If you’re looking for some motivation (and accountability) the Orchid Experience Co-Founders (@JenBellYoga & @MichelleCawleyYoga) are hosting a yoga challenge on instagram. Look for #AllAboutResolutions for a chance to win prizes while also setting yourself up for resolution success this year! For long term accountability help, check out the new app IfuIWill and the challenge: All About Resolutions 2021. Last week we talked about how to come up with a goal. This week we’re making that goal SMART! Using the SMART technique when creating your goals will ensure they’re more tangible and actionable. So what is SMART?
SMART Goals
You might be familiar with this already but it’s really helpful when trying to accomplish a goal or create a lifestyle change.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Relevant
T – Time-based
For some of your circled ideas, creating a SMART goal will be much easier than others. Goals that involve social settings are significantly harder to create something that is measurable. This doesn’t mean that you can’t make it happen but it may require more creativity when writing it down.
To make this easier, I’ll give two examples and how we would create SMART goals for them.
Get In Shape Create More Romance
SPECIFIC
Be as specific as possible.
Get In Shape
Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to look more toned? Do you want to run a marathon? For this example, let’s say the “Specific” part of this goal is “loose weight.”
Create More Romance
What does more romance look like? More time with your partner? So we’ll say “Create more one on one time with my partner.”
MEASURABLE
You’ve got to be able to measure your progress to really feel and see the difference when you’re getting into a tough spot. For fitness/health goals these are much easier to come up with. With social goals this can be more difficult but you can still put in specific measures to help you reach your desired feeling.
Get In Shape
This could be weight loss, inches lost, specific muscle strength, the list could go on. For this example we’ll use “Lose 10lbs.”
Create More Romance
This can be more difficult. It’s hard to measure a feeling of being more connected with your partner, but you can set activities in place to facilitate the feeling. We’ll set a measurable goal of “date night once per week.” No, it doesn’t guarantee more “romance” but it does put you in each other’s company at least once per week.
TIME-BASED
Yes, I know we skipped “A” and “R” but we’ll circle back to those next. Our reference for this post has been “New Year’s Resolutions” but, this doesn’t mean you need to set your goal to be accomplished towards the end of the year. The feeling or tone you desire should be felt at the end of the year but we can start with smaller goals in shorter intervals to create little victories along the way. When choosing your time, pick something that is short term (e.g., one to three months).
Get In Shape
We’ve set the goal to lose 10lbs. Realistically, losing 5lbs per month is a great goal. This leaves us with two months as a reasonable time frame.
Create More Romance
So far we’ve said one date night per week. We have a frequency here, but we need a period of time to do this over. Let’s say “one date night per week for one month.”
ATTAINABLE
For attainable, we go back and look at what we have so far and see if it is actually attainable for us.
Get In Shape
Lose 5lbs in two months — Is this attainable for me? Let’s say in the past you’ve lost weight slowly, maybe give yourself an extra two weeks to get there. We want to set ourselves up for success. So, let’s revise this goal to say “Lose 5lbs in 10 weeks.”
Create More Romance
One date night per week for One month. Does this seem reasonable? It certainly does, but what has gotten in the way in the past? Well, right now in 2020 going out probably isn’t happening. Maybe we need to add a clarifier: 1 date night per week for 1 month staying in or going out.
REASONABLE
Let’s look back at what we have. If it’s passed the “Attainable” step chances are it’s reasonable. Where people get into too much trouble is if they’re too specific or unforgiving.
Get In Shape
Lose 5lbs in 10 weeks
Create More Romance
One date night per week for one month staying in or going out
Both of these goals seem reasonable.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
We have our SMART goals, so where do we go from here? Think about the very next step for each of your goals.
Get In Shape
Use the SMART method for approaching your goal: Spend 20 minutes per day three times per week doing a YouTube fitness video for four weeks, and then reassess. Does that sound Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable, and Time-Based?
Create More Romance
All we need to do is plan our first date night. We don’t need to add more specifics to this one.
Creating goals can be difficult. Take your time and be realistic. Most importantly know that being derailed is a normal part of life, all you have to do is get back on the tracks. Maybe adjust your timeframe if this happens, but don’t’ let a derailment stop you from reaching your goals.
