In yesterday's PhotoPoll, we explored our different photography goals. I stated that mine included improving the quality of my Steemit photography blog and finishing my “Domestic Bliss” photo series. After further reflection, however, I realized that these are not goals. These are simply wishes and that made me consider the importance of creating REAL goals and keeping them, especially on a creative platform like Steemit.
Goals vs. Wishes
Goals are defined on the Merriam-Webster website as “something that you are trying to do or achieve.”
A wish is defined as “wanting something to be true and/or happen.”
They both deal with desire. But what is the main difference between these two concepts? It all has to do with intention vs. action. Goals require action.
My ‘goals’ are, in fact, wishes so in order to tweak them appropriately we must review how to create SMART goals for a photography blog. For the purpose of an example, I will only use my first wish - "improve the quality of my Steemit photography blog."
SMART Goals
SMART is an acronym that stands for the following attributes: Specific, Measurable, Agreed Upon (or Attainable), Realistic, and Timely
Specific: goals must be well defined and clearly understandable.
My goal to ‘improve’ my Steemit blog can hardly be described as specific. I have to ask myself what I mean by improvement. What makes one blog ‘better’ than another?
Well, personal improvement is much more important that comparison against someone else… so I choose to make my goal improvement based on my own Steemit stats.
Measurable: there must be a point of recognition when a goal is complete.
Basically, when will I know that I have achieved my goals? By creating measurable results.
- I will increase my reputation from 58 to 60.
- I will increase my followers from 84 to 100.
- I will increase my steem power from approx. 461 to 500.
Agreed Upon (or Attainable): stakeholders must agree on a common goal.
However, since these goals are personal and do not require the approval of others, I chose to change the “A” to Attainable. Are my goals possible?
Increasing my reputation certainly is possible. I started like other Steemians at 25 and worked my way up to 58. Increasing my followers is also possible, as seen by my continuing improvement, but this goal is based on the actions of others. All I can do to hopefully achieve this goal is to continue posting relevant and valuable articles. Increasing my steem power is also attainable as long as I continue to be an active blogger.
Realistic: goals must be within the availability of time, resources, and knowledge.
Realistic goes hand in hand with attainable. I have to ask myself if I believe my goals can be achieved or not with my own power and effort. The answer? Yes, I truly believe these goals are realistic and possible.
Timely: goals must have enough time for completion yet not too much time to affect project performance.
I have been active on Steemit for 3 weeks as of today. So I can break my stats into weekly figures by dividing by 3.
58-25 = 33/3 = +11; my reputation has risen by approx. 11 points each week. However, I must keep in mind that this rate will slow down, as gaining a higher and higher reputation requires more and more effort.
84/3 = 28; my followers have increased by approx. 28 people each week. As I gain popularity and recognition, I hope to maintain a similar amount of increase.
461/3 = 153.67; my steem power has increased by approx. 153.67 each week. Again, I hope to maintain a similar amount of increase as I (hopefully) gain reputation and followers.
According to these figures, I think it would be reasonable to make a loose deadline around my one-month mark (October 5, 2016). I feel confident that I will be able to achieve my goal of steem power and followers by this point. My reputation will probably take longer so I would be happy with 59 at that point.
New Goals
The great thing about creating SMART goals instead of wishes is that you can continue to create new goals as you achieve old ones. So what are my goals after this improvement? Well, to continue increasing my reputation, followers, and steem power of course!
So what are your SMART goals? Have you created any or are you simply wishing for greener grass?
Information Sources
https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php
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