Goal Setting for the New Year
The New Year often means a clean slate for many individuals, allowing them to recalibrate and recenter themselves on their priorities for the year ahead. Setting goals is one of the more effective ways to ensure steady progress towards one’s objective, however, not all goals are created equal. If you find yourself constantly falling short of the goals you set every year, it may be worth reevaluating your goal setting process. Commonly referred to as SMART goals, these are goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. These SMART goals are likely different from the usual goals you hear people set for the new year. For example, you may hear the following goals around the New Year:
I am going to quit drinking alcohol
I am going to start going to the gym
I am going to start reading more
I am going to start eating healthier
While the intentions are pure, these are awful goals. They have no specificity. There is no indication of what results would merit success. No end date is provided to evaluate the progress of the goal. This combination makes it extremely difficult to find true success with these goals. Additionally, some goals--like quitting alcohol--may be extremely difficult to accomplish without first finding success by slowing reducing intake. The above goals could be modified using the SMART method as shown:
I am going to limit myself to drinks only on the weekend in the first quarter, one drink a week in the second quarter, one drink a month in the third quarter and finish the fourth quarter and the year without drinking.
I am going to exercise two times a week in the first quarter, three times a week in the second quarter, four times a week in the third quarter and five times a week in the fourth quarter.
I am going to read one book in the first quarter, two books in the second quarter, three books in the third quarter and four books in the fourth quarter.
I am going to only eat out on the weekends in the first quarter, once a week in the second quarter, once every other week in the third quarter and once a month in the fourth quarter.
The final level at which you wish to be at by the end of the year can be tailored to your specific needs, but you can see the progression of goals throughout the year with specified, time-bound metrics to achieve. The goals are extremely specific, laying out the expectations and what would indicate a “success” for the goal. By breaking up the achievements of the goals by quarter, your success throughout the year can be measured by quarters, vice yearly. This allows more opportunities for self-correction and revaluation of goals.
Now that you have created better goals to strive for, how do you hold yourself accountable? This is the hard part. Then again, you probably didn’t set these goals assuming it would be easy. A good first step is writing your goals down. Find a journal where you can document your goals for the year and make notes about your progress on a weekly basis. This will allow you to not only track your progress, but force you to be honest with yourself when you fall short of your own expectations. It is easy to hide from your goals because the little voice in your head is always trying to protect your own ego. It will come up with any number of reasons as to why you couldn’t have possibly achieved your goal. However, when you force yourself to write out in your journal what you did with regards to your goals that week, you will be faced with the purely factual evidence that you either did, or did not meet your goals. This allows for more immediate self-correction. Even more effective than writing these goals down, you can tell someone you care for about your goals. This doesn’t mean you need to be the person who goes to the gym in January and posts a mirror selfie captioned “Time to get shredded this year”. Instead, using your SMART goal, tell a sibling, a significant other, or even your parents about your intentions for the year. Be specific. If you tell someone who you truly care about, you will do anything in your power to not let them down. Additionally, this is probably someone who you interface with on a regular basis, so they now hold the power to hold you accountable. If you want, you can even specifically ask them to hold you accountable by weekly check-ins. This may mean you are getting a call from your Mom every week asking how your workouts went, but if you really care about them, you won’t let them down.