2018 is officially upon us! As with every New Year, people are bragging about the different resolutions that they have in place to create a better version of themselves. You'll hear, "I'm going to go the gym!" or "I'm going to eat vegetables with every meal!" or even "I'm giving up desserts for the whole year!"
These are all great resolutions, and if people actually stuck to them I'm sure they would be better for it. If we're honest though, resolutions like these are incredibly difficult to stick to. If you're someone who says that you ALWAYS have to do something or that you can NEVER do something, you're setting yourself up for failure, because chances are you'll slip up at least once. If you've set an unrealistic goal for yourself, you'll give up eventually. Your goal for the New Year shouldn't just have a New Year's resolution; you should have a SMART resolution.
What does SMART mean? Here's the breakdown:
• Specific • Measureable • Achievable • Realistic • Time Bound
So instead of your New Year's resolution being, "I'm going to go to the gym!", your resolution should be, "I'm going to do bench press, squats and deadlift exercises at the gym for 30 minutes every Monday at 7:00 AM before work until June 1st when I go on vacation."
Is it specific? Yes. You say exactly what exercises you are going to do exactly where you are going to do them.
Is it achievable? Yes. Going to the gym once per week is achievable, going more than that as a person new to the gym would probably be too much.
Is it realistic? Yes. Going to the gym once a week is something that most people should be able to do, barring an extreme injury.
Is it time bound? Yes. You are going to be going to the gym once a day until June, when your vacation is.
Setting SMART goals is important. It allows you to keep yourself accountable, while also giving you strict guidelines so you know what you have to do to stay on track.
Beyond setting SMART goals, we've developed 5 examples of New Year's resolutions that you can follow that are SMART that you can actually follow through with.
1. "I am going to do 20 jumping jacks every morning after I wake up"
2. "I am going to eat at least one vegetable every day"
3. "I am only going to eat candy on the weekend"
4. "I am going to send out 5 new applications every week so I can quit my current job"
5. "I am going to call my parents once a month"
Focus on setting SMART goals, and you'll find that you might just stick to your New Year's resolutions.
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