New Year’s Resolutions and SMART Goals
While this year’s New Year’s celebrations might look a bit different from past years, that shouldn’t stop you from setting goals towards being the best version of yourself. However, sometimes setting New Year’s resolutions can have downsides, such as increased anxiety, increased self-criticism, and internalized pressure about whether or not you can achieve the objectives you’ve set for yourself. On top of that, with 2020 being unexpected, it might leave you feeling like it’s impossible to achieve any goals this upcoming year. How can you commit to creating and maintaining positive changes for yourself in 2021? Setting grounded expectations and creating SMART goals can help you lead 2021 off strong.
SMART Goals
SMART goals aren’t referring to some goal setting being smart versus dumb, but rather a roadmap to set goals for ourselves. Using the SMART goals acronym, you can focus your efforts and use your strengths more effectively, increasing the likelihood for a successful outcome. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, and Time-bound.
1. Specific – When setting goals, you focus on what you’re trying to accomplish. Think about the ‘who’ as in who can be involved, ‘what’ as in what you are hoping to achieve, ‘when’ as in a time frame that will get more specific under the “time-bound” section, and most importantly, the ‘why’ as in why this goal important to you. Channeling the intrinsic motivation for your goal helps serve as a driving factor if you find yourself feeling stuck.
2. Measurable – How do you know that you’re working towards your goal? Setting methods to track progress being made helps reinforce your concentration and highlights excitement and relief in any efforts being made by you. If the goal feels daunting, breaking it down into smaller pieces can help demonstrate incremental advances towards your goals. How do you know if you’ve reached your goal?
3. Achievable – Your goals should be a balance between attainable and stretching to challenge yourself. If your goal is too big and out of reach, it’ll be more difficult to maintain your commitment towards long-term objectives. Using a practical approach to setting your goal and asking yourself “is your goal action-oriented” will help provide context to what you need to accomplish your ambitions.
4. Realistic/Relevant – Your goals should be grounded in reality and carries meaning and purpose for you. Only you can determine if your objectives are something that you’re willing to put effort towards. They should align with your long-term ambitions to serve as encouragement and an incentive to continue making progress.
5. Time-bound – How will you know when you’ve achieved your goals? Having a target date to focus on ensures that other things won’t take priority from your progress. Think about setting a flexible deadline that will help keep you on schedule and accounting for any barriers that might unexpectedly get in the way.
Setting goals for the new year shouldn’t feel daunting, but rather should feel exhilarating and motivating. Using the SMART framework in goal setting allows you to seek personal growth in different areas in your life and minimizes harm to your mental and emotional health.
