SMART Goals for Dancers

Setting goals is one of the best tools dancers can use to stay motivated and track their progress. But setting the right goals is even more important. If you set yourself up with unachievable or untrackable goals you might end up more discouraged than before. 

Today, we’ll go over the basic concept of SMART goals so you can start making goals and making progress in your dancing!

SMART is an acronym for:

S- Specific 

M- Measurable

A- Achievable

R- Relevant 

T- Time Bound

Let’s break it down!

S- Specific

I’d say most dancers have the goal of “get better at dancing.” It seems like a good goal to have, because we all want to get better. But how exactly do we “get better at dancing.” One of the most important ways to make sure you achieve your goal, is having a plan to work towards your goal. So, break down your goals! If you can break your goals into a “smaller” section, DO IT. 

I’ll give an example. If your goal is to “get better at dancing.” Think about what skill or area of your dancing you would like to improve. Maybe you want to “have higher kicks”. Break it down again, to get high kicks you need to be more flexible, to get more flexible you have to stretch more consistently. This would lead you to the goal, “Stretch every day.” 

This is a much better goal, as it is specific

M- Measurable

The next tip to making better goals is making a goal that is measurable. By making it measurable, we mean make it so you can see your progress. No one wants a goal that goes on forever with no end in sight. We want to see and celebrate the progress. 

“Stretching everyday” is a measurable goal because you can measure how many days you have been accomplishing your goal. 

Another way to measure a goal, instead of time, is by your physical progress. If you want to get your splits, take progress photos to keep track as you get closer and closer. If you want higher kicks, video you kicks once a week to see your improvement. And when you do get your splits, celebrate!

A- Achievable

When I start thinking of all the things I want to do and all the goals I have, I sometimes over do it. But nothing feels worse than setting a big goal that you really want and then feeling like it will never happen. 

See this article about Dreams Vs. Goals to learn how to break down your biggest dreams into bite sized goals. 

But while you are setting goals it’s important to make sure they are achievable. I would love to set the goal of going to pilates everyday, but pilates classes near me are almost $50 a class. That would be way too expensive for me! So maybe my goal is one class a week or doing an online pilates class everyday. If your goal is to get 6 pirouettes, but you are still working on a double pirouette, maybe focus on getting your double then your triple. It’s better to have smaller checkpoints along your journey, then there is more to celebrate!

R- Recipe 

In the more commonly used SMART acronym the R stands for Relevant. And while that is good as well, I prefer R to mean RECIPE. 

When you are setting goals for yourself, the most important thing is for you to work on that goal. You will never get your splits if you just set the goal or hope to get your splits. 

So when you are setting goals, make sure that you brainstorm HOW you will achieve this goal. This is how you make a recipe for your goal. 

Goal: Get my splits by the end of the year

Recipe:

•  Stretch for 15 minutes every day, before bed

• Pay attention when we stretch in dance class

• Create a stretching routine, by researching the best way to gain flexibility

*The more specific your recipe the better!

T- Timely

If you had to finish a whole video game before you got to a checkpoint, that would be miserable. It’s fun to celebrate and feel good when you finally beat that challenging level. 

If you had to find your way out of a fairy tale forest, with a bread crumb tail… that only had one bread crumb… That would be really hard. But if there was a bread crumb every few feet, it would be much easier. 

Pick a time frame for your goal. I am going to stretch every day for a month. I will get my splits this year. 

And as I have written a couple times, don’t forget to Celebrate when you accomplish a goal, no matter how small, you are going in the right direction!