I am always surprised when I speak to other health professionals and hear they have forgotten what SMART goals are. Perhaps they are ingrained in my mind because I re-visited them when I got involved in coaching, and have used them for both health coaching and business coaching ever since.

So, to help readers ‘recall’ SMART goals, we will look at how using them will help improve business success.

SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and includes a Timeline. Let’s look at them more closely and determine how they can help your business.

S= Specific. “I want a business” is vague and very open-ended. In fact, many new clients come to me with this goal! Only once I really start encouraging them to get specific does that dream of business ownership start to take form.

M= Measurable. One of my professors always said that if you can’t measure something, you can’t determine its success. Another saying is that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. How will you know a goal has been achieved if you don’t have some type of criteria to measure from? Considering the above example, if you said you wanted a lot of clients, what does that mean? Committing to seeing 2 clients a week by January, however, can be measured.

A= Attainable. Let’s say you have a goal for a thriving business that employs several consultants, yet you are currently just working on the idea to start a solo practice right now and you don’t have access to capital. Your long-term vision is certainly attainable, but not in the next six months! However, smaller goals ARE possible in these first six months! Setting goals that are too big will de-motivate you and lead you to give up your dreams.

R= Realistic. Just as the goals must be attainable, so must they be realistic. If you set too high of goals, you will feel overwhelmed, or just give up because you can’t see a way to make them happen. Using the example above, however, you could set a realistic goal for how many clients you, yourself, can see in the next six months. Make the goal a bit of a stretch, to push you, but not out of reach.

T = Time. Without a deadline, you lose a sense of urgency. Just saying ‘I want six new clients’ doesn’t tell you anything! Six clients in 6 months, in a year, in ten years?

Now that you have your SMART goals set up, you have to make them happen! Sure, you may hit some roadblocks along the way. However, if you have set up goals that feel realistic and achievable, consider what those blocks are, work on the solutions, or get the necessary help to move you forward. Life is too short to not strive for the goals we can imagine.




Marjorie Geiser is a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer, life coach, and MBA student. Marjorie has been the owner of a successful business since 1996, and now helps other professionals start up or grow their own business through MEG Enterprises, Inc. Her book, “Just Jump: The No-Fear Start-up Guide for Health and Fitness Professionals” is available from www.californiabasedpublishing.com. To learn more about the services Margie offers, go to her website at http://www.meg-enterprises.com or email her at margie@meg-enterprises.com.