The S.M.A.R.T Way to Meet Your Goals
Written by Kristen Stahl LPC, LCADC, January 2025
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
- Earl Nightingale
Ahh, the New Year. Time for a new you? A full makeover? Or are you thinking about cleaning out closets or organizing the garage?
Each time the calendar flips over into January of a new year, many of us want to make changes. Sometimes they’re monumental (going back to school or changing jobs) and sometimes they’re smaller (beginning an exercise program or tackling a home project). Whatever the reason, whatever the season, decluttering and working on self-care are great ideas.
And sometimes those goals are so daunting that we push them aside. Or we start and fail (the “F” word, in my book!). Sometimes, they just seem impossible. I hear things (I’m a therapist, so naturally, I hear things), such as “I haven’t exercised in years, there’s no way I can go to the gym every day.” Or, “I can’t even walk in my basement, there’s so much stuff down there! Cleaning it out will never happen!”
That’s where S.M.A.R.T goals come into play. This is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable (or Achievable), and Time sensitive. This handy little tool makes the monumental task less monumental. It turns Mt. Everest into a pitching mound.
I can help my clients find ways to incorporate S.M.A.R.T. goals into their plan for behavior change by helping them determine what they CAN do (Attainable). Can’t go to the gym everyday? That’s ok. Then we determine where they can tweak their schedule to find maybe 30 minutes a day, three times a week (Specific, Measurable). If there’s no gym, there’s always fitness apps and Youtube. And then we put a time stamp on it, to kind of test it out, but also to see if they’ve met the goal (Time sensitive). Then after 30 days, we re-assess. How’d it go? And the answers I hear sometimes are amazing. “That was so easy, I added two more days.” “I was feeling so good, I kept going for an hour.”
Classic things many of us may say at the beginning of a new year: “I want to eat better” or “I need to spend time away from my phone.” Ok, let’s turn them into S.M.A.R.T goals. How about, I’m going to go to the grocery store once per week, and plan to cook at home at least 3 times per week for one month. SMART? I think so. As for the phone, what about turning the phone off for a certain amount of time per evening, maybe 1 hour, 3 nights in one week and see how it goes?
Why don’t you give it a try? SMART goals are fun, and they make us feel good when we meet them. Start small, and see how much you can achieve. Change is possible!
