How To Set S.MA.R.T. Goals This Year
Okay, so you’re feeling inspired with the new year, the peer pressure for making New Year’s Resolutions is breathing down your neck, or you just want to finally reach that goal you keep talking about. How are you going to make that happen? As high as 92% of people making New Year’s Resolutions don’t keep them. What can you do differently this year to make sure you succeed?
One big thing you can do this year is to write down your goals, that makes them much more likely to happen. Perhaps the mere resistance we may have toward putting our goals in writing is a flag to remind us of how powerful writing is. I fought that for years (and still do sometimes). But like signing up for college classes so that we actually graduate as opposed to just talking about it, writing it down, contracting, committing is what can make the difference. Our brain remembers and categorizes it as a contract to get done.
The second thing you can do is to make SMART goals. These are well thought out goals that give you more traction to accomplish them. They move you to make goals that will help you recognize where you are achieving, what you want to really achieve (not just say you do) and recognize when you are making progress/achieved your goal.
To get started on what areas you really want to set goals, and eliminate drowning yourself in too many goals, see the earlier post to help you pick out goals. You also need a powerful “WHY” to keep you going, discussed in the earlier post. Click Here for New Year’s Pre-Resolutions.
Now that you know what areas of your life you want to work on and what goals you want to achieve, let’s empower those goals. For each goal you make, take the few minutes to make it a SMART goal. This is the real traction of the goal. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed.
This acronym is being used by many people to set goals which help them be more successful in reaching their dreams. Now it’s your turn to join in. Just fill in the blanks on the free form which you can download and print. The links are below for both forms.
Now for the “How To” on making SMART Goals:
Specific What do you really want to achieve – No: I want to get healthy, Yes: I want to start exercising using weights. How will you recognize your achievement if you don’t identify it?
Measurable I will lift weights 3 times a week or lose 10 pounds or read 12 books this year.
Achievable Stretch yourself to reach your goal, that makes it interesting and desirable. But not beyond any way achievable. For example, I am 5′ 2″ so it is not achievable for me to play in the professional women’s basketball league. However, I could train for a 5K or even a marathon. Stretch big, just not delirious. Make it exciting.
Relevant It has to be relevant to you. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean it is a good goal for you. I have the ability to do accounting, could go to school to become CPA. However, I don’t like to do it, so why would I put the time and energy into it. Just because someone else thinks it’s a great goal, doesn’t make it a great goal for you.
Timed If there is no deadline – it won’t get done. And we won’t take the pride in it. We probably wouldn’t even recognize or remember it was achieved if we didn’t have a time frame to remind us. Think of going to college without a date in mind to graduate – what would propel you to take the tough courses?
It also helps break goals down into bite-sized, achievable goals. Example: if I want to write a book, I may set a deadline of finishing the first draft in 6 months. But if I don’t set a deadline, or even if I just say I will write it in a year, it is unlikely to get done. Set a deadline, and break it down into steps if you can.
So now you are ready to get started. There is currently some discussion over whether telling others about your goals really works. Some research is showing that you may get enough satisfaction out of talking about it, that you never follow through. There is some value in accountability with a specific person(s) to help, though.
There are other things you can do to make those goals happen: hire a coach, work on a goal with someone (exercise class with a friend), have someone you report to for deadlines, and again PUT IT IN WRITING! It makes it more concrete.
Choose enough goals to motivate you but not so much to overwhelm you. Depending on your goals, how intense they are and how long term they are, somewhere between 3 and 7 usually works. Exciting, some discomfort and/or fear but not boring or paralyzing.
Next posting we’ll discuss more tips to keep moving forward with your goals. Happy New Year and Goal Achieving!
Here are the FREE Forms. Feel free to share them with others. I just ask that you do not change them or remove information, including my name/web address:
How To Set S.MA.R.T. Goals This Year
9 Areas of Goal Setting for a Balanced Life
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