, improve, and create a better life for ourselves, but all too often our fears and doubts hold us back.
We think:
● What can I change?
● I am too old.
● I don’t know where to start.
● It’s too late for me.
The truth is:
● You can always change and/or improve something in yourself and your life.
● You are never too old to achieve your goals and dreams.
● If you never start, you will NEVER reach the finish line.
● It is never too late!
For most people, changing their mindset is more difficult than anything else. Most of the time, we are too hard on ourselves.
Many of us don’t have a great support system in our life, and while that can be challenging, that shouldn’t stop us from reaching our goals. After all, if we don’t believe we can do something, how is someone else going to believe we can?
We have created this hamster wheel life that we just can’t get out of. And if nothing changes, we will keep going in circles until the end.
I hope that by the end of reading this book you will be able to find out:
● What you want to achieve/accomplish in your life. What are your goals?
● The reason why you want to accomplish them. What is your WHY?
● How you are going to accomplish them. What steps are you going to take?
Chapter 1
My First Steps of Goal Setting
I have always been a planner, and I have always loved setting goals for myself. But until I learned about goal setting, all of my goals and ideas about what I wanted to do with my life were just floating around in my head.
I never wrote anything down and I never thought it could make any difference.
I was completely wrong!
When I started to write down my goals and break them into smaller tasks, I immediately saw what a difference it made. Before I knew it, I was achieving my goals.
When I started college, one of my professors asked us to write down the goals that we want to achieve in five years. It was January of 2012. Here are a few goals that I had listed at that time:
● Graduate college
● Travel more
● Visit my family
● Get my citizenship
At the time, all of these things seemed impossible or very difficult to achieve. Let me explain why.
Graduate College – The possibility of failure was real from day one because the odds of graduating were mostly against me.
First was the language issue. English is not my first language. I was able to communicate pretty well, but the writing and reading part was very difficult.
I was always afraid that I would not be able to understand the lecture or the assignment, which would mean that I wouldn’t do very well on the tests and therefore fail some of my classes.
The second was the issue that I had so many gap years in my education. I never even graduated from elementary school. My family moved to Germany when I was in 6th grade, so I missed the chance to graduate from 8th grade (which was the end of elementary school in my country). I never finished high school either, because I decided to drop out when I was 16 years old.
My academic years could have stopped at that point. But instead, I decided to stay true to my goals.
I started college 10 years later at the age of 26, while raising two kids.
Even tho
ugh all the obstacles were going through my head when I was writing down my goals, graduating from college was on the top of my list.
I wanted to make my parents, my husband, and my boys proud.
I wanted to be able to find a decent job, but mostly I wanted to make myself proud by achieving something that was really important to me.
It took me almost 5 years, but I graduated in June 2017.
Travel More – My husband and I loved going on family vacation or road trips, but we weren’t able to travel as much as we hoped we could. There were financial issues and time constraints. My husband worked long hours and sometimes weekends as well. I had started college and most of my weekends were spent doing homework and assignments. Having only one paycheck didn't leave much to save for a vacation, either.
In the summer of 2012, my husband opened his own company. He was still busy, but he no longer had to ask someone else’s permission to take time off from work. That's one of the perks of being self-employed.
We managed to take advantage of my semester breaks to travel. Over the five years, I was in college, we went to New York, Myrtle Beach, France, Belgium, Las Vegas, Albania, Florida (Disney, Universal, Fort Lauderdale, Clearwater Beach), and many road trips around Michigan.
This might not seem a lot to those who travel frequently, but for us, it was a lot more then we were used to traveling!
Visit My Family – I moved to the US in 2003, and I was able to go back and visit my family in 2013. Over ten years had passed before I was able to go back. When I wrote this goal down, I was not able to go travel outside the US because I didn't have my Green Card yet.
There is a long process that my husband and I had to go through in order to apply and qualify for our permanent resident status. In 2012 I received my Green Card, and the next summer I was able to go and visit my parents.
Get My Citizenship – It took us 14 years to finally get our passports. As I mentioned above, the whole process is very long and expensive. They do not make it easy to become US citizens, but at least it is possible if you follow all the rules and laws they have set up.
Getting my citizenship was important to me because it meant that I get to call the place where I’d been living for the past 14 years, my home. When you are going through the process, there is a chance that they will deny your application to live and work here.
Getting my passport meant that I didn’t have to live in constant fear about having to go back to my country and restart my life all over again. We had worked really hard to build our family, our lives, and our careers here in the US.
You see, if I had let my fears and doubts overwhelm me, I would never have had the courage to write down my goals as I sat in that first-year college class. I knew I had a long way to go, and that I’d have to work really hard to accomplish everything I had just written down, but that didn’t discourage me.
It just gave me more hope and motivation for my future.
Chapter 2
Intro to S.M.A.R.T Goals
When someone asks you “what is your goal,” how do you answer?
People generally tend to answer with what their dreams are, not what their goals are. Goals are more like stepping stones laid in the ground. If you follow them, there is a path that will lead you to where you want to go.
S.M.A.R.T goals are not the same as regular goals. They are stronger and more detailed. They will help create a road map to your own success.
S.M.A.R.T stands for:
S - Specific. Make your goal as specific as possible. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Write down as many details as possible. If you say you want “to be healthy,” that is not as specific as “I want to lose 10 pounds.” Be as clear and specific as you can while setting your goal.
M - Measurable. You should be able to measure and track your progress. Otherwise how you are going to know that you have accomplished your goal?
A - Attainable. Is your goal attainable? You have to know your limits, circumstances, and the resources needed to achieve this goal. I would like to be taller, but it is not realistic. Make sure your goals are attainable; otherwise it is just daydreaming in the clouds.
R - Relevant. Is your goal relevant to you and your life right now? Example: One of my goals is to learn French because I want to spend next summer in France. If I start taking Spanish classes right now (even though learning any language is always beneficial), it won’t help me reach my goal. The steps or action plan you are taking now has to be relevant to your goal and what you are trying to achieve.
T - Timely. There should be a time frame to accomplish your goal. You have to put a due date on it or you will end up working on it forever.
“A GOAL
WITHOUT
A PLAN
IS JUST
A WISH”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Which area of your life to use S.M.A.R.T goals?
Your choice! You can set smart goals for any areas that you need to improve:
● Personal goals
● Professional goals
● Family goals
● Financial goals
● Travel goals
Examples of personal goals:
● Take a yoga class at least once per week
● Learn a new language
● Travel to a new place
● Do a 5K marathon
● Lose 10 pounds
● Quit smoking
Examples of professional goals:
● Change your job or career
● Open up your own business
● Work from home
● Get a promotion
Your professional goals are going to depend on where you right now in your career and where you are trying to be in the future.
Examples of family goals:
● Visit your family more often
● Spend quality time with your kids
● Travel to a new place
● Have a baby or adopt
Examples of financial Goals:
● Paying off your student loans or credit card debt
● Build a retirement savings
● Save for your first house
● Emergency funds
● Set up a college fund for your kids
Just thinking about finances can be stressful, let alone coming up with a plan. But even though it’s scary, it is so important to set a goal and write down steps to achieve what you want financially.
When setting financial goals, ask yourself: What is most important to you?
● Being debt free?
● Paying off student loans?
● Paying off that high-interest credit card?
● Saving for retirement?
● Saving for your next family vacation?
Examples of travel goals:
● Travel to a new country
● See/experience a new culture
● Spend next summer in Europe
● Go on a cruise
● Girls trip to (fill in the country or state)
The list above is only suggestions. Your list will (and should) look different. It will depend entirely on you and what your goals are.
When starting your list, make sure you only choose one category at a time, then add only one goal to that category. You can build up from there. This way it is easier and you don’t get overwhelmed with the whole process.
Short-term vs. Long-term Goals
After you have set your categories, you can take it one step further and separate them into short-term and long-term goals.
Short-term goals: These goals are usually completed within a year. Personally, I consider a short-term goal to be anything that can be completed within 3 - 6 months.
Long-term goals: These are goals to be achieved in a 3 - 5-year timeframe. A personal example of a long-term goal was getting my college degree. I took me almost five years to finish.
No
w it's your turn! Pick a category and write down at least one goal that you would like to accomplish using the S.M.A.R.T method. Write it in your notebook or computer. It doesn't matter as long as it is written down so you can actually read it and you can go back and edit it if you need to. I prefer to write in my notebook and also on a note app on my phone for convenience.
My suggestion is that you only work with one category and one goal in the beginning. You can always add later.
In the next chapter, I will show you how to prioritize what is most important to you and create your vision board.
Chapter 3
Create Your Vision Board
If you are more of a visual person, creating your vision board will help you tremendously with setting goals and moving towards them. A vision board is a collage of images, words, or both that serves as a motivational tool to help you reach your goals.
Before you start putting together your vision board, you need to prioritize what is most important to you!
Ask yourself which areas of your life you want to improve. In what area do you need to focus now to make a positive change in your life? Is it your:
● Health
● Finances
● Marriage
● Career
● Personal Growth
After you have selected one area you are going to work on, the next step is to visualize your big picture.
You need to visualize the big picture in your head. For me, it was getting my degree. My big picture was walking up on stage during the commencement ceremony and getting my diploma.
When you are creating your vision board, try to think with the “end” in mind.
Ask yourself:
● How is achieving your goal going to change your life?
● Where do you see yourself one year from now?
● How does your life or lifestyle look now that you have accomplished your goal?
For example: Say you want to lose 25 lbs. That’s your personal goal. That is a priority to you because you want to look better, feel better, and live a healthier lifestyle. You visualize how losing 25 lbs. is going to make you feel about yourself. How you are going to look? What kind of new clothes will you be wearing? What types of fun new activities will you be doing? How is it going to change your eating habits and lifestyle?