Hi, friends!
Now that we're a few weeks into the new year, a lot of New Year's resolutions have probably been broken, forgotten, and abandoned. I understand the reasoning behind making goals at the start of a new calendar year, but I also think it's sad that those goals almost never survive to the end of the year. January isn't the only time we're allowed to try to improve ourselves! If there's something you want to accomplish, you're free to make mid-April goals or an Ordinary Tuesday resolution.
The thing about goals is that they need to be "SMART" - specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound. Basically, your goals should be the opposite of horoscopes and fortune cookies, which are designed to be generic enough to fit the life of almost any human being.
Specific - Make your goals precise. Don't just say, "I want to get better at playing the piano." Instead, think of something more like, "I want to be able to play through my entire Final Fantasy IX soundtrack book on the piano." If you can decently play any song in the book, you've reached your goal! It makes more sense for a race to have a definitive end. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of people all running together until they decide they're done.
Measurable - Along the same lines as your goal being specific, make it something that you can quantify somehow: "I will spend at least twenty minutes a day playing songs on the piano." It's very easy to tell whether or not twenty minutes of piano playing have happened.
Actionable - Choose a goal that you can make a checklist for, or at least one where you can take specific actions to make progress. Goals need to be things you can control and work towards.
Realistic - You don't want to set yourself up to fail. Weight loss and fitness are the focus of a lot of people's goals, so I'll use that in an example for this one. It would be really dumb to make your goal to be looking like The Rock because you'd basically need to dedicate your life to that in order to achieve it. You also need to make sure your goal is healthy, so don't try to lose more than one or two pounds per week.
Time-bound - Give yourself an end date to look towards. Think about how much time you realistically need to reach your goal and plan accordingly. Look at your calendar if you need to so that things like vacations or stressful times won't blindside you and throw off your timing.
Once you've decided on one or more goals for yourself, write them down somewhere and consider telling a family member or friend about them so you can be held accountable. Maybe you aren't very motivated to work on keeping your bedroom more organized because nobody else ever has to see it, so you find someone who you can send a picture to each day and give them permission to bug you about leaving your shoes all over the floor. Tell whoever you live with about your goal to eat under a certain number of calories each day and they can give you a stink eye when you reach for the ice cream.
You can find ways to hold yourself accountable, if that sounds more appealing. Put sticky notes up in areas you frequent to remind and encourage you to stick to your plan. Keep a log of how successful each day is, whether that's in the form of writing or a chart (maybe with stickers!) to track your progress.
The last thing I want to say about goals is that they shouldn't be scrapped if you make a mistake. It's not practical to expect yourself to follow your plan flawlessly. Life isn't something you can predict with complete accuracy, as great as that would be. If and when you fall short, don't let that be an excuse to give up! Use it as an opportunity to reassess or adjust your goal, maybe, but not to erase it entirely. Channel your inner Bob Ross and work with your mistakes instead of letting some stray lines ruin a great painting.
Let's all follow Gordon B. Hinckley's advice to "try a little harder to be a little better."
Love,
Lizzie
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