It’s a new year and for a lot of people that means not going into the new year the same way as they finished the last one. It’s good in theory but in practice this isn’t often what happens, after all they are only just one day apart and it is impossible for everything to change just from one good night’s sleep. New years resolutions are made on 31 December for most people and already broken and ditched by mid January. So why do so many fail? The answer is simple, goals have not been set and a plan hasn’t been developed. Theses two things are the best way to reach your goals.
If you wanted to start your year off right the planning actually needed to start in December so that you start the year knowing what you are working towards. As December has come and gone there is no time like now to get started on setting up the rest of the year for success. Whatever you want to achieve this year, know that it is possible. You can do anything you set out to do.
Here are just two things you can do that will set you up for success.
Firstly, you need to set goals. These can range from your health to work to relationships and to that project you want to get done. They can be big or small but they all need to have one thing in common – they need to be smarter goals. Most of us have heard of SMART goal (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time focused. Smarter goals are all of these things but gives you’re the bonus of evaluation and reassessing your goals throughout the period which you have set you goal for.
Specific Goal needs to be detailed.
Measurable How do you know when you get there.
Achievable You need to realistic if you can make it happen.
Relevant Make sure it is something for you, it isn’t relevant if
someone else wants you to do it.
Time focused Make sure you sent an end date to achieve it, otherwise you’ll keep putting it off.
Evaluate Check in along the way to see how you are progressing.
Reassess Once you have evaluated is it still achievable in the timeframe you have set, if not you will
need to adjust to suit your life.
You also need to look at what you need to do or who you need help from to achieve the goals and what is standing in your way of achieving it. If you don’t know these things you won’t be able to deal with the roadblocks that come up along the way.
Let’s use increasing your exercise as an example.
Goal – by 30 June 2023, I want to be able to run 5kms 4 times a week. (Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant (for you) and time focussed). I know that I am going to need to get the couch to 5K app to be able to help me achieve it and need my partner to be supportive of me doing this. The only thing that might get in my way is my age and an old injury.
The above is a smart goal and has identified those things they need help with and might get in the way. Now we’ll fast forward a month and check in with the evaluate and reassess.
14 February – well I’ve had a bit of a setback, work got in the way, it’s been so busy and I have had the time that I wanted to train. It is looking a little impossible at the moment. They’ve just hired an additional person so now my hours might drop so hopefully I can get going.
Because they haven’t been able to start working on their goal, they may decide to do one of two things – they can just start where they are now and hopefully achieve it by their goal date or they can evaluate and reassess the goal and drop the number of kms or stretch the end date out further.
The second thing you need to do to set yourself up for success for the year is to plan. I like to look at my plan as a guideline and not set in stone – otherwise life can be a little too scheduled!
When planning the best way to start is to put in the big rocks – these are things that cannot be changed. Examples are work, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, time for self, time to work on your goals etc. You then follow these with things that are important to you and you want to do them eg school events, concerts, social events etc and then you put in everything else. Annual planners are a good place to start and then you an also have a monthly or a weekly one if that works for you. It’s a little bit of trial and error to find out what works best for you. Some people like it on their phone and you can set up reminders so you know what is coming up others like calendars or planner that they can look at regularly.
This is an example of how I did my big rocks.
This one is just for my business and has all the things I need to attend this year as well as when the public holidays are and when I have my holidays booked in.
Goals and planning are the two main things you need to do to set yourself up for success. If you have big goals, you can also break them down into smaller pieces so that they seem more achievable and you can then celebrate your wins when you get to a specific milestone.
If you need help or want more information on setting yourself up for success, book a health reset call with me now and we can start planning for your future success.
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