Well Defined Goals

2. Specific. Your goals must be specific so that these provide you clues exactly what type of actions are required for achieving these goals. Further each goal should be time bound, that is, the time by which a particular goal will be achieved. A mere wishful thinking about a desired end-result is not a specific goal. A small example: when you say that my goal is to read this or that book is not a specific goal; it is merely wishful thinking. When you state, “my goal is to read this or that book within a week” is your specific goal.

3. Measurable. Your goal must be measurable so that you can measure your progress against these. Goals may be expressed either in qualitative form or quantitative form. To make your goals measurable, it is better to express these in quantitative form. For example, if your goal is to become the fastest 100-metre racer, you must define your goals in terms of the time that you will take in completing the race. Where goals cannot be expressed in quantitative form, express these in qualitative form and specify the characteristics which can be used to measure your progress in terms of these characteristics. For example, if you are a human resource manager and your goal is to raise the morale of your employee in three months, you must develop the yardsticks to evaluate whether employee morale has been raised.

4.Challenging. Your goals must be challenging to you so that these provide inspiration to you for doing better. You can always do better when you have challenges before you but not in the absence of them. Therefore, let your goals extract maximum from you. If you set easily achievable goals, you can achieve these easily but you cannot reach the height which you have envisioned.