It’s been three years now since I started writing down my new years resolutions. By the end of the year I take a look again and see what I have achieved. Sadly, I kind of just leave it at that. I write things down in a word document in January and rarely take a look again at the file until its December.
So as an advice… If you write things down, make sure you open up the document every once and while and check how far you have come, and what still needs to be done.
As for the goals, sometimes I write them down but I’m actually thinking how improbable it is that I will achieve them by the end of that year. They’re vague, unrealistic and easily ignored.
Make your goals SMART:
- Specific: target a specific area for improvement.
- Measurable: Your goal can be measured in units, or with milestones/indicators
- Assignable: This doesn’t have to do much with personal goals. It means the goal should be assignable to a person who can be able to complete it. In this case, you!
- Realistic: The goal can actually be achieved during that year, don’t make it too hard!
- Time-bound: It has an end date. Most new year resolutions tend to end at the 31st of Dec. so they are generally time-bound
Making your goals SMART can help you out a lot. Most people just put vague goals and never achieve them. Things like “I want my abs to show by the end of the year” for someone who has 30% body fat is very improbable. That goal could be converted to “I want to lose 15% body fat during this year”. It’s specific: lose bodyfat. It’s measurable: bodyfat %. It’s realistic: you can lose a bit more than 1% bodyfat per month in a healthy, diet and excercise oriented way.
By having SMART goals, you make it much easier on yourself to actually achieve them. This theory of goal-setting has very positive results in the management world.
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