"Any goal without a plan is just a wish. " Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Achieving one's goals or purpose is an important process for personal fulfillment and for promoting success. To put all the chances of achieving your goals on your side, I recommend the SMART approach

This approach is simple and straightforward. SMART will help you define your goals so S pecific, M easurable, A tteignable, R ealistic, and within T reasonable ime.

Here's how to proceed:

Specific  :

A specific goal is more likely to be achieved than a goal too general. To set a specific goal, it is better to answer the following six questions;

• Who? or With whom?
• What? What do I want to accomplish?
• Or? Where?
• When? Give yourself a deadline for success.
• How? Identify requirements and constraints.
• Why? Identify the reasons and benefits for which you want to accomplish this task.

For example, "I would like to earn a bigger salary" versus "I would like to increase my salary earnings by $ 1000 a month by the end of the next year. Would be the difference between a goal too general and a specific goal. Do not forget to present your justifications to this salary increase and what you will accomplish to deserve it.

Measurable  :

A measurable goal will allow you to track your progress and make your success more concrete. In fact, having a measurable goal will allow you to answer the question "How much? ". For example, it is difficult to measure the success of a goal such as: "to be happier. On the other hand, if you have defined what would make you happier, such as "going on a romantic outing once a week", you will have concrete evidence of your success.

This refinement of your goal will help you determine exactly what you want. Defining how your goals can manifest concretely will make the task of accomplishment clearer and easier to achieve.

Attainable  :

After clarifying your goals, you can begin to analyze how to accomplish them. You will develop skills, physical, psychological, and financial, which will allow you to reach higher levels. On the other hand, your objectives must remain achievable at the level of the constraints - physical, monetary, and temporal costs - and the efforts that you will put there. You will also need to consider how this goal will impact other obligations and priorities in your life. To determine if your goal is achievable, you will need to consider the actions you will need to take to succeed. Sometimes, even if your goal seems impossible to achieve, have the right tools, anything is possible. You have to stay positive and go for it!

Realistic  :

Your goal must also be realistic. It is not enough to take only accessible means to reach your goal, you must also be willing and able to reach it. Understand, however, that a realistic goal does not exclude a high-level goal. Your goal can be both realistic and difficult to accomplish, but if you have the will to do anything, everything is possible. Be sure that your goal will represent significant progress. It is sometimes easier to reach more difficult goals because they require more motivation and passion. Do not be afraid to climb the difficulty bar!

Reasonable time  :

Finally, make a schedule with your action plan. Make a deadline to motivate your start. Be careful not to impose a time too short or too long. This could discourage you. Take your past successes as a comparison to set your deadline. "Soon" or "One day" are not specific enough to motivate you to action. "I start my training on August ^1st " would be a good first step towards your commitment to physical activity, if you have not done so already. Write it on your agenda! You will make an appointment that you will not miss.

In summary :

Let's practice together the SMART drawing of our goals to establish the skills we've learned today. Let's say our goal would be to run a 5 kilometer.

So, we must formulate our goal in a specific way  : I would like to run the 5 kilometer race that will take place on October 8, 2016 during the Altius-Classique Verdunoise Challenge. This will allow me to adapt and consolidate my healthy lifestyle in everyday life.

Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Reasonable  :

To reach my goal, I will have to train three days a week in the race by increasing my running distance by 500 meters a week. My training will take me 10 weeks to complete and I will have to start on August ^1st to reach my goal of October 8th. I will have to choose my training time properly in order to meet my other obligations.

What does this work consist of?

This work consists of:

- to identify the different possible orientations to reach the objectives fixed (eg a quantity of turnover, a market share to be conquered, ...), 
- then to make choices.

It is in the context of strategy development that market research is important:

• A well-done market study will quickly reveal concrete and irrefutable elements of the answer to the merits of the strategy.
• On the other hand, an incomplete and sloppy market study will make any decision making difficult and uncertain. You will therefore function more instinctively. Your decision will be made without real knowledge of the market and with a risk of being wrong.

Once the priority choices have been made and the strategy developed, the strategy can be broken down into product, price, distribution and communication policies. The marketing mix is ​​indeed the operational continuity of the strategy.

What is a "business strategy"?

Literally, it is all the means that will mobilize a company to achieve the goals it has set.

• Choose the best way to reach the set goals ...

A strategy is not defined in the absolute. You must take into account different endogenous and exogenous variables such as: 
- the project environment, 
- the objectives set, 
- the means available. 
The strategy will only be economically viable if it takes into account all of these parameters.

It represents the central element of the project because it will guide the choices of actions and investments of the entrepreneur. Remember, however, that this strategy will be corrected later. It does not freeze the company in its environment. 
Whatever happens, the entrepreneur will necessarily notice a discrepancy between his theoretical strategy and the reality of the field.

• ... without being perceived as an aggressor by his competitors ...

The goal of any entrepreneur is to achieve sales and gain market share to its competition. However, it is important to remember that the competition knows the market and has greater means of action and reaction than the new company.

Thus, new entrants are rarely advised to attack their competitors head-on. A new business is usually fragile. Commercial aggression is not recommended for companies that do not have a financial base that is large enough to cope with competitive responses. 
This will be the case, for example, if a new company wishes to rapidly gain market share by breaking prices without taking into account: 
- neither the reaction capacity of its competitors, 
- nor its own financial capacity.

• ... by guaranteeing a sustainable development of the company.

You must ask yourself what you want to do with your project in the future. 
Many people imagine their business as it will be tomorrow without realizing the road that will be necessary to travel to get there, and without estimating the obstacles to overcome.

The project must therefore be considered in the long term and that is why the strategy is essential.

When and how should you define your strategy?

• When?

After having :

- clearly identified the interest of the project and the opportunity of the market, 
- elaborated its assumptions of CA. 
It is at this stage that we enter the active phase of developing the strategy.

• How?

Through two fundamental axes:

- the choice of targets (who are we going to address?), 
- and the choice of a positioning (how do we want to be perceived by its target and its competitors?).

The advice of AFE

Desecrate this step: d e many project managers do not feel competent enough or wrongly complicate the development of a strategy. As we mentioned earlier, strategy is only the general axis given to the company to achieve its objectives. 
Thus, the more serious and precise the market study, the more logical the strategy will be.

Use common sense: the has market knowledge is essential to the success of the project, but the project developer talent is equally important. Market research is only a decision-making tool, the development of a strategy depends to a great extent on the vision and the personality of the project leader.

Go to the basics and simplify to the maximum decision making: é avoid up to intellectualize the strategy. It is necessary to be as operational as possible, to stick to the ground.

Thinking his company and its long-term strategy: e prevent up to have a short-term approach. It is important to set a common thread and project the business in the future.

Do not hesitate to be assisted in this step: get closer to professionals of the company to get an outside opinion. The advice of knowledgeable people can sometimes unblock reflections or situations.