Goal Setting for the New Year

Happy New year!

The closing of one and the opening of another year is usually regarded as a time for most to do some reflection on the previous 365 (and a quarter) days and a time to look forward at the upcoming period.

From this, new year’s resolutions are a popular conception, with resolution meaning a firm decision to do something. Which is an interesting definition, because for most, these actions that are set with good intentions are rarely met, but why is that? Why is such a common behaviour to set resolutions at the start of the year never realised beyond a short period into the new year?

A common example of this is the resolution to increase the amount of exercise in one’s life. When a resolution is made, one’s motivation is extremely high, and the individual intends to complete the goal. Commonly one does this for approximately one month, with gyms seeing a spiking increase (with 20.9% of gym goers going more than 12 times in a month for the first month, but seeing that figure drop down to 14.2% after 3 months [1]) in attendance and sign ups in January, only for the number to reduce back to the norm in February.

A common mistake that people make is that they do not set their goals properly and aimlessly decide on something without the necessary thinking to follow through. This article will give some hints and tips, based on research on how to set effective goals and develop your thinking in order to follow through and succeed with them.

First of all, goals should be SMARTER [2]. Whilst there are a few different versions, the example I follow and teach stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-based

Evaluated

Readjusted

Each of these points when put together help create a solid and effective action plan in order to hit your goals. To begin with, your goals must be specific, start off with one clear-cut goal, for example, get a faster 10km time. Then make it measurable, so how much time do you want to knock off, let’s say 1 minute in this example. Make sure it is achievable, do some research on if it is possible to knock this much time off your time (this example is). Make it relevant, so know that this is a goal that means a lot to you and that you’ll apply yourself to make it happen. Give yourself a date (make it specific) in which you should hit this target, in this case, let’s say 3 months from the day of setting the goal.

Then comes the last two points which is arguably the more important parts and why a lot of people do not stick to their goals, the goals are not regularly evaluated and readjusted based on their experience so far. Each goal should be evaluated at regular intervals, progress should be measured and readjusted based on the evaluation. Are you ahead of where you expected to be? increase the difficulty. Are you behind where you feel you should be? Ease up on yourself, you will get to where you want to be eventually, remember goals and behaviour change should be regarded as a marathon, not a sprint.

Next thing to remember about goals is that they should always be challenging (insert reference). Why is this? Goals should always be as challenging as possible whilst still being achievable. This will help increase motivation [3] as there will constantly be something the individual is striving for something.

Goals should aim to be based on an intrinsic want for the individual to improve or attain something, which goes back to the relevance of the SMARTER goal setting. This will make goals more attainable when compared to extrinsic goals as the achievement or non-achievement of goals will be dependant of their own want, not necessarily based on an external reward or punishment. It is all good and well to reward yourself for hitting milestones in your journey (insert reference), but you must figure out what rewards are going to help push you further rather than halt your progress.

[1] - https://www.ptdirect.com/training-design/exercise-behaviour-and-adherence/attendance-adherence-drop-out-and-retention-patterns-of-gym-members

[2] - Latham GP, Locke EA. Goal setting - a motivational technique that works in Hackman JR, Lawler EE, Porter LW (Eds) Perspectives on behavior in organizations 1983 New York: McGraw Hill; 1983, pp. 296-304.

[3] - Locke, E. A., Shaw, K. N., Saari, L. M., & Latham, G. P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980. Psychological bulletin, 90(1), 125.

[4] - Mottaz, C. J. (1985). The relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as determinants of work satisfaction. The Sociological Quarterly, 26(3), 365-385.