We learned earlier about the importance of breaking down your goal into bite-sized pieces to avoid becoming overwhelmed or losing focus. Now we are going to put all we have learned into practice.
For this lesson we will focus on creating a SMART goal. SMART goals have five characteristics that must be fulfilled. Using a SMART goal plan helps to ensure success in reaching your goal.
The following video explains why we use the SMART goal plan and goes over the specific components that make up each part of a SMART goal.
Video: Setting SMART Goals
Watch this video to learn more about the definition of SMART goals.
SMART is an acronym. Read about what each letter stands for in the table below and make sure to answer the questions in your SMART goal assignment:
ACRONYM
Explanation
Questions to ask yourself
Examples
S
Specific
A goal should be linked to one activity, thought, or idea. We talked about this at the beginning of the lesson. It shouldn’t be too big or too small. Choose one chunk or step toward your goal if your final goal is too large.
Does everyone who reads my goal know EXACTLY what I want to do?
Does this goal challenge me to improve?
Is this goal significant in my life?
NO - I want to get a good score in the class.
YES - I want to strengthen my skills in English by increasing my score by 30% on the next assignment. I need strong skills in English to succeed in corporate finance, which is my future career goal.
M
Measurable
A goal should be something you can track and measure progress toward. You have learned this as well. How you measure your progress must be clearly stated and detailed.
How will you know that you have accomplished the steps in your goal or reached your ultimate goal?
NO - I receive my grade.
YES - I will know I have reached my goal when I receive my official grade report in May.
A
Achievable
This portion focuses on resources and obstacles. Imagine you are building a pyramid. Think about the steps you need to take to reach your goal or the bricks you will need in your pyramid to create a strong foundation and reach the pinnacle. You may encounter obstacles. Now is the time to plan, overcome obstacles and achieve your goal.
What resources do you need to achieve your goal?
How will you get these resources?
Who can help you achieve your goal or attain resources?
What obstacles might you encounter?
What resources will you need to overcome them?
NO - I will go to tutoring.
YES - To increase my English skills, I will converse with a native speaker three times each week. One of the obstacles I may encounter is finding someone who speaks English well. I will ask teachers and peers for referrals and recommendations to find a tutor to help me achieve my goal.
R
Relevant
A goal must connect to your life. You should know why this goal is important to you now and in the future. An understanding of how it will impact your life is necessary. Be realistic and set a goal that you can reasonably reach.
Why is this a goal and not a dream?
How will attaining this goal impact my future?
Is reaching this goal realistic?
NO - English will help my future.
YES - I want to become a strong English speaker to attain the highest level possible in a career in international finance. This career will involve traveling, and English is a language recognized by many and frequently used in the field of finance.
T
Timely
A goal should fall within a specific period. You must set a deadline to achieve your goal.
When will you know that you have reached your goal?
How much time do you require to reach your goal?
NO - I will sometime between 2 weeks and 3 years to achieve my goal.
YES - I will increase my English skills in the next six months. At this time, my assignment grade in the course should increase by 30%.
How to Write a SMART Goal
The videos in the next two sections will help you complete the assignment for this lesson. You must create and submit a SMART goal plan for your first assignment. The three videos on this page can help you format your SMART goal and tell you what to include in your plan.
Video: How to Write a SMART Goal
Explore growth mindset with Thinky Pinky as he takes you through how to write a SMART goal.
But it can be difficult to work through that frustration
00:14
without a clear direction.
00:16
That's why it's important to make
00:17
smart goals.
00:19
It's an acronym.
00:20
It goes like this.
00:21
Specific,
00:23
measurable,
00:24
actionable,
00:25
realistic,
00:26
timely.
00:27
Because look,
00:28
you can wish all you want
00:29
and say one day I'm gonna go to the moon.
00:31
And you can want that like your life depended on it.
00:33
But a wish
00:35
is not a goal.
00:36
An example of a moon plan
00:37
that consists of smart goals
00:39
would go something like this.
00:40
In 20 years,
00:42
I will have studied enough physics and chemistry,
00:45
flown jet planes in the Air Force,
00:46
worked out four times a week,
00:48
and gotten a job as a astronaut for NASA.
00:50
And this will enable me to fly a spacecraft
00:53
to the moon
00:54
and put my feet on it for science reasons.
00:55
Specific.
00:57
Put your feet on the moon.
00:59
Measurable.
01:00
Are your feet touching the surface of the moon?
01:03
Actionable.
01:04
It is actionable,
01:05
that is to say doable,
01:07
to study physics and chemistry,
01:08
enlist in the Air Force,
01:09
and go to the gym.
01:11
Realistic.
01:12
It's hard, but it's not impossible
01:13
to become an astronaut.
01:15
Timely, here's where more realism kicks in.
01:18
You won't be able to go to the moon
01:20
as an astronaut overnight.
01:22
20 years seems a little more reasonable.
01:24
But let's take this back to a more
01:26
sensible time scale
01:28
and look at our friend, Thinky Pinky.
01:29
Hey buddy.
01:30
TP here is interested in pull ups,
01:32
wants to be able to lift their entire mass
01:34
with just the arms, this one.
01:36
But pull ups are hard.
01:38
So let's take a look at Thinky Pinky's reflection journal.
01:40
Quote, I want to be able to do
01:44
two consecutive pull ups by the end of the year
01:46
by practicing pull ups at the gym
01:48
three times per week.
01:50
Why is this a smart goal?
01:52
S is for specific.
01:54
TP wants to work on pull ups.
01:56
And they're not interested in biking or weight training.
01:59
There's one skill that Thinky Pinky
02:01
wants to work on
02:01
and that's pull ups.
02:03
M is for measurable.
02:05
What's the metric for TP's success?
02:06
Two in a row.
02:08
Two pull ups,
02:09
one right after the other.
02:10
You've either done it or you haven't.
02:12
Measurable.
02:13
A is for actionable.
02:15
Can it be broken down into individual tasks.
02:18
Yeah.
02:19
Go into the gym three times a week to practice
02:21
feels very actionable indeed.
02:24
R is for realistic.
02:26
TP's not training to lift a car.
02:27
Just some pull ups.
02:29
T is for timely.
02:32
There's a time limit on this.
02:34
Thinky Pinky wants to do this in a year's time.
02:37
All together, that's smart goal you got there, TP.
02:39
With the power of persistence,
02:42
smart goals, and the right kind of help,
02:44
you can do anything you set your mind to.
02:47
You can learn anything.
02:49
Happy goal setting.
[Outro music]
SMART Goal Example
This final video provides an example of a SMART goal; in this case, it is learning English. Even if you are proficient in English, you can watch the video for great examples of specific vs. nonspecific and measurable vs. not measurable. Knowing the differences will help you write a SMART goal useful to you and convey your passion to others who read your goal.
Video: SMART Goals to Improve English Learning
Watch this video to see specific examples of how to create a SMART goal.
Transcript: Scroll through the text below to follow along with the video transcript as you watch:
[Theme music]
Hi, I’m Oli.
00:02
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
00:05
In this lesson, you’re going to learn about setting goals for yourself in your English
00:09
studies, and how it can help you to learn English faster.
00:14
Setting goals?
00:15
What’s that got to do with English?
00:17
Actually, it’s incredibly important.
00:20
Mistakes with goal setting are a big reason why English learners don’t reach their goals.
00:26
When we meet new students at OOE, the first thing we do is talk about goals and help students
00:34
set clear study targets.
00:37
We often hear students say things like:
00:40
“I want to be fluent in English.”
00:42
“I want to speak English like a native speaker.”
00:45
“I want to speak without making pronunciation or grammar mistakes.”
00:50
Here’s the thing: these goals are no good.
00:53
If you say things like this, you’ll create problems for yourself.
00:56
Let’s think about why that is.
00:59
Firstly, these goals are too big, and too unclear.
01:06
What does ‘fluent’ mean?
01:07
How will you know when you’re fluent in English?
01:11
Ask ten different people what ‘fluent’ means, and you’ll get ten different answers.
01:17
Because you have this goal which is huge and unclear, you don’t know where to start.
01:22
You know you want to do something, but you don’t know what.
01:26
Even if you do make some progress, you don’t feel like you’re getting closer to what
01:31
you want.
01:32
Then, you feel discouraged.
01:33
“Why can’t I learn English?”
01:35
“Why is my English still so bad?”
01:39
“Why am I spending all this time studying if my English isn’t getting better?”
01:46
At this point, many people give up.
01:48
But, it doesn’t have to be like this.
01:50
There’s a better way: SMART goal setting.
01:54
SMART is an acronym; it stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound.
02:03
To make progress in English, you need to think about your goals.
02:08
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to set SMART goals, and how this can help you to
02:12
learn English faster.
02:13
First, let’s look at SMART goals in more detail.
02:21
The ‘s’ in SMART stands for ‘specific’.
02:25
Your goals need to be specific.
02:27
“I want to speak English like a native” is not specific; “I want to be able to talk
02:35
about everyday topics without hesitating”, is better.
02:40
“I want to improve my English grammar”—not specific enough.
02:45
“I want to learn how to use past verb forms accurately” is better.
02:51
Sometimes, you might need to talk to a teacher or an expert to help you make your goals specific.
03:00
Alternatively, you might need to do some research to set specific goals.
03:05
‘M’ stands for ‘measurable’.
03:08
There needs to be a way you can check your progress.
03:11
So, here’s a better goal: “I want to be able to talk about five everyday topics for
03:17
one minute without hesitating.”
03:20
‘A’ stands for ‘achievable’.
03:23
Your goal shouldn’t be too easy, but it also shouldn’t be too hard.
03:28
If you say something like, “I want to speak perfect English,” that isn’t achievable.
03:35
That doesn’t mean you can never do it, but it’s a goal which will take years—or decades—to
03:41
reach.
03:43
You need a goal you can achieve in a relatively short time period.
03:47
So, if you have a bigger goal, like “I want to speak English fluently,” you need to
03:54
break that goal into smaller, more achievable steps, like, “I want to be able to talk
04:01
about five everyday topics for one minute without hesitating.”
04:06
Next is ‘R’, which stands for ‘relevant’.
04:10
This means that your English-learning goals need to connect with other parts of your life.
04:16
If you want to improve your pronunciation, think about why you need this.
04:23
What will it help you to do?
04:25
What will change in other areas of your life if your English pronunciation is better?
04:30
You need an answer to this, because it’s almost impossible to stay motivated if your
04:35
studies don’t make a difference in other parts of your life.
04:38
Finally, the ‘T’ stands for ‘timebound’.
04:43
This means you need a time limit on your goal.
04:47
You need to set a date where you can say, “I did this!” or “I didn’t do this…”
04:54
Hopefully, because your goals are specific, achievable and relevant, you’ll be able
05:00
to say, “I did this!” more often than not!
05:03
So, let’s add a time limit to our goal: Now you know what SMART goals are.
05:10
Let’s look at how you can set yourself SMART goals to improve different areas of your English.
05:22
Do you want to improve your English speaking?
05:24
Of course you do!
05:26
Everyone we meet wants to speak English better.
05:29
Here’s something we often hear from students:
05:32
“I want to express myself better.
05:35
I feel like I don’t have enough vocabulary when I speak English.”
05:39
Let’s make some SMART goals from this idea.
05:43
First of all, what do you want to talk about?
05:47
Everyday topics, like your home, your family, or your hobbies?
05:52
Or, do you want to talk about more abstract or poetic, like history, psychology, or love?
05:58
Choose something.
06:00
Everyone’s different, so we can’t choose a topic for you, but choose one for yourself.
06:08
Next, make your goal measurable.
06:11
Adding a time element is a good way to do this; for example:
06:17
“I want to be able to talk about Van Gogh’s life and paintings in detail for three minutes
06:26
without running out of words.”
06:29
Next, you need to ask yourself: is this achievable and relevant?
06:35
Is this realistic for you, and does it connect to other areas of your life?
06:42
Looking at our example goal—talking about Van Gogh’s life and paintings—the answers
06:46
will probably be ‘no’!
06:48
That’s because it’s an example which we gave you.
06:52
But, when you make your own goals, you should ask yourself the same questions: is it realistic,
07:00
and does it connect to other areas of your life?
07:02
If you don’t do this, you’ll waste time working towards goals which are unrealistic
07:08
or irrelevant.
07:10
This will hurt your motivation.
07:12
Finally, you need to make your goal timebound; for example:
07:16
“By the end of this month, I want to be able to talk about Van Gogh’s life and paintings
07:24
in detail for three minutes without running out of words.”
07:30
To reach your goal, you may need to set yourself additional, minor goals, such as:
07:37
“By the end of this week, I will learn the English names of ten of Van Gogh’s paintings.”
07:47
“By the end of next week, I will be able to describe ‘Sunflowers’ in detail, without
07:54
forgetting any words.”
07:57
“By tomorrow, I will have read this English article about Van Gogh’s life, and I‘ll
08:05
underline twenty words and phrases to learn.”
08:11
In this way, a big, vague goal becomes specific, and you have clear steps which you can follow
08:17
to make progress and improve.
08:20
Let’s do another example to see how you can use SMART goals to improve your English
08:25
pronunciation.
08:30
Here’s something we often hear from students:
08:33
“I want to sound more natural when I speak English.”
08:38
Let’s see how you can take this goal and make it SMART.
08:43
Especially with pronunciation and other linguistic knowledge, you might need some help to make
08:49
your goal specific.
08:50
Often, when we teach people pronunciation, they need our help because they don’t really
08:57
know where to start.
08:59
If this is your situation, then you either need help from a teacher, or you need to do
09:04
your own research.
09:07
You need to do something, because a goal like, “I want to sound more natural when I speak
09:12
English,” isn’t enough.
09:14
Let’s see how you could make this more specific:
09:17
“I want to improve my intonation and stress in English, so that I sound more natural.”
09:25
Maybe, for you, this will be different.
09:29
Maybe you need to learn more about consonant sounds, or long versus short vowels, or syllable
09:34
stress, or something else.
09:37
Whatever your goal, you still need to make it measurable.
09:41
This is more difficult with pronunciation goals, but you still need to try.
09:47
You could add something like:
09:49
“I want to study these five units from this pronunciation book on intonation and stress,
09:57
and practice with the audio until it feels easy.”
10:02
Then, you need to ask yourself if your goal is achievable and relevant, like you do with
10:09
every goal.
10:11
Finally, set a time limit:
10:13
“Within two weeks, I want to study these five units from this pronunciation book on
10:21
intonation and stress, and practice with the audio until it feels easy.”
10:27
Your time limits should always be as short as possible.
10:32
Can you see why?
10:35
You know what happens if you have a deadline far in the future?
10:39
You won’t do anything until the deadline is close.
10:44
You need to feel that you don’t have enough time, so that you start working towards your
10:49
goal sooner.
10:51
Let’s do one more example together, to see how SMART goals can help you to improve your
10:56
English grammar.
11:01
Again, let’s start with something we often hear from students:
11:06
“I want to be more accurate in English, and make fewer mistakes when I speak or write.”
11:13
What should I do first?
11:16
We hope you know the answer by now.
11:19
Hopefully, you’re thinking, “That goal needs to be more specific!”
11:24
So, you need to know: what mistakes do you make now?
11:29
And, what exactly do you want to learn to improve your grammar?
11:34
Again, maybe you need some help at this point; you might need to find a teacher to show you
11:40
where you make mistakes, and what you need to study.
11:44
Or, you can do your own research to find exactly what to focus on.
11:50
However you do it, you need to set a specific goal, like this:
11:55
“I want to understand the difference between the present perfect and the past simple.”
12:00
“I want to learn how to write complex sentences, using relative clauses, conjunctions, and
12:06
adverbials.”
12:07
“I want to make fewer mistakes with grammar I’ve known for years, like forgetting to
12:12
add ‘s’ to a verb in the 3rd person present simple.”
12:17
Next, you need to make your goals measurable.
12:22
The best way to do this is in writing.
12:24
For example, if you write something for your teacher, and your teacher shows you ten mistakes
12:31
with the present perfect and past simple, your goal could be:
12:35
“I want to write a 300-word essay with fewer than three mistakes involving the present
12:42
perfect and past simple verb tenses.”
12:45
What’s next?
12:48
You should know the answer to this question, too!
12:52
Hopefully, you remember that you need to ask yourself if your goal is achievable and relevant.
12:58
These are questions that only you can answer!
13:01
Finally, set a time limit:
13:05
“By the end of next week, I want to write a 300-word essay with fewer than three mistakes
13:11
involving the present perfect and past simple verb tenses.”
13:14
Again, you might need to set minor goals to help you reach your major goal; for example:
13:22
“Today, I will study this unit on the present perfect tense, and repeat the exercises until
13:28
I can get every answer correct.”
13:31
“Tomorrow, I’ll review the mistakes I made in the last three things I wrote, and
13:38
make the mistakes into Quizlet cards, so that I can remember them.”
13:42
This might seem like a lot of effort at the beginning, but it’s worth it.
13:47
Once you get used to setting SMART goals, it’ll become more instinctive.
13:52
The clearer your goals, the more chance you’ll have to reach them and get what you want.
13:58
If you get better at setting goals, you’ll feel a sense of progress.
14:02
This will give you motivation and confidence, which will make it easier to continue learning
14:07
and improving.
14:08
Now, we have a question for you: what’s your first SMART goal?
14:14
Share it in the comments, and tell us if you made it or not!
14:18
Remember that you can find many more of our free English lessons on our website: Oxford
14:24
Online English dot com.
14:26
Thanks for watching!
14:28
See you next time!
Outro music]
Reflection
Now that you have learned all about establishing goals and overcoming obstacles, think about how you can use this information in your daily life. As we wrote these lessons, we also had a goal in mind. We want you to learn information, skills, and strategies that will be useful to you as you move forward in life. Yes, creating a SMART goal is a requirement for this assignment. However, we hope you will also use SMART goals outside of this course to help you succeed in other areas of your life.
As you reflect on this lesson and all the ideas we have put forth, we hope you will see other areas that can benefit from applying the SMART goals plan. How can you use SMART goal plans to measure progress toward your goals?
Assignments
We use the SMART goal plan to facilitate reaching a goal in our lives. If we have a plan, we are more likely to hold ourselves accountable and get the job done. For your assignment, you will complete a SMART goal plan. Don’t forget to read the assignment prompt carefully and the grading rubric so you include all the requirements and get all your points. We hope this assignment will be useful to you after the course as you create goals for your life both in and out of the classroom.
Go to the Lesson 1 Assignment page to see the specific details of your first assignment. Lesson 1: SMART goal setting
Requirements Changed
1.3 Recognizing Obstacles and Strengths Lesson 1: Extend Your Learning