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Success, lies in the art of setting goals !

Updated: Oct 26, 2021



The market is swamped with project management softwares and replete with workshops on planning. They will certainly help you manage a project.


However, what do you need to learn to succeed ?

Eduplan Solutions is all about providing the software which will take you through the process of SMART CORE plans.


Goal theories have been supported by research for a long time (Locke,1980; Schneiderman, 1988; Schunk,1990; Larrick and Wu, 1999; Locke & Latham, 2002; Locke, 2006; Murphy, 2014; Ottingher, 2014, etc. ). And, theories of Goal Setting were developed by Frederick Taylor in the 1900 and were labeled in 1954 by Peter Drucker. And yet, some of us still struggle at setting clear, realistic, measurable and observable goals! It seems that it remains difficult to grasp the pure meaning of a goal, difficult to differentiate between the goal and the means to reach the goal, difficult to acknowledge and commit ourselves towards reaching that goal, and finally, difficult to systematically apply the different means to reach our goals. As a consequence, it prolongs our adventure to getting where we want to be! As Elrod (2016) said "now matters more than any other time in your life because it's what you are doing today that is determining who you're becoming!"



A good and SMART plan or project begins with setting goals. The goal is the endpoint, the end toward which effort is directed. The goal has the ability to:

  • Direct attention

  • Direct action

  • Determine the intensity of the action

  • Determine the duration of the action

  • Drive motivation

  • Drive discipline

  • Give meaning

  • Increase task persistence

  • Mobilize effort

  • Mobilize energy

  • Motivate the development of new strategies

  • Provide a reference point

  • "Sustain the mission when the going gets incredibly difficult!" (Landers, Blue Corona)


How does one reach their goals ?

Target is another word for aim; it's all about what you want, need and have to accomplish first. However, your aim must be specific, measurable and observable! It is very common to hear people talk about SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time based) goals. And they could certainly explain what SMART goals are. However in practice these goals are low on SMART!

One of the reasons they are seldom SMART, is because we spend too much time focusing on what are SMART goals instead of focusing on how to make SMART goals.

So how do we target and formulate a specific, measurable and observable goal? Myara (2016) provides the following principles and rules :


1. Principles for selecting pertinent and realistic goals : JUSTIFIED goals

  • Join the goals to the needs

  • Unite the goals to the purpose or the end goal

  • Set realistic goals; within your proximal zone of development (must be challenging)

  • Tie the goals to the PLOPs (present level of performance)

  • Identify functional goals

  • Fix the goals in a specific order

  • Identifier les objectifs transférables

  • Evade from converting needs into goals

  • Discriminate between goals that include the task from those that consist of carrying out the task

2. Rules to formulate a measurable and observable goal : AOC (C)

  • Action : Specify the action that you will be doing

  • Object: Specify the object related to the action

  • Criteria : Set a criterion or a benchmark that can be used as a way to judge

  • Conditions : If needed, provide the condition upon which the carrying out of an action depends

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