Happy New Year! I hope 2015 is your best year yet. In order to make this your best year, I want to encourage you to do something different. Don’t make New Year’s Resolutions! That’s right, the way to a more successful year is to stop making resolutions. Over half of people who make resolutions stop by summer. Don’t be one of those people! Instead, I want you to make SMART goals.
SMART goals are easy to create and I believe they will help you achieve your goals far more than typical resolutions.
S- Specific: Your goals need to be specific. Think who, what, when, and where. This is the first mistake of many well-intentioned resolutions. I want to write more. Great, when? What? Where?
My goal: I want to write for at least 1 hour a day.
M- Measurable: Your goal needs to be measurable. I want to write for 1 hour a day. Okay, how do I know when I have reached my goal. Measuring your progress can help you stay the course and reach your target. To know if your goal is measurable, ask yourself, “when will I know if I completed this?”
My goal: I want to write for at least 1 hour for 200 days.
A- Achievable: Your goals should be achievable. Yes, you should reach for a big hairy audacious goal, but it should still be achievable (even if you don’t yet know how you will complete it). Last year, I wrote for 188 days, which was far short of my 250 day goal. With some added responsibilities, keeping up last year’s pace and slightly exceeding it will challenge me, but it is achievable. So my goal passes the achievable test.
My goal: I want to write for at least 1 hour for 200 days..
R- Relevant: You need to only set a few goals each year balanced around the key areas of your life. Writing is one of the most important parts of my job so I need to make sure I spend significant time on it this year. This makes the goal relevant for me. I might want to learn how to sky dive (I don’t!), but that isn’t relevant to my key areas of focus for the year so I shouldn’t make a goal about it.
My goal: I want to write for at least 1 hour for 200 days.
T- Time limit: Your goal should have a defined time limit. I want to write for at least 1 hour for 200 days. By when? You need to set a time within which you will complete your goal. This could be any amount of time that is reasonable for your goal. In my case, I will need until the end of the year to finish it.
My goal: I want to write for at least 1 hour for 200 days by the end of the year.
The typical New Year’s Resolution fails to create meaningful change. SMART goals will increase your chances of success. Make yours today and let 2015 be the best year yet!
