Don’t Make Resolutions, Set Goals
Goals lead to achievements.
We are now in February, a month past the typical beginning of New Years Resolutions. So, how did your first month go? Did you stay committed to that healthier lifestyle by eating right and exercising? Did you watch less TV, drink less soda, focus more on work, spend more time with the family?
Yes… no… kind of… maybe… It depends who you are asking, right? I might be a little bit more lenient on myself and say yes, I have been working out a lot. Someone else may say no, I could have been more devoted. When you think about it, there is no way to tell. Did you know how much you worked out before the year started? Maybe, especially if you never worked out. So if you never worked out, and now you work out once a week then you are sticking to your resolution. But was that really what you intended to do? This leads to my first issue with resolutions:
Resolutions have no form of measurement and are subjective.
This is where goal setting comes in. Instead of resolving to work out more, set a goal of working out AN AVERAGE OF (I’ll explain this later) 2 times per week or read an average of 1 book per month. Then when February or March pops up all of a sudden, you know for sure if you are doing what you set out to do or not, no matter who you ask.
Lets say you feel good about the resolutions you made and throughout January, you stuck to the things you resolved to do. Great! What happens if you fall off track in February? That is what usually happens right? Cue my second issue:
When you make resolutions, you don’t plan for falling off track.
Lets face it — we are human and therefore not perfect. We are going to fall off track, especially if we are not balanced on the track in the first place. You go through January feeling great about sticking to your resolution and then the next thing you know it is March. Wait, what happened to February? Exactly. You realize you fell a little short of sticking to your resolutions in February, and you feel like all of your hard work in January means nothing because you fell off track.
Remember when I said I would explain the “AN AVERAGE OF”? Get where I’m going here?
When you set goals such as “I’m going to work out an average of 2 times per week”, you can make up for a week that you don’t work out by working out an additional time or two the next couple of weeks. There you are, back on track without feeling like all of your hard work has been flushed down the drain.
Consider changing those New Year’s Resolutions into [smart] goals so when December 31st comes around you can say “I achieved my goal for the year!”
—Stevee Heimback
