One great aspect about the beginning of each new year is the opportunity to reflect on your life last year and CHOOSE how you will set yourself up for success in the next year. This can be a combination of selecting elements from the previous year that served you well and planning to continue them, as well as choosing to let go of other choices that caused you pain and anxiety. The New Year also brings a fresh look at where you’d like to see yourself change, enhance, or improve in the next year. This concept of New Year’s Resolutions is a great opportunity to take a look at ourselves, critique our successes and look for opportunities for improvement.
Another less common view of New Year’s Resolutions is evaluating your life and recognizing that perhaps you’d like to do less next year or maybe not change anything. We don’t always have to ADD more to our plate, in fact it can be more meaningful to take things “off your plate!”
In my role as a life coach, my focus is helping clients identify where they are now and helping them move FORWARD. As we look forward to this next year of our lives, what do you want or need? Do you want to find time for yourself as a person? Do you want to connect with like-minded individuals? Do you need to reach out and find support for yourself or your child? Regardless of what you need or want, I can help set you up for success.
Let’s talk about SMART goals. SMART is an acronym for a goal setting method unlike many others. This technique allows you to identify the goal so that you’ll know when you have achieved it.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Time Limited
Let me show you an example! Let’s take the goal of finding some time for yourself and make it SMART. All SMART goals start with the statement “I will.”
EXAMPLE: I will spend 30 minutes 3 days a week reading a book of choice quietly by MYSELF starting tomorrow for the next 30 days.
This goal is specific, it says the amount of time and what you will be reading. This goal can easily be measured. You can mark the days and times that you read on a calendar or other tracking device. It is attainable, because most of us can carve out 30 minutes a day to read a book (or other choice activity) if we make the time for it. This may mean exchanging the time spent scrolling social media or watching tv. When you evaluate whether or not a goal is realistic, ask yourself “given everything else going on in my life, can I do this?” This goal is realistic because it’s set to only 3 days a week. We are much more likely to have success with realistic goals. It’s better to under promise and over deliver than miss your goal! Finally, this goal is time limited for 30 days. After 30 days, we’ll check in on the intention and see if this goal is still the best way to meet the need.
Before you get started, consider any action steps you need to take in order to make the goal possible. For the above-mentioned example, do you have books to read? Do you need to mark off time on your calendar to reserve the time? Setting the goal is only step one, identifying and completing the action steps are a must!
In addition to setting the SMART goal, consider the value added by working with a professional accountability partner. As a coach, I partner with my clients to help them stay accountable to their goals. I am there with you when motivation is low or needed from an external source. As a coach I hold my clients to what they say that want to do and remind them of why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Did you know that the majority of people give up on their New Year’s Resolutions by January 17th??? That just makes me so sad. It has been researched and proven that you need at least 21 days to establish a habit. Invest in yourself and your goals, work with a coach and see better, more timely results!
Set yourself up for success, set a goal, work with a coach, and make 2023 INTENTIONAL!
This week’s blog post is written by our featured professional, Deborah Kelly a Certified Life and Heath Coach. Deborah is a Positive Living Life Coach who specializes in personal growth coaching, health and wellness coaching as well as coach walking. She offers one on one coaching, group coaching and workshops. Find out more about Deborah here. If you’re interested in learning more about working with Deborah you can schedule a free introductory call here.