It is that time of year when most of us consider how we will improve in the next year. Yet, we should be aware that less than 50 percent of people make New Year’s resolutions, and 94% fail to keep their resolutions. This is according to an article written by Tom Griffin and published at The Daily Signal.
Griffin
quoted Dr. Michelle Rozen’s research about New Year’s resolutions: 30-50
percent of people make resolutions, 94 percent fail to keep them, and 88
percent “fail before the end of January.”
Griffin’s
counsel is to “prioritize resolutions that matter.” His counsel reminded me of
SMART goals. I have written about them in previous years, so I will summarize
information about them, which I will take from an article by Brett Day and
titled “The Ultimate Guide to S.M.A.R.T. Goals.” This article is focused on team and business goals, but the following steps apply to all people.
S.M.A.R.T.
goals provide leaders with a framework to create specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant and time-bound goals that can help teams finish tasks and
projects on time and with desirable outcomes. Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals can help
remove uncertainties and guesswork and help ensure projects and tasks are
completed within specified time frames – which, in turn, can help eliminate the
risk of scope creep.
M = Measurable: Ensure you can measure progress.
A = Achievable: Ensure you can achieve the goal.
R = Relevant: Is the goal relevant to your life, to your business,
etc.
T = Timebound: Make sure your goal has a deadline.
When creating S.M.A.R.T. goals, I recommend writing them down…. You can also quickly organize your goals and determine the resources needed to complete them….
To
help build confidence and morale, every S.M.A.R.T. goal win should be
celebrated….
I have
made only one resolution at this point. However, I have learned through
experience that I accomplish more tasks if I set one or two goals, complete
them, and then set one or two more goals. This way, I do not feel overwhelmed
by my goals AND I can remember them.
