Core guidelines for formulating effective objectives – the SMART technique in practice
Lena Bauer
2026-05-19
3 min. read
Core guidelines for formulating effective objectives – the SMART technique in practice
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Numerous individuals aspire to transform their lives, physical appearance, or the environments in which they operate. Psychological experts emphasize the significance of constructing detailed mental images—envisioning oneself as a person with a healthy physique, abundant energy, and a deep sense of life satisfaction. Research indicates that this visualization strategy substantially enhances intrinsic motivation, thereby facilitating the implementation of intended changes and the sustainability of long-term outcomes.
The most important thing is the plan
Usually we get discouraged, and here our faith and hope for better and more beautiful things collapses. Then it can help us to simply plan our goals. Psychologists think that our goal should be SMART. What's behind it? SMART is a planning system that's not just designed to get a tangible image, it's been proven for years in both marketing, advertising and behavioral change. I first encountered this way of defining a goal at the end of last year when I was planning an advertising campaign for a company. Despite the years that have passed, SMART still enjoys extraordinary popularity, proportional to the effectiveness of such a plan.
The SMART plan
However, in order for it to be not so easy, we need to specify the exact date and the start date of our activities so that we can start the fight for a more beautiful body shape from today (start date is August 6, 2015), and by September 6, 2015, I'd like to think about losing 4 kg. However, due to the reality of the goal, we're going to lose 4 kg within the next month. But we can also assume that we've lost 4 kg in a week, but we can only assume that our body weight is going to be less active in the next week, so we can assume that the weight loss strategies we want to follow are the same as the weight reduction strategies that we want, and if we don't want to lose weight in the third trimester, we will be able to achieve the same weight loss goals that we already have.