How to Be SMART About New Year’s Resolutions

If you listened to my panel episode last week, then you’re aware of my general thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions. Often, they end up being a source of shame for us because they are poorly constructed, vague, too lofty, or rooted in our insecurities. All of these elements mean that we aren’t set up for success. On top of that, depending on how we set up the goal, it can confirm our unhealthy beliefs about ourselves!

When constructing a New Year's Resolution, or just an everyday goal, your first step is to think about the source of this resolution. I’ll use the common New Year’s Resolution for weight loss as an example. You want to ask yourself, "why do I want to lose weight?" Do you think you'll be more likable if you do so? Are there size 6 jeans you’ve been dying to fit into? If so, what does fitting into those jeans mean for you? In this case, it might not be the size of your hips that's the problem, but deeper self-esteem issues, and you should re-assess your goals accordingly. Does that mean you can't set a goal around your health? Absolutely not! The steps I'm going to outline will work for any goal that you have. Follow me on Instagram and I'll show you how it's done, and you can share your progress with me as well!

Today, we are going to talk about SMART goals. And yes, it’s another acronym. New Year, same ole me!

S is for Specific

When setting a goal, you want to be specific about what you’re trying to achieve. Statements like "I want to lose weight" or "make more money" are too vague. Instead of saying you want to make more money, you might say that you would like to earn a 5% raise this year or find a job that pays $5K more. Those are specific goals with actionable next steps.

When it comes to body goals, I like to focus on functions and aspects of health. So, I’m in favor of replacing “lose 10 pounds” with goals like consuming 3 servings of vegetables daily or 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise 4 times per week. These are actions that will help you feel healthy and are a necessary function of health—whether that results in weight loss or not. It can also help to reduce the sensitive and sometimes traumatic topic of weight for some people. It can be frustrating to do all the healthy actions and not lose weight, but that doesn’t mean you should stop doing the healthy actions. If your weight is truly causing some level of medical distress, you should be consulting with a variety of professionals on the topic. The goal in these cases is not to be “skinny,” but again to be “healthy,” and define what healthy means for you and your body.

That covers the what, but you also want to be specific about the who, why, and how. Are there other people that need to be involved in order for you to accomplish these goals?...

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