Five Steps for CRUSHING Your Goals in 2025!
Millions of people make resolutions every year!
Research on the "fresh start effect" reveals that specific dates can motivate change. The new year represents a new beginning and pursuing resolutions can enhance willpower and determination, but how can you stick to those changes?
SMART goals (my favorite approach) have a 90% success rate because they provide a clear path for achieving objectives, making them an excellent choice for setting New Year’s resolutions.
So, what are SMART goals, and how can you use this framework to CRUSH your New Year’s resolutions?
Follow this five-step acronym for success!
SPECIFIC
Get clear on your goal and break it down into something more precise. If you want to get more sleep in 2025, that’s a general goal. A more specific goal would be to commit to going to bed by 10 PM Sunday through Thursday, ensuring you get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep for work.
MEASURABLE
How will you evaluate your progress and hold yourself accountable? You could use an app to track your sleep or go analog and write it all down in a notebook. You then review your progress every Friday and decide if it’s working. NOTE – if things are not working, this is a great time to adjust the path to achieving your goal or the goal itself.
ACHIEVABLE
Is this goal realistic? Are you truly capable of going to bed by 10 PM? This requires you to be truly honest with yourself. Maybe 10 PM isn’t going to work, but 10:30 PM will. However, for that to work, you need to change your morning routine a bit so you can sleep later. You can see how this clarifies the path!
RELEVANT
How motivated are you to achieve this goal? If your overall lack of sleep affects your work performance and relationships, that is a strong motivator! However, it doesn’t need to be that dramatic. It just needs to align with what is most important to you.
TIME-BOUND
Set a deadline to create a sense of urgency. Most folks function better with structure, and creating a due date supports accountability and discourages procrastination.
PRO TIP: Remember that resilience is KEY as you work on your SMART goals! It’s beneficial to think about how you will handle setbacks to prepare for challenges that will inevitably arise.
Once you have maintained the behaviors needed to achieve your goal for six months, you will enter what is known as the "maintenance" stage. This indicates that the change is sticking, and it’s time to celebrate!
Every day is an opportunity to make a change. Whether it’s today or the new year, know these proven steps can help you get there!
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