Be SMART with Your Goal-Setting
Danielle Fatzinger is the current PGR Office Intern and in the third year of her PhD in Celtic & Gaelic, studying late-seventeenth century Gaelic manuscripts written in Kintyre, Argyll. In this post, she discusses SMART goals, why she’s trying to use them, and how they can help you meet your deadlines.
Now that I’m in the third year of my PhD with the goal of finishing in exactly three years, it’s become extremely clear to me that I have not, in fact, been creating very good goals for myself. I’ve kept deadlines, mostly, but either out of sheer luck or putting in extra hours towards the end. My latest chapter, however, was finished being edited a week and a half after the deadline I had set for it.
This was partly because I came across things that I needed to write about that I wasn’t aware of when I started, but mostly because I didn’t have a fully clear idea of my plan. Even though I was working on it every day, I was sometimes jumping from section to section just because I didn’t want to find sources or fill in a piece of information. This got better when I started to break down the task of ‘edit chapter four’ to ‘edit section 2.1 of chapter 4’, but I still think I can do more.
I can be SMARTer about my goals.
SMART Goals and How to Set Them
My goal for the last chapter was very loose: finish editing it by the end of October. It wasn’t until more than halfway through the month that I truly understood the amount of work that would be needed and that I wasn’t working in an intentional enough way to reach my goal. That, or my goal was unrealistic.
I needed to be, and for the next chapter will be, more specific. I’ll be SMART: specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, and timely.
This isn’t a new idea. I first heard about SMART goals at least ten years ago. There are also a lot of places you can find information about them and other tips for goal-setting, like from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. There are also a lot of SMART infographics.
Here’s the breakdown:
Specific: This is the who, what, when, where, and why. It should be as detailed as possible, include constraints or requirements, and leave nothing out. This aspect of SMART goals does the heavy lifting, so including everything is a must.
Measureable: How can you keep track of progress? This can be easy to figure out with exercise, since that can be reduced to numbers. It’s harder to do with chapter writing or editing. Daily word counts are one possibility, although they aren’t always a reflection of work accomplished. It may be just as good to use daily hours, and then keep track of the sections or topics finished. The important thing is to measure it somehow so you know you’re progressing, and write it down to keep track. Ask yourself: ‘How will I know I’ve been successful?’
Attainable: Make sure you can complete the goal. This overlaps with the other aspects of SMART goals in that sometimes you may just not have enough time to do something (like edit), or maybe some parts of the goal aren’t under your control (like whether or not abstract or paper submissions are accepted). In most instances, though, us PGRs are able to learn and do things we put our minds to...so this aspect should always be there.
Realistic: You need to be both willing and able to work towards your goal, and to complete it in the timeframe set. If you believe it can be done, and you’re motivated to do it, then it’s realistic.
Timely: The time frame attached to the goal should be realistic, attainable, and specific (see what I did there?). It’s timely, for instance, to write the first draft of an approximately 20,000-word chapter in four weeks with some determination (or at least that’s what I’m choosing to believe!). It’s less timely to write it in a week. It’s important to have a specific date in mind, and to write that down and plan your work to reach it. I know I have four weeks to write my chapter because I have a set date: 11 December, the day before I get on a plane and head home for the holiday. You can even get an accountability buddy to update with your progress (your supervisor, a friend, or even a partner).
The beauty here is that this can be done every day as well as at the beginning of tasks. After using SMART goals to create the overall plan, and then breaking the project down into smaller tasks, those tasks can be made into their own SMART goals. It’s a way to structure writing time, learn how long it takes to accomplish things, and have small wins. If you need to write a section in one day, that section can be broken down into smaller segments, and then those segments can each be their own goal and accomplishment. Plus, the goals aren’t static. If you realize something isn’t working (which is inevitable), then you can rethink the goal to be more realistic.
This is how many PGRs think automatically, but acting on that thinking is the tough part. I’ve shifted into being more mindful of the goals and tasks I’m setting myself in the last couple of weeks in order to act on them. Being more intentional and SMART about it can only improve the time management and focusing skills we’re all continuously honing and make it more likely we’ll reach those deadlines.
This is also really good practice for the world of employment whether within or without academia. You’ll need to set your own objectives and deadlines for projects and annual reviews. Over time, you’ll even need to set objectives for others, and if you’re not SMART about it, the person you’re supervising may not understand the deadlines or tasks (if you’re setting SMART goals for others, the A can also stand for ‘agreed’).
Do you set goals this way, or do you prefer another way to stay on track? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter/Instagram @UofG_PGRblog.
