How to write SMART goals for the New Year !

by Katherine Maloney, PT, DPT

It’s the time of year when everyone starts talking about their big New Year’s resolutions. But did you know that less than 25% of people keep their goals past the month of January? Keeping goals and following through is a hard task for anyone, so what can you do to make this process easier? Writing SMART goals is a great first step!

I was first introduced to the idea of SMART goals through sports, but it was really hammered down in PT school when we were learning how to write goals for patients. So what are SMART goals? SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based goals. But what does all this mean?

Being specific with your goals is really important. Saying “I want to be healthier this year” is vague and makes it hard for you to know what your next step is. Try instead, “I want to work out three times a week this year” to be more specific. 

Making your goal measurable means that you are going to be able to track this goal. Just like being specific saying “I want to work out more” is a lot different than saying “I will work out for X minutes X times a week” or “I will be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping by the end of the year.” You have to be able to see how you are progressing at your goal, this helps to keep you motivated by seeing the progress you’ve already made! 

Your goals have to be attainable. This one can be tricky, sometimes we get caught up in the excitement of the new year and make big, lofty goals for ourselves. But remind yourself that you want to be able to reach your goals. Sometimes you really have to start small. If you reach your goal before the year is over you can always set a new one! 

You want your goals to be relevant to you. So making a goal about running might be great for me because I love to run, but you might hate running and so it doesn’t make sense for you. Or on the other hand, maybe you already run consistently. In that case it wouldn’t make sense to make a goal about running consistently because you’re already doing it; instead your goal could be about speed, distance, races, or not related to running at all! If the goal is relevant to you, you aren’t going to do it. You want to be excited to work towards your goals!

Finally your goal needs to be time-based. For most New Year’s resolutions, the time frame is the whole year. And that’s a great starting point… but a year is a long time. If you want to make year long goals I highly suggest that you break down that goal into smaller, bite sized portions. This could be breaking it down quarterly, monthly, or even weekly. What matters is that you set a time frame for when you want to accomplish your goal so that it doesn’t just fall to the wayside with the classic “I’ll start that next week” mantra. 

The New Year is a great time to set some new goals for yourself and re-evaluate different areas of your life. Writing SMART goals will make your life easier and help you be part of the 25% that keeps going with their goals past January!