Be SMART in 2014

Wow, I can't even fathom that 2013 is over already!!   Each year seems to fly by faster than the previous one!  Although 2013 had some bad and ugly in it, those were all far exceeded by the good.   I was able to see a milestone birthday (35), and accomplish just about all my personal and professional goals this year!

While reflecting on the past year, I started to lend some thought as to why this year was better than the previous and of course I recognize that God has His hand in my life and has allowed the blessings to flow in, but there were also several things I did differently that I think we can all adapt that made a major difference with the hopes of us all having an even better 2014:

1) Set SMART goals, NOT Resolutions

SMART is an acronym that stands for "Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound".  One of the reasons my 'resolutions' failed in previous years were because they were too open ended, unrealistic, or not within a specific time frame.  Aren't we all guilty of these (ie: i want to save money,  I want to lose weight, I'm going to start going to the gym 7 days a week, I'm gonna do 3 charity events, etc...)

Note: for the remainder of this blog I will use the weight loss example to emphasize my points, primarily because this is probably most of our New Year's Resolution which is probably why the gym is always so full in January .... but hopefully you can draw a line of sight to how this applies to any of your 'resolutions' or goals.

• A) If you don't set a SPECIFIC and MEASURABLE target then you won't be able identify your ultimate goal and track your progress.  For instance, if you don't set a specific number for weight loss, then technically one pound would make you accomplish that goal, but we all know you ain't making no resolution for 1 pound .. lol   

• Additionally, without a specific number, you won't be able to track and measure when you are making progress.  Measuring progress can be as simple as keeping a log to track it as you go along, benchmarking against where you were when you started and identifying things that you couldn't do before (ie: pushups, pullups, run a mile without stopping, etc, or even pictures).  

• These will help you out when you start to get discouraged if you think you are not progressing as fast as you would like, and help to serve as a reminder that you are much further along than when you started.

• B) Ensure your goals are ATTAINABLE, REALISTIC, and TIMEBOUND.  These go hand in hand.  Yes, losing 30 pounds, or going from a sedentary lifestyle to a gym rat 7 days a week is attainable, but not within one month.  Be realistic with yourself.  What is the overall goal you would like to accomplish and by when can you seriously expect to accomplish it.  This doesn't mean to be afraid to challenge yourself with stretch goals, but if the overall goal is to lose 30 pounds set a realistic time frame for accomplishing the goal, and/or set sub milestones ... they say the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time ...  but then again, that's gotta work against your weight loss goals... lol 

2) Prioritize Goals

You can't accomplish everything at once.   Set your priorities, put them in order .. Identify which ones are more important, and which ones are easiest to accomplish.  Do the easiest ones first .. that will help build momentum  ... set separate dates to accomplish things and check them off the list one by one

3) Dont do it all at once (Action Plans)

Once you've identified and prioritized your goals, the most important part is creating action plans on how to accomplish them.  It's not good enough to just identify the goal, but also identify the things that need to happen to accomplish them and so on...

Ie:  Lose 30 lbs

• Make better food choices
• Write grocery shopping list
• Only buy items on list
• Only 1 cheat meal per week (Thursday night this week)
•  Go to the gym 3 times a week
• Get gym membership (by Friday)
• Create gym schedule every week to figure out which 3 days I can go and if I need to go Mornings or evenings to ensure I get my 3 days in (Every Sunday)
• Pack gym bag night before

4) Celebrate Success

When you have accomplished some of your goals or milestones, don't forget to celebrate success.  You should be proud of each goal achieved.  Be sure to share it with someone .. or probably all of us via your fb feed or something!

5) Create new Goals! 

Don't be satisfied because you accomplished a few goals... not that you have accomplished those and the momentum is on... set some new ones and accomplish those!

Hopefully this helps and contribute towards us all having a very successful 2014!! ..

But then again, what do I know ....