Almost a third of Americans set New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, many of them don’t know how to set resolutions that they can successfully accomplish, so many of these plans will be scrapped by April, causing the person to feel bad about their perceived failure. At The Pavilion, in Williamsburg, Virginia, we work with our patients to ensure that they set goals for themselves that will propel them forward in their recovery journey and make them feel good about their ability to be successful.
Why Resolutions Fail
Think about the resolutions you have heard people make over the years. Many of them probably sound something like this:
- “I want to lose weight.”
- “I want to save more money.”
- “I need to work out more.”
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be physically active, maintain a healthy weight, or be financially responsible, but how would you know if someone was successful in obtaining these goals? When and why are they trying to do these things? How will it happen? There is a lot of missing information here, and without filling in the blanks, a lot of people set themselves up for failure.
SMART Goals Improve Your Chances of Success
By setting goals that are more complete, a person is far more likely to do the thing they set out to accomplish. One way to do this is to follow the acronym SMART:
- Specific – Be precise about what you’re trying to do. By asking yourself questions like who, what, when, where, why and how, you can develop a better goal. Who is going to be involved? What are you responsible for doing? Where will you be doing these actions? When will you do this? Why is this important?
- Measurable – What will progress and goal achievement look like? On days when you’re feeling unmotivated, knowing exactly what you want to achieve will be a powerful tool for pushing through and continuing to make progress.
- Achievable – Be realistic about what you can do. If you aren’t exercising at all right now, a goal to run a marathon next month isn’t likely to be successful, but that could be a great long-term goal, with smaller goals along the way.
- Relevant – Why does this matter? What do you hope to gain from this goal? If you don’t have a good reason for doing something, it’s easy to give up, so you need to know your reason why.
- Time-bound – Without deadlines, it is easy to keep pushing off the changes you need to make in order for your goal to happen. Urgency is a powerful motivator.
With all of this in mind, a SMART goal around being more active might look like, “I will go to the gym when I leave my office each night. I will pack a gym bag the night before and keep it by the front door. I will start by using the treadmill for 30 minutes and add 5 minutes per week until I reach an hour. I want to work out more because my family is going to the Grand Canyon in July, and I want to be able to walk without pain during that trip.”
Staying on Track
Ensuring your goal is SMART is a great step in the right direction. Additional ways you can increase your chances of success include:
- Committing it to paper – it’s more real when you have a visible representation, whether this is a vision board, a post-it note on your fridge, or journal entries.
- Breaking it down – if a goal is too big (like a marathon), we can become overwhelmed and paralyzed. Taking smaller steps (like running for half an hour and then building up to a 5K) can make the big goal a lot less scary.
- Spreading the word – if you tell the supportive people in your life about your plans, they can help you stay accountable and may even join you on your adventure.
- Regularly evaluating progress – even great planners sometimes run into unexpected barriers. If you’re not having as much momentum as you would like, take some time to consider what is slowing you down and to adjust your plan as needed.
- Celebrating successes – you don’t have to wait until you run that marathon to acknowledge your progress. Set intermediate goals along the way and reward yourself for the steps you are taking.
At The Pavilion, we believe in our patients. We know that they are capable of achieving great things in their lives, and we are here to help them regain stable, fulfilling lives after mental health crises.
