Category: Blog

What are SMART Goals?

Posted on by Lucy Gage

Do you know what SMART Goals are?

A year ago, I don’t think I’d ever heard the term SMART Goals. I’m sure the concept has been around for a long time, but I’m guessing I wasn’t in the right mindset to come across this perspective on goal-setting. So, if you’re here because you were Googling SMART Goals and wanted to know what they are, hopefully, I can give you a little insight. In this blog post, I’ll talk about what we mean by SMART Goals (no, they’re not the ones that make you brilliant, and if you don’t have SMART goals, that doesn’t make you stupid. Though, it might mean you’re frustrated.) But in the next few posts this month, I’ll discuss specific places where I encountered SMART Goals and how that impacted me in a positive way. Let’s make this FYI short and sweet, shall we?

If my goals aren’t smart, what are they?

SMART goals aren’t a judgment. I swear. It’s actually an acronym, and depending on where you encounter it, you might see variations on the theme. But the gist of it is that each letter stands for a term to describe your goal in a tangible way.

SMART Goals

S – SPECIFIC – your goal should have a clear definition and include some “specifics” that tell you (and anyone else) what exactly your aim is.
M – MEASURABLE – okay, so this one is tougher sometimes, but you should be able to determine if you’ve met a goal, right? And if you can somehow “measure” that success, then you will know without a doubt if you’ve achieved the goal.
A – ATTAINABLE – let’s be honest with ourselves and admit that we sometimes set lofty aspirations. Let’s be even more real and acknowledge that our dreams would be less daunting if they didn’t seem so out there. This one is about making steps in the process that don’t feel impossible so that you’ll experience that high of success more likely than not.
R – RELEVANT – what’s the point of a goal if it leads to nothing? Well, sure, there are some fun things you can plan, but do you call those goals? Eh, maybe you do. Anyway, the idea here is that you want to be making small steps toward a larger picture. Take tiny bites of your dream, and it won’t be so hard to digest all the effort it takes to achieve it. One day, you’ll look back and say, “Wow! I can’t believe I did THAT!” And if you work toward it piece by piece, bit by bit, then you’re far more likely to reach your ultimate goal. You want your mini-goals in between to be leading toward the bigger one.

T – TIME – whatever the term used here, it’s always about setting a timeline around WHEN you’ll meet the parameters of the goal you’ve set. It’s all well and good to toss your hat in the ring with the plan that “someday,” you’ll “make it.” Whatever that means. But if you give yourself stepping stones, the path is clearer and less scary. Tell yourself you plan to do something by a certain time, and you’ll push harder to make the deadline. Give yourself eons to accomplish the smallest task, and you may never begin the process.

I’m SMART. Now, what?

I thought I’d share with you one of my own SMART goals to illustrate what I mean. I will write a weekly blog post to coincide with a monthly theme. (SPECIFIC) These blog posts will publish on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of the month. (MEASURABLE) After three months, I will assess my success and adjust my expectations accordingly. (TIME, ATTAINABLE) I will generate content for my newsletter, increase engagement on my website, and expand my reach. This can grow my audience and is part of an overall author marketing strategy. (RELEVANT)

As you can see, it’s not as complicated as it might initially appear. The more concise your goal, the greater your chances of making progress toward it. If you’re unsure whether you’re meeting the criteria, ask yourself in your best Charlie Brown’s Teacher voice, “Can you be more specific?” If you can keep whittling the goal, it might mean that you need to chop it into smaller chunks. But you should be able to assign each piece with details. If you can’t give specifics, it’s probably too vague. If you can break it down a lot more, then maybe it’s too complex for a single goal. There’s a lot of science and psychology that goes into all this, and I’m interested in talking more about the places in my life where I’m using this strategy, but for now, I hope my example helped you understand a little more about what a SMART Goal is.

Coming up next…

In case you didn’t read between the lines of my example, I’m excited to bring to you a new blog series called Lucy Gets Real. This first theme, which feels timely for January, is about these SMART Goals and how they (and some related philosophies) have transformed my life over the past year. I’m eager to finally make this blog into what I wanted it to be – a place to talk about things that are on my mind (without being swamped by the algorithms of social media platforms). The intent is to generate four blog posts per month, and I picked multiples of 7 because it’s my favorite number. I’ll be touching on healthy living, marketing, and author career aspirations in the coming weeks. Look for those posts!

In the works is a podcast – yep! – I’ll be doing with my daughter via my YouTube Channel. We’re aiming for two each month, with topics that coordinate with the blog posts, and those will premiere on the 14th and 28th of each month. I’ll send my monthly newsletter on the 7th, and then we’re talking about an Instagram-related happening on the 21st of each month. All of these have been formulated as SMART Goals, and just like the blog post plans, they’ll be examined after the first quarter to decide if they met all the criteria. And if not? Well, the smartest thing about SMART Goals is that you can always learn from them, which means you never really fail. That’s true of everything, but it sure makes me feel brilliant when I’ve turned “failure” into an “opportunity to learn what NOT to do.” And with SMART Goals, I’m far more likely to succeed. I hope you can find that same benefit in setting SMART Goals. Thanks for reading! See in the next post! (I know – the post is dated 1/8, but it’s still January 7th on the west coast of the US!)

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Homeschooling, Take 2

Posted on by Lucy Gage

Homeschooling Schedule 2020

A change of focus during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Many parents out there are experiencing homeschooling for the first time, but I’m not one of them. For me, this is a second go-round. Not the pandemic part—I’ve never done this before. But I did homeschool my kiddo when he was in first grade, so I have been in this spot.

“Wait,” you’re thinking. “If you did this before, it was because you chose to homeschool. It’s not the same! We’re all floundering!” You’d be wrong. Let me give a little background.

Four years ago, I homeschooled my son because…well, it’s a long story. It wasn’t planned over the previous school year or a summer. It happened abruptly and without any solid idea of what to do. At the time, my heart knew the decision made sense, but my brain questioned daily whether I’d bungled his academic career and worse.

I didn’t. In fact, since then, he has only flourished, and we both know his time homeschooling played a big part in that. But I honestly think that the most important component wasn’t what I taught him. It was that I stepped up when he needed me and did what it took, even though it wasn’t my dream to do so. Unlike my amazing sister, who always knew she wanted to be a teacher, I felt the opposite. Nonetheless, when required to wear that hat for my kid, I pulled it over my ears, yanked up my bootstraps, and said, “Let’s do this.” I’m a Gen-Xer, after all.

Flying by the seat of our (homeschool) pants

Now that you know the crux of it, you’re probably thinking that I might know how you feel, and I do. This wasn’t your choice; it was thrust upon you by an invisible enemy forcing us all to change how we live our lives, even if most of this is temporary. We’re all doing this by the seat of our pants—most teachers included.

You know what? That’s okay. Teachers are trained for this. No, not this pandemic, though, they will certainly learn much from the experience just as they have with any situation that dramatically impacts their jobs. But they’re trained to plan far in advance, to prepare for the inevitable substitute teacher who needs to impart their lesson.

And that’s who you are: You are the sub. That’s right, parents, if you think of yourself as the teacher in the way that the regular homeschooling parents do, then you’ll pile on the stress. I know. I’ve been there, too. But I’ve also been subbing for the past year, and one thing I can say for certain is that YOU. ARE. THE. SUB. If you can be a SuperSub, teach new stuff, make it fun—awesome. If you can only do the same as you’d do when helping with homework, that’s okay, too.

DO. NOT. STRESS. You’ve got this. We’re all in the boat together, so reach out and ask those of us who’ve done this before, ask the teachers, pray, meditate, exercise, whatever it takes, but just be the best parent you can through this, okay? Enjoy your kids if you can, read to them and with them, cook with them, play with them, take time to love each other. The rest will sort itself eventually.

My homeschool strategy for this new reality

In the meantime, I’ll share with you my strategy for homeschooling over the next five weeks (or more…we’re closed until April 27th or longer). My kids are in 5th and 7th grade, and we’re mimicking the flow of their usual schedules. We’ve limited their duration to a max of 30 minutes for each subject and built in 20 minutes of reading on their own, but they’re bookworms. If your kid is younger, shorten the time—20 minutes total starting in Pre-K, adding twenty minutes for each successive grade level. Our middle school principal suggested no more than 2 hours total for their grades. Build in breaks—they get those at school, too, and younger kids need more of them.

And most importantly of all, don’t worry about being a Dolores Umbridge, stickler for the rules. Go with the flow as much as you can. You’ll all be happier for it. Good luck. I’m pulling for you.

 

For the latest information about the COVID-19 Pandemic, please visit the US CDC’s website.