Are you setting a New Year goal?

It’s a New Year. A time when goals are set. Seeing the New Year as a new beginning, we often have more motivation to finally make that change we’ve been wanting.

But with the New Year can come pressure to set goals. It doesn’t have to be this way. If you decide to set a goal for the New Year you have to make sure it works for you.

Do you have a goal for 2023?

I have mixed feelings about setting goals for the New Year because it’s easy to go too big. It’s easy to make this lofty, vague goal that may not be realistic. I know I’ve done that in the past. Then I crash and burn in a month or so.

In fact, one study found that about 64% abandon their New Year’s goals within one month (1)!

However, setting a goal IS an important step to achieving anything personally and professionally. A goal can have 4 functions:

1. Provide you guidance and direction

2. Help with planning

3. Provide encouragement and inspiration

4. Help you evaluate and control how you’re doing

Setting goals is crucial for any change. Because nothing changes if nothing changes. The key is to set a goal that is meaningful and relevant to you.

Common New Year goals are wanting to

• lose weight

• eat healthier

• exercise more

• save more money

Can you see how these goals are vague? What does it mean to eat healthier or exercise more? How much weight? How much money to save?

Setting a SMART goal (2) can set you up to actually achieve what you want. This acronym stands for

• Specific

• Measureable

• Attainable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

Be specific. Ask yourself what it is you want to accomplish. How much weight would you like to lose? What does eating healthier mean to you?

Make sure it’s measurable. Vague goals can’t be measured. You want to be able to quantify it in some way. And make YOU have control over how it’s measured, not someone else. For example, your work performance is within your control, but actually receiving a raise is out of your control.

If you decide on how often you want to exercise or how many healthy meals you want to have – those are measurable.

Make sure you can achieve your goal. Setting a lofty goal of losing 50 pounds or cutting out gluten, dairy, and sugar all at once may not be realistic for you. A goal to exercise for 60 minutes 5 days a week may work at first but could be hard to maintain.

Start small. Start teeny tiny. Once you reach your goal you can simply make another. In fact, it’ll likely encourage you to make another.

Actions create motivation. One small step at a time.

The relevance of a goal is important. Ask yourself why this goal is important to you right now. If you have multiple goals that are personal and professional then it’s especially important to make sure each one is relevant and complements the other.

Decide on a time frame for your goal. And be realistic about it. It’s not helpful to set a deadline too far in the future for a simpler goal or an unrealistically short deadline for something complex and time-consuming. 

And remember, none of this is set in stone. Life happens. You can make changes. But starting out with a SMART goal can set you on the right path to accomplishing your goal.

What about mindset?

The last piece I want to discuss is your mindset about your goal. What are your thoughts about your goal? The mindset is often ignored when setting goals. But we must address our thinking patterns.

Your thoughts become your feelings.

Your feelings turn into actions.

Your actions create results.

The results are where you are today.

You become what you repeatedly do. And it begins with your mindset.

I would invite you to examine the thoughts you have about the goals you set. Will they get in the way of you accomplishing what you desire?

If your goal is to 5 lbs, do you secretly tell yourself this time won’t be any different?

If you want to have no processed food at dinner, do you think you’ll feel deprived?

If your goal is to go for a 15-minute brisk walk every day, are you secretly expecting life to get in the way?

To make any change reverse engineer it to your thought patterns to make sure those thoughts won’t get in the way. Then ask, how can I change this thought? Revisit why your goal is relevant right now. And remember, you made your goal attainable by starting with a small step.

Write it down!

When you have your goal, write it down! This can be anywhere. On a post-it note, in a journal, or on a scrap piece of paper.

Ideally, you write it somewhere you’ll see it regularly.

One study found that you’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down. Why not give yourself that edge?

Did you set any goals for the New Year? Comment below!

Sources:

1. Dickson JM, Moberly NJ, Preece D, Dodd A, Huntley CD. (2021). Self-Regulatory Goal Motivational Processes in Sustained New Year Resolution Pursuit and Mental Wellbeing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; 18(6):3084. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063084

2. Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a SMART way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management review, 70(11), 35-36.