Pier 21 - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Here all immigrants emigrating to Canada from 1928 were processed on arrival. They knew exactly where they were going and they chose to come to Canada to make a new life. (photo late 50'2 early 60's)
Your life, your pathway, and it is within your reach.
Do you want to be more successful that you have ever been in keeping your aim, goals, or New Year resolution than in previous years? Read on because you need to know…
Where you are going and in which direction you are personally travelling in 2024 is more than where and when you plan your holidays..
I personally have been thinking a lot about what I wanted to happen and what I wanted to do in the coming year. The realisation hit me that it wasn’t quite as simple as making a New Year resolution or even daydreaming about which countries on my bucket list I wanted to visit next. (I have a big bucket still so I need to live to a grand ripe old age!)
So I brought out my journal and started some brainstorming stuff - just words at first associated with whatever came to mind. These included:
Health
Travel
Family
Hobbies
I realised that this didn’t really tell me very much other than they were potentially my priorities, but they were wide and catch all. Generalisations were easy to identify, but I had no sense and no clear direction of what I wanted to achieve in those categories/priorities.
It took me back to my professional life and strategic planning. Action Plans with ‘SMART’ goals relating to the overall aim - and I thought here we go again! I used to hate having to do my department’s yearly action plan. It made my brain ache but I knew it had to be done if as a team we were to be successful and do our divisional part to deliver the Company’s overall strategic aim.
Whilst professionally, this is a complex undertaking to do , I mistakenly believed that to do it on a personal level would be a breeze. Simple and fast. How wrong I was.
Here is an example that many of us put as a New Year Resolution.
‘Become healthier in 2024’
We might even go a bit further in identifying those goals needed to achieve our aim such as:
Get a gym membership
Eat more healthy foods
Reduce my alcohol intake
Lose some weight
Be mindful
If you are still reading this do you identify with doing something similar? Read on…
Why do we do this? Why do we write this crazy stuff and expect to be successful?
Answer: (you may or may not agree-your choice). I would suggest that we do this because it makes us feel comfortable, we can say we are doing something to make improvements, and change direction in our lives.
We can demonstrate to others that we have a plan.
BUT DO WE?
No, if we are wholly honest with ourselves is not a plan, its a WISH OR A DESIRE.
It is not a plan because there are no meat on the bones. There are no details of actually what we are going to do and the specific areas we are going to do it in. We haven’t said by when we are going to do either.
SO THERE WE ARE WE HAVE FAILED AT THE FIRST FENCE
This is when in January when we get our GYM membership and start of for the first couple of weeks going maybe three or four times, and then other priorities take over and low and behold, before you know it several weeks have gone by and we haven’t been once.
Not only that,, but we haven’t lost weight, we are not healthier, and we are back on the treadmill of eating food that is not perhaps the most nutritious because of our busy lifestyles, and the reality is we may have even gained a little more weight.
Recipe for 'disaster darlings' you know! We are our own worst enemies, because we set ourselves up to fail. We sabotage ourselves.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO?
We can start planning for success by being reasonable and clear about exactly what we want going forward.
You may have identified lots on your list of goals, but be reasonable ROME wasn’t built in a day, and you need to be realistic and identify some quick win areas that will promote that sense of achievement, success and positivity within you.
Your starter for 10!
S - means specific. When you identify wider aims, drill down and really think about what you want to achieve. If it still seems too much, drill down again and look in more detail about specific components until you come up with one that you can choose which you know will stretch you a little but which reflects the win you want when you meet that goal.
M - means can you measure and quantify what your goal is? (No good saying I want to lose weight to make me feel healthier) state in your plan how much weight you want to lose. If it is a large amount, break it down into manageable chunks and spread them across the year. (Remember ROME?)
A - means achievable. This is subjective and some folk would have you believe that anything in life is achievable as long as you are willing to put the effort and work into attaining it.
Now given that I have lived on this planet for nearly 70 years, I have a different take on the subject. Example: When I was growing up, all I wanted was to be was a Police Woman in the Met. When I found out at the age of 15 that there was a height requirement of 5’6” minimum in those days to enter the service, my dreams were shattered (I was young!) and I realised were unachievable because I was only 5’1” tall and had only grown 1” in the past three years. I was never going to grow that extra 5” no matter how I stretched myself.
So, being achievable is different for everybody depending on their particular circumstances, and you have to be honest when you are evaluating your capabilities of achieving your goals, especially in connection with the other areas that I have mentioned and will talk about below.
R - realistic. I think this area sits nicely adjacent to the achievable area, because what you identify as a goal has to be realistic. Take my example above, it was not realistic to expect that I would grow a further 5” when I had only grown 1” in the prior three years.Also that as I was reading adult hood, my capacity to grow further as a female would be highly ‘unlikely’ given my genetics, my past growth, and other local considerations. Some teenage boys have a last ‘huge’ growth spurt at this age, therefore in this case may be more realistic but not guaranteed,
So, as you are planning to succeed in your specific areas, once you have identified those areas, do a double take and make sure they are realistic for you and your own personal circumstances.
Again, is it does not look and feel realistic drill down again and identify areas within that specific area that would be.
T - time bound. The work you have done in your preparation, to identify those specific areas you want to succeed in, and have successfully measured and quantified those areas and confirmed they are achievable and realistic for you, the final step is putting a time frame around your plan to ensure a successful outcome.
Too long a time period you set and maybe you will lose interest because you are not reaching those goals quickly enough. Too short a time period and you will most likely fail and be subject to a feeling of great disappointment, because you didn’t work out what the realistic time frame was.
ROME
❤️ I LOVE ROME
This is because when you have done all the work and do a final check over of the overall aim and specific goals you want to achieve you remember again that ROME wasn’t built in a day.
You have a plan, you are clear on that plan, and you know its realistic and genuine.
What you need now is some quick win goals and attainments that will give you a boost to carry on your longer term more in-depth plan for the New Year.
Many companies, especially weight loss companies set out lead lines like ‘lose up to XXX pounds in the first week’ or ‘fast track your weight loss in the first month’. They do this because they know its great to set u a cycle of commitment for the long term in terms of their customer bases.
This is called a QUICK WIN. So depending on what you have written in your own plan for 2024, identify something in that plan that is relatively easy to achieve within a quick timescale. I cannot tell you what that might be for you as everyone’s plans are different.
What I can do is offer you an example of my own plan last year for some of my fitness goals for 2023…
I had been given a ‘Fitbit’ watch by my hubby for Christmas 2022. Part of my 2023 plan was to increase my walking steps from an average of 4/5,000 steps daily to a regular walking step average of 9,000 steps per day so effectively doubling my daily step count by the end of 2023.
To ensure I had a quick win right in the first month, I included a mini smart goal of increasing my step count by 200 steps per day (compounded). Doesn’t sound a lot or too easy you may say? Well It wasn’t, but I didn’t find it too hard.
What it meant was that I was already up to between 6,000 and 6,250 and it was only the end of January. That was a huge win, and certainly kept me motivated and competitive using my Fitbit watch as it recorded without bias exactly what steps I had taken. (I hated taking it off to recharge as I felt I was being ‘cheated’ out of my recorded steps!!)
The above is only an example for all of you out there who already do more than your allocated step count, and of course your plans will be different for 2023 and may not even include fitness etc so you tailor your plan and quick wins to your specific area. They work and they give you the boost and determination to get over that first month when daily habits are formed and ingrained.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I hope that this approach will help you to clarify, and bring into your conscious thinking exactly what is it is you want to do and achieve by using the SMART method.
The SMART approach has been utilised in industry and commerce in many business sectors for many years, so it is nothing new. It works
If it works for big business, then it can work for you.
I wish you every success on your journey of life through 2024, may your pathway be stretching enough so you learn, but not too harsh that you give up on the way.
Your hopes and aspirations await you, just around the corner.
All the very best, in friendship and love.
