I was 12 years old when I started working out consistently. Each year, come January, the gym would be packed with new faces. By the end of January, half of the new faces would be gone. The end of February came, and 90% of the newbies were gone. By the end of March, almost every new face would never be seen again. This happened year after year.
It didn't take me long to realize that this was caused by people and their bullshit "New Year's Resolutions." #NewYearNewMe
Screw that.
At age 15, I made a new year's resolution to never make another new year's resolution. If I wanted to change something about myself, I'd do it that day, not wait for a new year.
That was the last resolution I ever made.
Now, instead of these bullshit resolutions, I set goals. Goals are so much more effective (especially if done right).
Setting and achieving SMARTER goals
SMARTER, an acronym, is my favorite way to set and achieve goals. With each goal you set, if you can make them fit into all of these categories, they're probably going to be much more effective.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
- Evaluated
- Reviewed & Revised
Let's take an example of a goal I'd like to achieve: Be more outgoing
"Be more outgoing." It's a valid thing to want, but what a terrible goal! It's not specific, it's not measurable, not time-bound, you can't evaluate it, nor can you review it.
What if, instead of "be more outgoing" the goal was Strike up a conversation with at least seven random people each week for the next 6 weeks?
- Specific - CHECK (Yep, sure is)
- Measurable - CHECK (absolutely)
- Achievable - CHECK (one conversation with a rando each day - absolutely achievable)
- Relevant - CHECK (helps me to become more outgoing)
- Time-bound - CHECK (for the next 6 weeks)
- Evaluated - CHECK (it can be evaluated)
- Reviewed & Revised - CHECK (it can be reviewed and revised)
The latter goal of "Strike up a conversation with at least seven random people each week for the next 6 weeks" will help me achieve my goal of being more outgoing, and it's written in a way that makes it a much SMARTER goal than "be more outgoing."
Over the next day or so, I'll be using these steps to come up with some goals for the coming months and year, and sharing them in a separate post.
It has been scientifically proven that if you write down and share your goals with others, you're more likely to achieve them. So I hope you'll come up with and share some of your own.
