Get SMART for the New Year!
Many of us make New Years resolutions. The feeling of beginning again gives us a good opportunity to decide to make a change. Unfortunately, few, if any, stick to this. In fact a third of new year’s resolutions don’t make it past the first week. This is because, in general, we set ourselves up to fail from the start.
Here’s how to do it right.
SMART is a simple mnemonic used for this sort of thing. Make sure your goals are SMART and you’ll make a resolution you can stick to.
S = SPECIFIC
Don’t be vague. Making resolutions like “I’m going to get fit” or “I’m going to eat healthier” will sabotage your plans before you’ve even started. Unclear language and ill-defined goals leave you too much wiggle-room making it easy to avoid implementing your desired new habits.
Pin down exactly what you want to accomplish so you can set a specific target. The more specific your target, the easier it is to make a target-based plan.
M = MEASURABLE
Having one final destination dream goal is great as long as there are mini-goals you can set yourself along the way. “This time next year I’m going to run a marathon” is fine but you’ve got 12 months of procrastination to avoid in the meantime. Get yourself some stepping stones and break that final goal into chunks. What is the end of next month going to look like? What do you need to do by the end of next week? What are you going to do tomorrow?
Being able to tick these mini-goals from your list on a daily/weekly/monthly basis give you the motivation you’ll need to get to the dream goal at the end of the year.
A = ACHIEVABLE
Nothing is impossible right?
I COULD climb Mount Everest. It’s POSSIBLE for me to swim the channel. Nothing in my physiology says that I couldn’t do an Eddie the Eagle and compete the Ski-Jump in the next Olympics! But is it realistic? Is it actually achievable?
I have a busy job, a wife, two kids, a bonkers dog and a hundred other commitments. Where does my goal and my path to achieving it fit in to all of that? How much is it going to cost? Can I reasonably expect myself to fit in all the things I need to do to achieve my resolution?
Make sure that you are realistic in the goal you set yourself.
R = RELEVANT
Is this goal relevant to you? Is it your dream or something someone else thinks you should do? Is it something you’ve seen someone else do and you think you should too?
If you love running and you’re out of the habit, then a marathon might be a great long-term goal. If you hate running, don’t aim for a marathon, you don’t have to compete with someone else’s dream.
If you’re setting yourself a target, it must be for you, something that you want to do, something you believe will make your life better. The best advice is to do something that you enjoy because you’re never going to stick with something you hate.
T = TIMED/TIMELY
This point echoes a couple of the previous ones. You can’t do everything at once. Long term goals require long term implementation. Make sure you establish a deadline but give yourself longer than you think you need for each stage. Plan your stepping stones/mini-goals along the way and you’ll find it easier to build momentum,
Follow the SMART guide to setting your New Years Resolutions and you’ll succeed like a Budgie with no teeth!
As usual if there is anything we can do to help, or if you want further advice please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
From all of us here at The Courtyard Clinic we wish you a happy and healthy year!
