Posted by Happy New Year! Have you started the year with a long list of resolutions? If so, that’s great… but how likely are you to actually stick to them and see things through?
Year after year, I see people gradually, as the month progresses, start to go back on the bold goals they set just a week or so ago. All those good intentions go flying out the window as they get back to the daily grind of work and it feels much easier to just slip back into old habits.
This is the problem with New Year’s resolutions, and goalsetting in general. So often, people come up with them on the spot and either don’t have a clear intention for why they’re doing something, or haven’t given enough thought to how they’re going to achieve something.
Goal setting like a pro
Setting goals and intentions is easy: you decide on something you want to achieve (or want to change) and then hope that thing just happens at some vague point in the future, right? Of course it isn’t.
It’s all very well saying you want to do X or Y, but unless you have a solid reason whyyou want to do them, you’re setting yourself up to fail. The reason you choose to do something should always be personal to you, and shouldn’t be influenced by anyone else.
It’s all very well saying that you want to get fit, for example but what’s making you say that? Is it because everyone else is, and you’re worried that you’ll look bad or lazy if you don’t? That’s hardly going to inspire you to get down the gym. But if your reason is personal, like you want to be able to run around with your kids without getting out of breath, then it’s going to push you a hell of a lot more.
Another way of looking at it is to ask yourself whether you’ve chosen a goal to get away from something (“I don’t want to be judged for being unfit”) or because you want to move towards something (“I want to enjoy time with my family”). Deciding on a resolution to avoid something is never going to motivate you as much as gaining something special.
Getting SMART
Most of the time I find that people forget about what they’re actually going to have to do when it comes to setting goals and making resolutions, as if just by saying it out loud (or writing it down), it’s going to magically happen!
Say you want to get a pay rise, or a promotion, or a new job. What steps are you going to take to get you into the position where those things can happen?
This is where SMART goalsetting comes in. For something to be SMART, it must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Let’s look at each section of SMART and build a couple of examples that will transform something vague into actionable plans.
Make it Specific
So, you woke up on January 1st and said ‘I want to get fit, and I want a promotion’. Admirable enough goals, but they’re both completely nebulous.
Without being specific, these goals just float around, without any form, and you’re unlikely to actually do anything about them until the following year, when you wake up on January 1st and say exactly the same thing.
When you’re setting a SMART goal, the more specific you can be, the better. So instead of ‘I want to get fit,’ maybe you could say ‘I want to get fit enough to run my local 10k’. Rather than saying ‘I want a promotion,’ define the promotion you’re looking for, the role, grade, or what kind of pay rise you’re after.
Don’t be afraid to get really granular with it if you like, the more detail, the more likely you are to make it happen.
- ‘I want to get fit and run my local 10k’.
- ‘I want to get a promotion to Senior Manager and get a pay rise.’
Make it Measurable
If you’re not tracking anything, then how will you know when you’ve achieved your goal? Saying you want to run more could be defined as ‘running to catch a train,’ but that’s most likely not what you meant!
That 10k you want to run, do you want to be able to be able to just run one, no matter how long it takes, or do you want to do it over and over until you can do it within a set time, like 60 minutes?
Saying ‘I want a promotion’ could mean anything from a small step up to a complete career change. Just like with the running goal, you need clear metrics, so your measurable targets could be securing the specific job title change from Manager to Senior Manager or achieving a specific salary increase.
Concrete numbers and achievements give you clear indicators of progress, because you can track each one and know exactly how close you are to success.
- ‘I want to get fit and run my local 10k in under 60 minutes’.
- ‘I want to get a promotion to Senior Manager, with a 20k pay rise’.
Make it Achievable
This is where reality might need to kick in a little bit. If you’ve never really run before, then you’re going to need to build up your stamina and create some kind of training plan. Try using an app, so you can make sure that you’re doing it properly (and sensibly) and you don’t get injured.
As for the promotion, is there any additional training or certification you need before you can get to a more senior level? If that’s the case, what are the steps you’ll need to take to get yourself into the right position to move up?
- ‘Using a couch to 10k app for my training, I want to get fit and run my local 10k in under 60 minutes’.
- ‘I’m going to complete all the training and certification needed to get a promotion to Senior Manager, with a 20k pay rise’
Make it Relevant
I talked before about making sure that you’re setting your goals and intentions for the right reasons. If a goal isn’t relevant to your personal values, you’re far less likely to see it through. Why do you want to be able to run a 10k? Because your mate can and you want to as well?
Why are you after a promotion? Does it align with your broader work/life goals, or because you think you deserve it?
- ‘Using a couch to 10k app for my training, I want to get fit and run my local 10k in under 60 minutes, so I can run around with my kids, and be in the best possible health for them’.
- ‘I’m going to complete all the training and certification needed to get a promotion to Senior Manager, with a 20k pay rise, because I want more financial freedom to pursue my external interests’.
Make it Time-bound
This last section is super-important, because if you don’t set yourself a time limit, it’s more likely that the year will pass and you’ve not achieved anything.
Be realistic: don’t sign up for a race in February if you’re still struggling to make it to the end of the street without getting breathless! But by the same token, don’t make something so far ahead that it won’t stretch you a little bit.
- ‘Using a couch to 10k app for my training, I want to get fit and run my local 10k on 30th April in under 60 minutes, so I can run around with my kids, and be in the best possible health for them’.
- ‘By September 1st I’m going to complete all the training and certification needed to get a promotion to Senior Manager, with a 20k pay rise, because I want more financial freedom to pursue my external interests’.
Don’t be afraid to revise your goals if the circumstances change; SMART goals should be dynamic, not set in stone. What matters is maintaining the principles while staying flexible enough to adapt to what’s going on around you. Break your SMART goals into weekly or daily tasks, track your progress, and adjust them as you need to.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how SMART your goals are, they won’t achieve themselves. They’re just a framework for success and the real work begins when you go for your first run, or outline your intentions with your line manager.
So get out a paper and pen, and get to work, and let’s see what you can achieve!