Happy New Year!  In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d share my New Year’s Resolutions with you: 1) I’m going to develop a lovely olive-skinned complexion (and get rid of this pasty, freckle-splotched skin that has plagued me for years. 2) I’m going to really get busy on achieving my dream of becoming a supermodel and 3) in support of #2, I’m never going to eat fat again!!   Professionally, I don’t think I need to worry too much (since I’m going to be making millions with that whole supermodel thing), but until those plans come through, I’m going to 1) be more productive and 2) make more money.

Good plans, huh.  I’ve actually already broken the no fat thing, and I have made absolutely no progress on my olive skin.  And, since it’s 9:00 on Monday and I’m still in bed while I’m writing this, you can guess how far I am on my productivity resolution. 

My very early failures put me smack dab in the middle of some mighty good company -- Research shows that 92% - 97% of Americas fail to accomplish their resolutions every single year!  But, this year, fewer and fewer of us will fail, because it seems that fewer people are actually setting these yearly based goals.

Now, I’ve been known to mock New Year’s resolutions (my aunt swears she’s going to lose 20 pounds every year -- she’s been saying that for the last 20 years!), because it seems that we make them planning to not achieve them.  But, it doesn’t have to be that way! 

As you may have surmised, the “resolutions” I wrote about at the first of this article aren’t real.  I don’t make resolutions.  I set goals.  It’s more than semantics.  Goals are specific and measurable and are much more likely to be achieved than resolutions.  You just have to be SMART about it. 

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SMART is a mnemonic used to guide the goal setting process and it’s actually quite useful.  The SMART plan says that goals are:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic or Relevant

T = Time-Bound

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Measurable: 

My dreams of an olive-skinned complexion might not be the most measurable goal.  I might just as well have said, “I want to look better.”  What?  How do you know how much better you have to look before you achieve your goal? 

If the answer to the measurement of your goal is “I’ll know it when I see it”, then your goal is not measurable.

Attainable: 

Well, I guess it’s time to address the supermodel thing.  Even if I didn’t eat fat for the rest of my life, I still would have no hope of becoming a supermodel.  It’s simply impossible.  My height and body type necessarily preclude me from the supermodel world (as does my intellect and disdain for ridiculous excess).  If this is what I’m working toward, then failure is a certainty.

Realistic/Relevant: 

Why the heck am I thinking about being a supermodel anyway?  How does that relate to my real life in any way?  I have much more pressing things to worry about that would actually have a significant impact on my day to day existence -- like the amount money I spend at the grocery store and how much food I end up throwing away, or the amount of time I waste on the internet while I’m writing tutorials!  These issues are the relevant ones that I should focus my energies on throughout the year. 

Specific: 

Now we get to the real nitty-gritty of goal setting.  To be successful, a goal must be specifically stated.  “I want to be more productive” is not specific; “I will write at least one blog per week” is specific.  “I will eat less” is not specific; “I will consume a maximum of 1500 calories per day” is specific. 

The specificity of your goals is the measuring stick you will use to determine your progress and eventual success in meeting them.  If you don’t have a very clear picture of where you are headed, then you are very probably not going to get there.

Time-Bound: 

Finally, your goals must have a time-limit to really be useful.  For example, “I will increase my income by 20%” could be made more useful by breaking down my overall goal into smaller chunks of time with smaller goals.  So, “I will increase my income by 5% per quarter in 2009” would be a useful way of segmenting my goal into more easily accomplished units.  

Enhancing Success

Research indicates that goals should be realistic and attainable, but that they should also be challenging.  If my goals are too easily reached, I may not feel the appropriate motivation to actually expend much effort toward them.  In addition, researchers have found that your goals should be directly related to your own desires and concerns (rather than the concerns of someone you work for or care for).  “I will lose 20 pounds because my husband wants me to” is virtually guaranteed to fail.  Also, If your goals contradict each other, then you’ll need to refine your plans.  You cannot be working toward 2 contradictory outcomes and be successful with both.

Another key to success is to write your goals down and place them where you see them regularly.   An interesting finding about goal setting indicates that women who share their goals with others and get support from their friends and family are much more likely to be successful.  It is also important to review and adjust your plans throughout the year, as well.  If you set quarterly goals, then you have a natural time period in which to revisit them.  Accountability to yourself (and others, if that’s what gets you going) is a necessary component of successful goal-setting.

Be more productive?  Make more money?  Seriously?  What does it mean to be more productive?  How much money is enough?  A real goal would be much more precise and would have a timeline and plan for achieving that goal.  Let’s re-work some of my goals and make them more useful.

I’m actually going to work in this order: M - A - R - S - T