I really dislike using the term “New Years Resolutions”. Like most of us, I make a list of resolutions half heartedly year after year and then get sidetracked a month or so after new years. I end up feeling defeated and bad about myself. In reality, I was setting myself up for failure from the beginning. I had no plan, no way to measure how I was doing in reaching the resolution and set no end date in order to reach them.
So I decided that this year they would be “goals” and I headed way back to my business school days when I learned about SMART goals.
S.M.A.R.T goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable (or Achievable), Relavent and Timely. When setting your personal and professional goals, following this acronym will help you achieve those goals.
How do you set a SMART goal. Make sure that you pick something that can be measured and achieved in a reasonable amount of time… Here are some examples:
Bad Goal: I want to lose 50 pounds or I want to get healthy
SMART Goal: “I will lose 10 pounds in two months” or “I want to work out 3 times a week for 8 weeks and lose 10 pounds.”
Once you reach those goals you can always readjust or make a new goal. losing 50 pounds is a big feat. if you break them into small 10 lb increments, they seem much more manageable. If you give it a due date, you are now making yourself accountable for achieving that goal.
From what I have been reading from various sources and people who have had major success in achieving their goals in life from losing weight to starting their own businesses, the below points seem to be the common ground for their stories:
- Start small and work your way into things
- Tell other people what your goals are. Don’t keep them to yourself. If you let other people hold you accountable and share your goals with them, you may have more success.
- Write your goals down and place them in a spot that you see every day
- Make a vision board of what you want to accomplish
I created the above Goals Planner to print out and use when writing down your goals. You can write down your goals and frame this or affix to your fridge so that you are constantly reminded of your goals! Just go HERE. Once the screen pops up with the full sized version, you can right click and hit print (you may have to adjust your printing preferences to print to letter size) or if you have Photoshop or another editing software, you can type your goals instead of writing them.
I’ll be sharing my 2012 goals on a post to follow and I’m hoping that you all help me be accountable for reaching them!
Credit: the background was a free background from Coffeeshop… Please only use this for personal use. If you chose to share, please provide a link back to this post:) Sharing is caring!
