how to set goals and stick to them

This blog was written in collaboration with Chloe Hill - a recently graduated 1st Class Hons English student at Royal Holloway, the lifestyle editor of Orbital Magazine & freelance online fashion writer for Debut Magazine.

As a creative in the fashion industry, I expect your mind is constantly brimming with innovative ideas.

When it comes to putting your future vision into practice, it can be difficult to filter through all of your thoughts in order to reach the most viable route of achieving your goals. Here’s where SMART goals come into play. SMART goals serve to break down your aims into smaller and more calculative steps, which simultaneously instils into your mind precisely how, why and when you intend to achieve each goal.

The SMART acronym can be broken down as follows:

S       – SPECIFIC. What exactly do you want to accomplish?

M     – MEASURED. How will you know when your goal is met?

A       – ATTAINABLE. What steps can be taken to reach your goal?

R       – RELEVANT. How will meeting this goal help you?

T       – TIME. How long will it take you to reach your goal?

What’s key about SMART goals is the way that they have been invented with purpose attached to them. Rather than being viewed as a mere New Year’s Resolution that can be shrugged off and pushed back to the following year, SMART goals demand to be listened to and taken action for.

Sure, abandon your standard resolutions or goals, but never your SMART goals.

Here’s an example of how you could transform a broad goal into a SMART goal:

BROAD GOAL: I want to connect with more influencers.

Break down into SMART:

S I want to develop relationships with at least two fashion-orientated influencers.

M In doing so, I will increase my overall sales.

A I will reach out to the influencers who I feel will represent my product in the best way.

R As a result, sales will be up and brand recognition will be significantly improved. Simultaneously, I will have built invaluable relationships in the industry.

T I will achieve this goal within a six-month timeframe.

Then translate into a snappier and more memorable smart goal (write it down and pin it somewhere you can see every day to remind yourself):

SMART GOAL:

I will build relationships with at least two influencers in the fashion industry within the next six months, which will increase sales, encourage brand recognition and develop valuable connections in the industry, which I can put to good use in my future releases.

Setting your goals is simple. Take some time to reflect on your past, whilst closely considering how you envision your future. A combination of the two will enable you to choose what your most important goals will be, and allow them to guide you to success.

The difficult part for most of us however is sticking to your goals, which can become increasingly tedious over time. If or when you reach the overwhelming stage of weakness, take some time to remind yourself of why you need to move past it.

It may be useful to answer the following questions, and even write them down to refresh your creativity:

*  Why are your goals important to you?

*  How will it make you feel once you have ticked it off?

*  How will that motivate you to move on to the next one?

*  What can I do today to make tomorrow easier?

*  What should my first step be towards achieving my goal?

When the day comes that you can finally tick the goal off, you will become your most liberated self – and don’t forget to reward yourself before moving on to achieving the next one!

If you have any further questions or wish to discuss SMART goals further, feel free to get in touch via email at hi@elizabethstiles.co.uk.