New Year, Same You

How to make crack the code with S.M.A.R.T. Resolutions

So we are a couple weeks into the new year. How are you doing? Are you crushing those resolutions coming out of the gate hot? Are you dusting off last year's goals as a redo? Have you not figured out what you want to strive for this year?

Wherever you are, you are not alone. With these last couple of years blending together along with a plethora of hurdles, it’s hard to determine what is actually achievable within the remaining ~350 days.

Before we get into the nitty gritty about this, let’s backtrack to resolutions as a whole. I personally am not the biggest fan of them as people often vaguely throw out what they want with little detail making it impossible to track and monitor the success or failure of it. Furthermore, it’s so much dang pressure and may not have relevance to where you are at that point in time. Maybe you are going through something personal, or maybe you aren’t feeling well, or swamped with an upcoming commitment leaving little time to focus on ‘the new you’.

A goal is a goal, no matter the time. The thing that differentiates the success of the goal isn’t the time of the year the commitment is made. It is the fact that you are first of all proclaiming what you want either verbally, or better yet written down. More importantly it is the structured detail that goes around that goal. The specificity. The way you will intertwine the necessary steps to achieve it in your every day. The way you will change your mindset to become the you that you are striving for.

Now that we have that out of the way. Let’s get back to you. Transformations don’t happen overnight and that is another reason why I am not a fan of resolutions or the overused phrase ‘new year, new you’.

With all of that said, there is an energy about the new year. We have collectively as a whole people decided to put the last 365 days behind us and use this as a fresh start. There are millions of people that have hope for the next 365 days. There is a light that is ignited in productivity, in planning, in hope.

So let’s break that resolution down to not only be digestible, but to be S.M.A.R.T.

S.M.A.R.T. Resolutions

S.M.A.R.T. resolutions mean that they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based. Now take your resolution that may be a simple statement and detail it out based on the following info and prompts.

S. Specific

These are the details of your goal. As much as you can, list out exactly what you want. You don’t want to just lose weight. You want to lose 5 inches on your waist by July 5th because you have your daughter’s wedding and want to fit in a dress you have loved and been looking at for the last few years. You don’t want to just make more money. You want to make $5k more this year by building out your Etsy brand awareness through social media, word of mouth and email marketing because this truly brings you great joy and you want to bring your passion to others while filling your pocket a bit.

Think about it. No detail is too small. If you need help around what to ask yourself, check the below.

Ask yourself: Who is involved in this goal? What do I want to accomplish? Where will I achieve this? When do I want to achieve this by? How will I chive this? Why do I want to achieve this

M. Measurable

This is where we remove the word more or less. That is not measurable. By saying I want to make more money, all you technically ended to do is make $1 more and you have achieved your goal. Will that make you happy? I don’t think so. If you say I want to lose weight and you step on the scale one morning that you are dehydrated and weigh 1lb less, you have technically reached your goal. Is that what you intended? I didn’t think so. This is where you quantify your goal. Ask yourself the following questions.

Ask yourself: How many? How much? How often? How will I measure the success of this? How often do I need to have checkpoints to make sure I’m on track? What is my indicator of success?

A. Achievable

Take a look within you and around you. Do you have what it takes to achieve your goal? Do you have the right mindset, the right tools, the right level of commitment, and the resources to achieve what you’re trying to achieve.

Ask yourself: Do I have the tool, the resources, and everything else I need to achieve this goal? Have others like me accomplished this before? Am I willing to commit the time that is needed to achieve this?

R. Realistic

This goes hand-in-hand with achievable. Think about this like applying for college. We are told to have safety schools and reach schools. If you are getting Ds in history, I don’t think it’s going to be realistic that you get accepting into Harvard as a history major. Don’t make it too easy, but also make sure it is within your control and realistic to achieve.

Ask yourself: Is the goal within reach given the time and resources?

T. Time-Based

In order for a goal to be a real goal, there has to be a time associated with it. I can say I want to make $5k more dollars, but if I don’t say by when, I can technically make $5k 25 years from now and have achieved that. Putting the time behind a goal is what makes it real. It adds pressure. It creates deadlines that drive us forward and ensure we aren’t slacking off. This is where we can see if we are on track or off as we look at our 12, 6, 3, and 1-month plans. If we didn’t achieve what needed to be done in the first 6 months, we need to readjust the goal for the next 6 months as it might likely not be possible. Give a specific time to each level of your goal and ask yourself the following questions.

Ask yourself: What is the deadline for this goal? When do I want to achieve this by? When are my pitstops?

Watch what happens to your accountability. Watch what happens to your mindset. You will be less likely to fail if you know what you are being measured on, if you have a due date, if you go into detail about what you want and you are honest with where you are and what you are capable of.

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If after all you don’t have a specific goal or resolution, but you do feel the energy that the new year brings, here are a few ideas to capitalize on that.

1. Spend 5 days a day meditating

2. Take vitamins

3. Write three things you are grateful for each day

4. Drink 100oz of water

5. Remove clutter from your life - closets, attics, garages, etc

6. Schedule in a workout routine

7. Read 20 minutes a day

8. Find a new hobby

9. Reach out to an old friend

10. Find a volunteer organization to help out or be a part of

Wherever you stand on the resolution train, I wish you a bright, hopeful, productive, and joy filled 2022. I hope that if the opportunity presents itself and our paths cross that we come together in one way or another. Now let’s go crush it!