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Resolutions: Beating the Odds…Setting Goals You’ll Actually Accomplish
By Michelle Vessel
Whether it’s a new year, your birthday, the first of the month, or even just another Monday, most of us know what it’s like to be bound and determined to make a positive change in our lives. The bad news? According to one study recently published in Psychology Today, the vast majority of these well-intentioned self-improvement campaigns wind up falling flat. Nearly one-quarter of those who set goals abandon their efforts within a week, 40% give up after a month and 60% have fallen off the wagon by the 6-month mark. Two years down the road, more than 80% of those who set out to make a change have failed. While the statistics might be discouraging, there are still a small percentage of people who do successfully turn over a new leaf. You could be one of them; it just takes careful re-evaluation of goals and a plan.
Goals that are Doomed
Most people–and even some self-help experts–chalk up the abysmal failure rate for resolutions to a simple lack of willpower. You probably could have lost the 20 pounds you vowed to…if only you didn’t have to pass that pastry shop on your way to work everyday, right? Not exactly. Recent studies about motivation and behavioral change suggest that it is often the kind of goals we set, rather than how we pursue them that ultimately determines our success or failure. In other words, the reason why you weren’t able to ditch your diet soda habit last year may not have been the irresistible siren song of the vending machine; the problem may have been the way you formulated your goal.
According to psychologist and life coach Caroline Miller, many of those who make a serious effort to change their lives ultimately falter because they set the wrong kind of goals. The worst culprits? Goals that are vague, open-ended, overly broad, unrealistic, negative, or that focus on being something rather than doing something are all more likely to result in failure, Miller says.
SMARTer Goals
So how can you steer clear of this all-too-common pitfall and create goals that are designed to set you on a course for success? Believe it or not, one of the most popular models for setting well-designed goals is borrowed from the world of business. In a now-famous 1981 article published in the journal Management Review, a group of professors proposed the SMART system as a method that companies could use to establish realistic targets for improvement.
In the years since it was first introduced, this concept has come to be applied in many different fields, including self-help and personal growth. You can use these guidelines to create SMART goals that will actually support your efforts to affect positive change in your life.
Specific. The more detail your goal contains, the closer it is to being a workable plan of action. For example, rather than vowing vaguely to lose weight, aim for something more concrete, such as exercising at least four times each week or eliminating junk food.
Measurable. Whenever possible, opt for goals that can be counted or measured in a specific way, such as reading 20 books in the next year, or turning off the television after one hour. This approach makes it much easier to gauge your success and fine-tune your approach.
Attainable. One surefire way to set yourself up for failure is to aim too high. Rather than vowing to compose and publish a great American novel in the next six months, begin with a less daunting step, such as taking a community college course in short-story writing.
Relevant. Set goals that mesh well with your overall sense of yourself and your larger purpose in life. For example, if you want to get involved in volunteering, seek out a role that relates to your career skill set or an issue you care deeply about, rather than just falling into the first opportunity that comes down the pike.
Time-Bound. One of the best ways to ensure that you’ll achieve your goal is to impose a hard-and-fast deadline. If you plan to train for your first 5k race this year, register for an event in your area, circle the date on your calendar and lace up those running shoes before you can talk yourself out of it.
Now What?
You’ve spent some time brainstorming and soul-searching to figure out what it is you really want to accomplish and then you applied the SMART framework to translate your dreams into workable goals. What’s next? According to the experts, the single most important factor that will determine whether you’ll stick with your self-improvement efforts over the long haul is whether you can maintain a degree of momentum and forward motion. The best way to do this is to create structures and routines that will help you incorporate the goal into your every day life, even when the going gets tough. Here are a few ideas to help you parlay your aspiration into a lasting lifestyle change:
• Keep a journal. Buy an attractive notebook, diary or daily planner and use it to track your daily work toward your goal. Being able to check your progress at a glance is a great way to build momentum.
• Tell your friends. Use social media tools like Facebook or Twitter to let your friends and family members in on your efforts. Post status updates when you make a breakthrough, or even when you’re having a hard time. The support you’re sure to find can be enough to help pull you through a rough patch.
• Reward yourself. In the early stages of planning, set up a system of rewards to reinforce your hard work and celebrate your progress. As you reach each milestone on the path to your goal, honor your achievement with treats and indulgences like a day at the spa, a girls’ night out, or an outfit from your favorite store.
• Make a mental movie. Experts say that one of the most powerful motivational tools you have at your disposal is visualization. Spend some time imagining in great detail how you will look, feel and act when you achieve your goal. Create a short scene that you can replay again and again in your mind when the path towards your goal gets rocky.
• Don’t forget to make a backup plan. As we all know, even the best-laid plans often veer off-track. In order to ensure that a temporary setback doesn’t cause you to throw in the towel, a contingency plan is a must. For example, if your goal to use the elliptical machine for half an hour every day is foiled by an injury or illness, turn to gentle yoga while you recover.
Setting a goal and taking concrete steps to succeed at it may be one of the toughest–and most gratifying–things you’ll ever do. Even when life gets in the way and your motivation hits rock-bottom, you’ll be much more likely to see your self-improvement efforts through to the finish line if you have a structured plan in place. Armed with these tools and tips, you’ll be able to stake out and stay on the path to lasting change in the weeks and months ahead.
