Try These Alternatives to SMART Goals to Get More Done [Video]

SMART goals are a helpful way to turn your ideas and to-dos into actionable plans, but if you work on a larger team or need to track more ambitious, long-term goals, SMART might not be the best method to turn to. Depending on your needs and workflow, other goal-tracking methods, like FAST and PACT, may be a better fit.

What are SMART goals? When should you use them?

SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. When you make them, you make sure your goal sticks to all five of those requirements, usually writing it out in a sentence like this: “By the end of the month, I will have aced three practice quizzes to prepare for my chemistry test.” It’s specific because it says what you’re going to do and why, measurable because you’re setting an amount of quizzes and expected grade on each, achievable because it can reasonably be done, relevant because it has to do with …