New Years Resolutions - How to set goals, and achieve them

G’day team,

It’s coming to that time of the year again and while we all recover from overeating at the Christmas table (or whatever celebration is significant in your culture) we look back at the year that was 2017 and think of all that we have done and all that we haven’t.

With New Years around the corner, the time to start planning our resolutions for 2018 is closing fast. Most of us will find a scrap of paper, jot down something about saving money, going on more holidays and losing weight. We’ll eat salads and save pennies for three weeks. And by the end of Feburary the paper will be lost and the goals will be forgotten.

So let’s make 2018 different.

Below I’ve written up my take on the well-known SMART goals method…”SMARTEST” goals!

The Basics

Specific – When you write your goal, write exactly what you want
Measurable – Set a value and a date to your goal, so you can track what you’ve achieved
Achievable – Don’t set yourself up to fail, make sure your goal is challenging, not unrealistic
Relevant – Make sure your goal will fit in with your life and other goals
Timed – Set interim goals that lead up to your final target
Evaluate as you go – Keep track of your progress to stay motivated and dedicated
Sustainable – Make sure you set goals that you can sustain for years and decades to come
Treat yourself – Reward yourself for hitting your goals!

The Details

Specific
When you write a goal, write EXACTLY what you want. This means that saying you want to “get healthier” is not enough. What does ‘healthier’ mean to you? Does it mean walking more, eating better, drink less or start running? This is what is meant by being specific. For some goals it can be difficult to be specific. In 2017 one of my goals was to learn how to trade on the ASX (Australia’s Stock Exchange), but how do you measure success in this? I’m certainly not going to be a professional after 12 months! For this I goal I decided I wanted to be comfortable with 25% of my money on the market. Now 12 months later I keep 50% of my money on the ASX, and while I’m no expert I’m comfortable knowing that this isn’t going to disappear overnight. Being specific is what makes a goal tangible, and while we make progress it’s what allows us to really FEEL that progress.

Measurable
This one is fairly simple and runs along with above. Put numbers against your goals, add a value or a time or a distance. In 2017 I wanted to run 10km, I wanted to run it in less than 1hr and I wanted to do it by the middle of the year. This meant that in May when I ran 8km in 55 minutes I knew exactly how close I was to meeting a goal I’d set myself 5 months earlier. For some goals this can be harder. If you’ve no idea what sort of goal you should set then get searching online. There are thousands of guides on good goals for newbies to set in anything from running to playing the guitar.

Achievable
So you’ve decided you want to run a double marathon in 2018… but you’re 72 and have arthritis in both knees… that’s not a great goal is it. It’s almost like you’re setting yourself up to fail. If you want an indicator of where to set the bar… think about where you want to be half way through the year, if you’ve been quite dedicated, but had a few setbacks. Remember you’re still you in 2018, so set goals YOU can achieve.

Relevant
In this day and age I think this is the most important point to understand. With so many people, brands and politicians telling us what we should and shouldn't be, it's important to take a minute to step back and decide what WE want. And if it wasn’t for the snazzy acronym I’d have it as point #1. (RSMATIST goals??). Let’s put it this way. If you’ve read above and decided you want to lose weight, you want to lose 15lbs/ 7kg. But is this RELEVENT? Are you overweight? Is losing weight what you need? Do you really just want to be more comfortable with your body or improve your self-esteem? Anothing thing we must consider in relevence is how does a goal fit in our life. Do you want to learn to invest, but you’re swimming in credit card debt? Do you want to go travelling more but also commit more to work? Are your goals compatible with each other, compatible with your families goals? How do your goals fit into your life as a whole? If your goals don’t fit in, then they’ll get squeezed out as everyday life churns along.

Timed
Set yourself a time limit to achieve your goals, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, set yourself interim limits and goals. Want to run 10km in 80minutes by the end of 2018. Great goal! Going to do nothing till November then ruin both your knees trying to achieve it in 4 weeks. Bad idea! Set yourself a 6 month goal, and a 3 month goals and keep track of them. This is the best way to make sure you get to where you want to be.

Evaluate as you go
Don’t just keep track of where you’re at, re-assess your goals. Let’s say you want to put $10,000 in your savings account during 2018. But it’s July and you’ve saved $8,000, do you spend five months saving up that last little bit? Or do you keep up your awesome work and smash your goal, setting yourself up for an even better 2019! It works both ways though, imagine it’s July again, but this time you’ve had a few unforeseeable setbacks (a car accident and an un-budgeted visit from the tax man) and you’ve only managed to put aside $500. Now aiming for $10,000 is setting yourself up for failure, but re-adjusting that goal so you’ve something meaningful to aim for means you still have the chance for a relative success.

Sustainable
Think beyond 2018. You want to set goals and make changes that you can stick with the rest of your life. Do you want to save more in 2018, but you’re just going to do it by piling expenses on to a credit card to pay off in 2019? In essence what we want is to make sure that we’re not borrowing from 2019 in order to hit our goals in 2018. If you want to get fitter, that’s great, but there’s no point using up all your leave at work in order to stick to your training regime, if you’re just going to fall off the train when you can’t do the same in 2019.

Treat yourself
If you achieve your goal, set yourself treats. A lot of people argue against this, but I think the big mistake people make is that they reward themselves in ways that work AGAINST their goals. Imagine you’ve finally hit a weight loss goal, don’t celebrate by going on a binge. Set aside some money so you can buy yourself something nice. Did you want to write 100 blog posts? Don’t take a week off writing, take a week off work (if you can :P). At the end of the day what really matters is the final goal, the feeling of having achieved what you set out to achieve is what will stay with your long term.

What to Avoid

Even if you set your goals up perfectly there are still a lot of ways to fail, and while I can’t cover a lifetime of lessons in a few hundred words I can warn you of the big three.

1. Don’t reward yourself BEFORE you’ve started the hard work – this happens so often. Garry is going to start his diet tomorrow, but first he’s going to have one last binge tonight!
2. Don’t get disheartened – if you don’t hit your target every single day then guess what… you’re just like the rest of us. The key to achieving your goals doesn’t lie in being perfect, it lies in persistence, dedications and discipline. Keep at it, the goal is on its way.
3. If you’re losing weight, don’t weigh yourself every day. If you’re saving money don’t tally your savings each hour. If you’re learning an instrument don’t play till your fingers are bleeding. Don’t obsess over your goals, you’ll just burn out

Now making SMARTEST goals doesn’t mean you can’t fail, you're still going to have to do all the hard yards. But you’re taking the first step in setting yourself up for success, and you’ve dodged a lot of the mistakes that lead so many to failure.

Best of luck for 2018, and I sincerely hope you nail all of your New-Year’s resolutions.

Happy New Years

Thanks Team

-tfc