It’s a new year! The gyms are full of new enthusiastic members, the trails full of new hikers, and the greenways full of rude bikers who don’t announce their approach! Have you noticed that around February those new faces and the numbers of new people start to drop off dramatically? Why? The main reason that most people quit or drop out of their new goals is that they fail to properly plan for them. I hear the same litany of new goals every year, I will get out more, be more sociable, lose weight, finish my new book! Anyone with these goals in mind should be applauded, but these goals are already in trouble and we haven’t even started yet! We have to be smart about what we set out to do. Let’s look at what I mean.
First I want to start off with one clarifying statement. There are no bad goals. If you want to do something this year, do it! What I am going to be talking about this month is how to set goals you can achieve. I am a firm believer in setting SMART goals. What you want to achieve this year should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Realistic (there’s no T, but SMAR goals sounds silly). If we learned anything from 2020 it’s that life is unexpected, there is no instant way to achieve your goals. No matter the goal, you will still need to put in the work up achieve your goals. With some smart planning, you can gauge how well your goals are staying on track, and if you need to make any adjustments. So let’s get to it!
Now, what is wrong with saying you will get out more, be more sociable, lose weight, or finish that new book? Well nothing, they are great goals to aim for! The problem is that all of these examples are not really goals, they are just nebulous ideas. If you want to actually achieve your goals you will need to be specific about what it is you want to achieve. How will you be more sociable? How much weight will you lose? How will you go about finishing that book? If you want to hit your goals you need to have a clear idea of what you are aiming at!
You might notice that all of those examples start with a simple question. How? I usually like to ask it twice, setting both a concrete goal and a way to achieve it. For example:
“I will lose weight.” How much? “Fifty pounds.” How? “By measuring my calorie intake, walking three times a week, and weighing myself weekly.”
Sometimes you may need to modify the question but the principle of asking for specificity remains the same.
“I will finish my book.” What does finish mean? “Two revisions.” How? “Before TV, game time, or bedtime I will write for thirty minutes every day.”
By asking questions I am both setting my expectations and a course of action to achieve these goals. Year after year I watch as well-meaning dreamers quit their resolutions because they went into the whole thing without a plan. Be specific when setting up your goals! Asking questions is of the most important things you can do to help yourself achieve your goals this year. Be specific as you can. My weight loss goal is not 50 pounds, it’s 5 to 7 pounds a month. My writing goal has very specific goals tied to each revision. When I start a new goal I have both a plan of what I will be doing and an idea of what the finish line will look like. How do we get to that finish line? You’ll have to come back next week to find out.