You’ve been thinking about setting smarter goals for your business in the new year.

You’re already familiar with the SMART goal framework. You set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

But for some odd reason your goals don’t excite you. You may even find you’re not taking action on tasks related to your goals.

If this is the case for you, you may just need to adjust your viewpoint. That’s where a smarter goal comes in.

Adding a contextual aspect to your goals can help inspire and motivate you to breathe life into an old goal or simply change your work approach.

Follow the below tips to spice up and add some flair to your goals. And by all means, feel free to edit, modify, and change items as you see fit.

Make sure your goal is specific

Your goals must be specific in order for you to accomplish them.

Saying you want to increase revenue in your business is a good start, but stating you want to increase your total number of customers in order to increase revenue is better.

Make it smarter:

What about your goal is uniquely specific to you, your business, and your current circumstances?

Rest assured, this isn’t meant to be judgmental, but rather an educational exercise for you to place your new goals in context within your business’ past, present, and future.

Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Think about the past few years in your business. Next, switch things up and think about where you want to be in your business in a few years’ time.

How will your goal act as stepping stone for you and your business? How will working on this goal change your attitude and approach? How will it influence how you show up to work everyday?

Your goal is no longer a solitary goal, but part of your bigger business plans. This may very well be the inspiration you need to show you how your goal will help you successfully move into the future.

Make sure your goal is measurable

Your goal must be a quantifiable amount so you can track your progress during the year.

Stating “Get more new customers by the end of the year” is vague, while “Gain 20,000 new customers by the end of the year” has a specific unit of measurement to it.

Make it smarter:

It’s common to think of quantifiable amounts as units sold, dollars made, or numbers of clients. But why not add an inspirational quality of measurement to your goal?

What’s something you’d like to improve upon in your overall business operations? Satisfied return customers? Glowing testimonials from first-time customers? Top-notch referrals from anchor clients?

Think about measuring these items quantifiably in surveys, polls, questionnaires, or exit interviews. How many satisfied customers do you want? How many top-notch referrals would you like? It’s certainly worth considering.

Make sure your goal is actionable

You must be able to physically work towards your goal. Typically, actionable goals are comprised of small tasks that can be completed throughout the year.

If you want to increase communication and teamwork in your business, “Hold weekly team meetings on Mondays” would be a more suitable choice than, “Talk with my team.”

Make it smarter:

What’s the smallest action you can take every single day to help you reach your goal?

Think about ways you can chunk down larger goals into smaller daily tasks. This is the first step tackling larger issues and concerns.

Taking small actions daily quickly compounds over time. For instance, every day you could write down an issue you’ve personally observed or record concerns voiced by team members. These notations could then serve as the basis of your weekly team meetings.

Make sure your goal is realistic

Your goal should follow the universal laws of physics, time, and space. You must be physically capable of working towards your goal.

Single-handedly addressing, packaging, and mailing out 1,000 samples in one day is foolhardy. That same task is more realistic for a team of 20 people.

Make it smarter:

If the thought of making a goal more “real” makes you yawn with boredom, how about adding a tangible aspect to your work? Consider including a physical, visible, or hands-on trigger to help show progress is being made.

Can you mark up a chart, strike out days on a calendar, drop marbles into a container, make notes in a notebook, or simply state aloud that you’ve finished a timely task?

It’s worth trying this approach in your work as it adds a new dimension to your daily accomplishments.

Make sure your goal is time-bound

Lastly, you need a goal that has a set time limit or deadline. If you don’t set an end date for your goal, it will just continue into the future.

It needs some sort of container so you can stay motivated, focused, and devote your time and energy to it.

Make it smarter:

You’ve most likely set a date-based deadline for your goal. But what about a deadline time?

In most goals, it’s assumed the goal will be reached the end of the day around midnight. Why not set a deadline time for yourself when you’ll actually be awake?

Set your goal for sometime earlier in the say, say 10AM, 12PM, or 3PM.

What’s more, you can place the deadline on your calendar as a live event you can actually look forward to, count down, and celebrate.

Schedule Important Dates into Your Calendar

Calendar organization is crucial if you want to be on time and get your work done in a timely manner in your business.

My printable calendar system can help you track important dates, events, and activities throughout the year.

If you want to manage your professional and personal schedule throughout the year so you can be productive in your business, then you should check out my time management coaching services.

How about you? Which of these smarter actions will you take for your goals? Join the conversation and leave a comment below?

This article previously appeared on Inc.com.