Image by Lehn­ert et Handrock

Set­ting goals is con­sid­ered an impor­tant part of B.E.S.T. slave train­ing. A Mas­ter sets behav­ioral and other types of goals as part of the slave’s training.

It may be help­ful for a Mas­ter to be aware of what are con­sid­ered the ele­ments of goal set­ting. Below are dis­cussed two the­o­ries of these elements.

1) The five com­monly accepted char­ac­ter­is­tics of effec­tive goal set­ting are spe­cific, chal­leng­ing, mea­sur­able, time-bound and pri­or­i­tized. Spe­cific and chal­leng­ing goals serve to cue and focus the slave on exactly what is to be accom­plished and arouse peak per­for­mance. Mea­sur­able (quan­ti­ta­tive) goals are use­ful for feed­back about goal progress. Time lines enhance mea­sur­a­bil­ity and increase performance.

2) Singer-Harris, a retail orga­ni­za­tion, devel­oped the acronym SMART for an effec­tive approach for set­ting goals:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attain­able — It goes with­out say­ing the goals must be attain­able in order for the per­son to be moti­vated to reach them

R = Real­is­tic — The goals must have value

T = Time-bound Aware­ness of the ele­ments in effec­tive goal set­ting are use­ful in your train­ing program.