Happy New Year! I know I’m a few days early, but to me, I have been planning well into the new year for the past few weeks, so it already feels like March in my head. I have been planning out blog posts, dreaming big things, and setting my goals and objectives for 2019 and what I hope to accomplish.
I figured I could share my tips on setting SMART goals for the New Year. I don’t like the term New Years Resolutions, because 90% of the people who set them fail within the first month. I believe in creating realistic SMART goals that you can actually achieve. Ones, that won’t fail within the first month or the first 3. They are action packed and designed to win.
Therefore, I think you should set goals too. Even if it is just a small goal that you want to try to drink more water. But, remember to make them SMART.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Timely
Be Specific
Get real specific about the goal. What is it you want to accomplish? I am going to use the example Working out since everyone should workout but no one can actually manage to get this done regularly. It always seems like a really hard goal, and I have struggled for so long, but finally I think I have managed to get it right this time. But, that is for another post.😊 You can find my productivity post here
Compare “I want to workout more” to I want to do a 20 minute workout once per week. See the difference? The more specific the goal, the more chances of you actually succeeding. Be sure to think about where you will complete the goal. Do you go to a gym, workout from home, with a friend? Even include the time. “Go to the gym every Thursday at 6pm for the 30 minute Spin class” This way, you have no excuses. Think back to elementary school, Who What Where When Why and How.
Also, remember to hold yourself accountable and make sure there is something on the line. Whether it is a bet with a friend or a bet with yourself, you have to be able to hold yourself accountable. Write them down, shout them from the roof tops, or in the streets or whatever or even do them with a friend. But be honest with yourself. If you cheat then say you cheated. Doesn’t mean you have to give up, just embrace the setback and keep going. Too many people fall down once and give up completely. It’s okay to fall off the wagon once or twice. Think about it this way, if you aim to start exercising once per week as a New Year’s Resolution and maybe you fail the first 2 weeks. You still have 50 more to go. You have failed the first 4%, but if you nail every other week, you would still score 96% at the end of the year. Forget about the minutia and just do it. You’ll thank yourself later.
Measurable
This means that you have to have a way of tracking that you are actually completing your goal. So, maybe your goal is to be able to lose weight and feel better. Each month when you are seeing yourself losing weight, that is the best way to show measurable. By seeing the results, it helps motivate as well. This measurable result is usually the reasoning behind the goal. You want to look and feel better, so you set the goal of working out more. But, be sure to be specific as well and just looking and feeling better isn’t evidence. You need a goal of maybe losing 5lbs a month. Just be sure that it is realistic to your goal or workout schedule. So, working out for 20 minutes once a week may only get you 1-2lbs per month depending on your eating habits.
I sometimes set a goal of getting stronger. So, the goal may be to do a plank for 2 minutes and each time I workout I work up to a longer time to see the progress. This applies if you want to run a marathon or 5k as well. Start slow and work your way up. The progress you see is the motivation to keep going.
Make them Attainable
Don’t say your going to go to the gym 3 times a week. That’s just silly. No one actually wants to do that. But, hey if you can do it, amazing, but if you haven’t worked out in a really long time (for me it had been about a year when I finally started, so don’t worry) stop setting yourself up for failure. You need to make small goals so that when you achieve them, you feel good. You need those mini successes in life to keep you propelling forward all year. Make them so simple that you know for sure you will smash them out of the park. Then, you may find yourself trying to revise those goals and make them bigger. Keep the simple ones so that you can keep being consistent throughout the year, but if you plan on making bigger goals, do them in smaller chunks. Maybe by the month or week so that you don’t have too much on your plate. Remember, these goals are on top of work and social obligations and obviously they do depend on mood. Remember mood can change at any time, so you have to remember that some days you just won’t feel like achieving your goals. This is normal and most days I don’t feel like working out as well, but I know that no one ever said after a workout “That was a waste of time” Remember, just do it.
Realistic
This one is where you sit down and really think about the goal. Is it realistic to set a goal of working out once per week? For this type of goal, of course it is, because we already made it realistic. But, if you have a goal of losing 10 lbs next month, or make a million dollars next year, it needs to be something that is actually realistic to achieve. Ensure you can accurately list out the steps to achieve the goal and visualize yourself completing the goal. And, yes everyone can visualize themselves with a million dollars, but can anybody visualize themselves taking the steps to get there? Not many people can figure out the first steps on HOW to make a million dollars. Otherwise everyone would be millionaires. Anyways, just be sure to make your goal realistic enough and start small. You can always change it up if you achieve it earlier than expected.
Timely – Break it Down
I mean more simply, divide your goals up throughout the year. Maybe in Q1, you plan on doing a and Q 2 b, etc. Also, I recommend breaking it up between different categories, but that’s just me. I might have 1 goal for nutrition, 1 for professional, 1 for mental health and 1 for fitness. This way I keep it simple, yet only work about making it through the first 3 months. This way I can modify for the next 3 if need be to make it easier or harder. This way I know no matter what the goal will change. I think the problem with NY resolutions is that people think they will never make it the entire year and they give up to early. I find if I make my goal for 3 months to work out an at home workout routine from youtube once per week for the first 3 months, that seems pretty easy. If I nail that out the park, then by April, I can modify it to either twice a week, change it to an outdoor walk in the evenings or evening modify the workout completely from maybe cardio to yoga. Spice it up and change it up regularly to ensure you don’t get bored and give up either.
So, that’s my tips for creating SMART goals for 2019 or for any time period really. Hopefully they helped you as they really help me when I sit down to write my goals out for the next week, month or year. Let me know in the comments what your goals are for the upcoming year?
**Disclaimer – Please note as well that I am not a medical professional by any means and everything is my own opinion. Please consult your healthcare professional before making any major changes to your diet or starting any rigorous new exercise routine.