If you are like me, every new year seems like a brand new opportunity to revamp our goals list. Not to beat ourselves up over at the end of the year but to stay motivated throughout the year. I know there are two distinct camps on the topic. One that swears by new year’s resolutions and the other that outright detests these. Me, I would fall somewhere in-between.
But, when done well, goals can be powerful motivators to try new things and check off items that have long lingered in the back-burner of our lives. In this post I’m going to talk about how to set goals that don’t break the bank, the spirit and our beliefs on achievable targets.
A key concept that is commonly associated with performance measurement is ‘SMART’ goals. We usually see these employed in organizations to track employee performance at the end of each year. The same can apply to our personal goals too.
What does SMART stand for?
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant/Realistic
T – Time Bound
By creating goals that meet the above criteria, we can set ourselves up for realistic targets that we have a great chance of achieving by the deadline we’ve set for ourselves. Let’s try an example.
Instead of setting a goal of ‘I need to read more‘, we could say ‘I will read 10 books by the end of 2022‘.
How to make a goal SMART
Let’s break down this goal by the SMART criteria:
a. I will read 10 books – By replacing ‘more’ with ’10 books’ we now have a specific and easily measurable target. The year contains ~365 days. Reading 10 books in that time frame means we take a little more than a month on each book which now makes it very achievable & realistic. Depending on your reading pace and ability, you can now modify this target up or down. The key is to set this based on your personal evaluation of your reading pace.
b. I will read 10 books by the end of 2022 – By adding the timeline by which to meet this goal, we now have a very time bound target. It is not vague or ambiguous. It offers a set date when this goal ends – December 31st, 2022. Not only is this a good motivator at the end of the year, it allows you to continuously track where you are at against where you want to be by the end of the year.
Remember! The aim is not to impress anyone so resist the urge to set an outlandish target. I’m obviously speaking from experience here! I’ve done this in the past where I’d set an unrealistic goal and feel defeated at the end of the year. The goal wasn’t reasonable to begin with but we still beat ourselves up about it. Knowing the bandwidth I have to accommodate more/less reading, acknowledging my reading pace and accepting that I can’t hit an unrealistic target are all keys to setting a realistic and achievable goal.
Side note on how to track progress: There are numerous ways to track progress these days – Journal entries, bulleted lists, vision board patches, the notes app on your phone, social media posts, blogs, a GoodReads account that manages all the tracking and allows you to submit comments on what you’ve read and the list goes on. And it doesn’t have to be just one.. you can document on your phone, on social and on an app. Its just personal preference! I do a combination of these things (notes, social and goodreads!)
SMART Goal Categories
Typically, new year’s resolutions/goals tend to lean heavily towards physical fitness. Although it is a great time to reset and start on fitness activities, for a well-rounded life, we need a more diverse set of targets and accomplishments. Being healthy and fit are part of it but not all of it.
This year, I’ve separated mine into three categories: Personal Health, Personal Growth and Relationships. In past years I’ve had financial goals too. It really is up to you what area you’d like to see a change in. This year, I wanted to focus on building better relationships with friends and family and also take time to work on personal growth!
# Fitness Related
For my fitness goals, I wrote down the following:
* Do one fitness related challenge – To make this goal ‘SMART’ by adding detail on the challenge I picked. I am doing the SWEAT 6-week challenge that kicked off this January.
* Run a race – I usually start off with this generic goal because the time of year, whether or not I run alone or with company determines which one I pick. Right now I’m reviewing a few different possibilities. In the past I’ve run races with friends and run some alone. They are both fun and serve different purposes. In the end, they are all pretty satistfying when you cross the finish line 🙂 I am still picking one for this year but the overall target stands.
Here are some pictures from past races…
# Personal Growth
The personal growth list is usually lower on our priorities. We tend to put everything else ahead of our own personal well-being. A well-meaning gesture/trait but not a personally healthy one. We can’t pour out of an empty cup. So this year I’ve got a good list of things that make my day/week more fulfilled and also help me feel like I’m more than my job or my education or any one thing. An excerpt from my list is as follows:
* Read 50 books this year – Given data from last year, I find this one realistic and achievable
* Start piano lessons – I’ve laid the groundwork already by reaching out to a teacher in our community.
* Restart my blog – This one was an easy(ish) goal I wanted to check off right at the beginning of the year. If you are reading this blog, then I’ve already successfully done this 🙂 Click here to read my Introduction blog and to read about why I named my blog what it is today.
# Relationship Oriented
This one is purely individual preference. Some people are great at socializing and connecting with other humans naturally. Its second nature to them. For some of us, it takes intentionality and practice. I’m in the latter category 😀 So this year, I’ve made a few goals to work on relationships that matter. To invest in the community immediately surrounding me and in the ones I’ve built over the years. Time with kids and family always gets overlooked until we look up and find that the kids have grown up! So making intentional time with the ones we love is the predominant theme of relationship goals this year for me. Here are some of the many I’ve set for this year..
* Do monthly kid dates – I’ll be talking more about this in next week’s blog post. The idea isn’t foreign or new. I’ve read several parenting books that talk about this to some extent. I’ve seen fellow moms do this successfully. And, this isn’t a new goal for me. I’m simply keeping this one again this year as a monthly target. I’ve got three kids and 4 weeks in a month 🙂
* Do one couple’s trip this year – This one is also not a new one. I’ll write more about this in a separate blog post but we’ve been blessed with family that is open to taking our children for a few days when we can do this. This year may be a little different depending on everyone’s schedules but its a goal nonetheless.
* Set intentional friends time – A book club is a great way to stay connected with friends. This is what we are planning to do to kick off this year. I’ll post more about this as the year progresses.
* Host Bible study atleast 5 times this year – Last Fall our church did a series on community and as part of that I enrolled as a host to conduct/hold bible study sessions with a group of church friends. Although the current climate with Covid doesn’t allow too much in-person time, we had one in-person session and a few virtual zoom sessions. This year, as things hopefully improve, I’m determined to continue building those relationships and embracing community!
In Summary…
We all get the big-picture. To make things easy, I’ve broken down the details on why we need clear, achievable, time-bound goals and how to set them. There is also a flavor of what my year will look like when I intentionally seek out certain things. Now I challenge all readers to go ahead and create a few of your own. If you’ve already generated a list, share them below in the comments. And of course I wish you all a very happy 2022!
Pingback: Reading Goals and Book Lists - Schacklefree