Hi everyone, I hope that this post finds you feeling amazing vibes for the new year and excited for a fresh start! I am super stoked about 2022. In April of 2020 many people were already anxious to move on past 2020 and into 2021, so they could have a fresh start. Don’t get me wrong, I was really digging the collective desire to upgrade our lives, and I know that was just the beginning as we enter a new age! 2022 just feels like it is bursting with opportunities. So what better time to discuss S.M.A.R.T. goals than the beginning of the year? At this moment I wish I could tell you to close your eyes so that I can take you on a quick visualization, but I can’t if you are reading, so bear with me, and maybe try it out for yourself once you are done reading.
“If you start your year the same way that you start your morning, with purpose and clear intentions, you will find that so much can be accomplished.”
Since January 1st is our recognized “beginning of the year” we are going to start with Day 1. This exercise could be altered for other calendars or traditions that do not consider 1/1 the beginning of the year. Additionally, someone who is in recovery may consider their Day 1 to be their first day of sobriety etc. Regardless, let’s consider that a 365 year is a larger scale representation of your regular calendar 24 hour day. If that were the case, Day 1 would be considered your morning. On your regular calendar day, you would wake up, get ready for the day, “eat the frog” (I will explain that here in a moment), and then tackle other action items and proceed through your day. You might check in throughout the day to ensure that you are meeting your daily expectations, and once the day starts to come to an end, you will adjust the following day’s schedule as needed, reflect on your accomplishments for the day, and determine what was a win, or what could have been improved. If you are like me, then you might have a day planner to keep you in check with your daily tasks. Many life coaches, and self improvement books will tell you to start your day off with making your bed as it will get you into the habit of action oriented tasks, which in turn, makes it easier to transition into that more complicated or daunting task that must be completed aka “the frog”. It also gives you a good feeling when you see your bed nicely made. If you start your year the same way that you start your morning, with purpose and clear intentions, you will find that so much can be accomplished.
“A goal without a plan is like attempting to bake a cake without knowing what goes in it or how long to bake it.“
How do you get that clear intention though? I am positive that every single person has started a New Year's resolution that ended up being a complete flop. Why was that? It was most likely due to lack of planning. I could imagine that many people start off with a goal, verbalize it, and then leave it to the wind. In order to achieve your goal, there must be a clear instruction list for yourself and a method to hold yourself accountable. S.M.A.R.T. goals are the best way to do this because the goal is like a recipe to help get you on your way to completion. All you have to add to the recipe is desire and action and you will succeed!
If you consider a S.M.A.R.T. goal like a cake recipe, you’ll see that there is a clear indication of what the cake is, a list of the ingredients, the time needed to bake, the serving amount, and the instructions on how to actually bake it. A goal without a plan is like attempting to bake a cake without knowing what goes in it or how long to bake it.
Another great analogy that comes to mind is Mt. Everest., If your goal for the year is to climb the summit, you simply cannot just waltz over there and start climbing;, you need to research gear, determine travel time, get a Sherpa to take you...there is also a huge investment of time for all of this, and all of it requires planning. But if you know how, it can be mapped out using the S.M.A.R.T. goals method.
There is not much need to go over what S.M.A.R.T. goals are, you can find lots of material online, but I will just briefly describe what the acronym stands for. There are several instances where the words have been interchangeable. I put an asterisk next to my favorite.
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - *Actionable, Assignable, Attainable, Achievable,
R - *Relevant, Realistic
T - *Time-Bound, Timely, Time-Based
I have an awesome success story that I want to share with you all. In this story, my husband and I turned a vague goal into a reality! In the fall of 2019, when Travis and Reyna moved in with me, we decided that having the two of them wait for me to come home from work and cook dinner was too late. It was a tough change and adjustment for all 3 of us. Travis, my then fiancé, was struggling to come up with ideas for dinner. He suddenly became the main meal provider in our family and had very little skills in the kitchen. We had many bizarre dinners, mostly canned and frozen foods, and I was really starting to get filled to the gills; I had grown up in a home where mom cooked dinner, and there was homemade meatloaf and mashed potatoes from scratch, chicken and dumpling soup, and I could just go on. I was also raised at a young age to know my way around the kitchen - so I can cook on the fly. I then realized that Travis was going to need a lot more guidance.
When January 2020 rolled around, I turned to him one day and asked him what his goal for 2020 was going to be. He had no clue, he wasn’t the type to set goals or New Year's resolutions. So I said, in kind sweet words, that if he was planning on marrying me, he better set some goals. After some laughs and some thought, he came up with “I want to be a better cook,” and I thought that was a fantastic idea. His goal was vague, and I knew immediately that he was going to need some coaching on what to do next. He really was stumped. I helped him rephrase his goal that came without a game plan into a S.M.A.R.T. goal.
We started off by changing the language! I am a firm believer that this is a crucial step in achieving the goal. This falls into the “Specific” guideline. Take out phrases like “I want” or “I need” or “I will be”. I want to climb Mt. Everest is not a goal, it is a statement, and one of lacking. When working through the details with him, I said “Hey, how am I going to know that you are a better cook then?” He said “I guess you will taste it?” I explained to him that the word better is a good starting point but it is not specific enough, so he suggested “good cook” So I asked him what makes a good cook. He was really getting frustrated with me by now, but the gears were turning. He thought about it and came back with “they know how to cook things without a recipe and what spices to add and stuff.” I left it at this, and knew we would circle back at the end to create the final wording for the goal. We were heading in the right direction.
I then asked him when he was going to be “a good cook.” We decided on the end of the year. That was an easy one for “Time” which led me right into my next question for him.
How are we going to “Measure” the progress? Once he started to think about it a little bit more it dawned on him that he could cook recipes until he was “a good cook.” We decided that since he cooked every single day of the week now, he should be able to try 100 recipes. That’s really only 3 a week, and they could be anything. It’s not outside of the scope of his day to day life, therefore it is “Relevant”.
You will see that one of the words for A is Achievable. I do not use that one, because it is redundant in my opinion. I believe that if a goal is relevant to you, then it is achievable. I much prefer to use the term “Actionable”. This is the part of the goal that is all you -- making effort to achieve the goal. The rest is just the padding around you, kind of like insurance. In order for Travis to meet his goal by the end of the year he determined that he would need to do research, planning and implementation. Assignable is also a good word for this, as you have to assign tasks to be completed in order to achieve the goal, it doesn’t just fall into your lap. Travis developed a routine for looking up recipes, meal planning and grocery shopping to ensure that he had everything he needed. He even had to plan out his time as well.
I bet you are wondering how it turned out? After we took the phrasing of “I want to be a better cook” and reprogrammed the goal to be “I will cook 100 different recipes in 2020,” I can definitely say that he is a better cook. Not only is he a good cook, but a damn good cook. Did he cook all 100? We actually lost count - it was well over 100 by the time August rolled around. I am very proud of him for his great accomplishment and it is a story that I love to share. If you have a goal in mind and are needing help rephrasing it into a S.M.A.R.T. goal, send me a message! I would love to help you out with some ideas!
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