How many times have we all heard, or even said, “new year, new me?” While this phrase may be fun to say, it rarely results in a “new me.” Instead, this phrase sets unrealistic expectations without concrete goals. This phrase gives us confidence to feel like we are making real improvements, even if we may not be. A better phrase would be, “new year, improved me,” with an addendum including steps on how you plan to do it! Keep reading for these important steps to crush your New Year’s resolution.
Step 1: Be SMART With Your Goal
Statista lists the top 5 New Year’s resolutions for 2021 as the below:
- “doing more exercise or improving my fitness”
- “losing weight”
- “saving more money”
- “improving my diet”
- “pursuing a career ambition.”
While these are all great goals, they are not SMART goals. The acronym SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. This is the key to creating a goal that you will, as the A stands for, achieve!
Instead of making your resolution to do more exercise, an example of a SMART goal would be to exercise 3x a week for at least 20 minutes. This is only an example, because you need to choose details that will work for you. A SMART goal for one person on the same topic may be completely different from another person. This is because it has to be realistic, which leads us to our next step.
Step 2: Have a Realistic Check-In
A very important part of creating an achievable goal is making sure that it is realistic for you. For example, if you have not worked out in months because you don’t have the time to, it is unrealistic to say you will workout 5x a week for hour long sessions. Don’t be too bold in your goal, as this is why many people’s resolutions fail by February.
Another example of this could be eating healthy. If you have been eating unhealthy for a while and decide to cut out all unhealthy foods and change drastically, you are not likely to succeed. Instead, you may want to limit yourself to one unhealthy treat per day or two cheat meals per week.
It will be different for everyone, but you have to be honest with yourself on what your current situation is and what ONE realistic step closer to your goal would be. This one step is the first step you should take.
Step 3: Make a Plan to Reach it
Also very important to an actionable goal is making a plan to reach it! Instead of saying that you will eat healthier, plan out meal preps and when you will go shopping for healthy foods. Instead of saying you will go to the gym, add specific blocks of time to your calendar and treat it like a real appointment. Making a plan sets you up for success!
Step 4: Create Accountability for Success
There is a reason why we used to receive grades for schoolwork and why we have managers at work. It is because a system of accountability makes sure the job gets done with real effort!
People will often become lazy with their goals due to lack of accountability. As adults with personal goals, there is usually not anyone holding us accountable for whether or not we follow through and how hard we try. For this reason, you must create a system or accountability for your goals! Whether this is an accountability partner or a written reward system, find what works to keep you accountable and motivated.
I wish you each a healthy, prosperous new year filled with self-love and reaching your goals!