By Brittini Maitland
Brit Fit, LLC
As we approach the end of 2022, we have the chance to celebrate making it through another 365 days; also the New Year marks a time of renewal that allows us to take advantage of what the future holds for us. Whether you believe you can complete a New Year’s Resolution or not the process in itself of setting goals can be greatly beneficial.
Setting a New Year’s Resolution allows you to gain a certain level of responsibility over your life especially when you are intentional about your goals. It causes you to be introspective and honest with yourself about where you are in different areas of your life and where you want to be. Creating goals also gives you a blueprint and direction to clearly walk out your plan for yourself for the New Year.
So where do you start? First thing is first, you must create S.M.A.R.T. goals if you want to be intentional about setting your New Year’s Resolutions and be a part of the small percentage of people who actually complete their New Year’s Resolutions.
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It is important for your goals to be specific so that you know exactly what you are trying to accomplish. Measurable goals allow you to track your progress and celebrate the small victories along the way. When setting our New Year’s Resolution we want to make sure the goal we are setting is attainable and realistic-we can’t make a New Year’s Resolution to sprout a money tree in our backyard.
It is so very important that your goals are relevant to your life, values, ambitions and dreams-this takes some serious intentionality and introspection. Lastly, our goals must be time-bound meaning there is a targeted date for completion to keep you on track. Using this blueprint will allow you to create New Year’s Resolutions that are intentional and that will allow you improve your life.
Now, we have to think about what is important to us and what areas of our lives need improvement. The top areas of life improvement are: family, career, education, and health. After identifying which areas you want to improve, you can then set goals for those areas (ex. “I want to eat healthier.”, “I want to get my certification.”, “I want to incorporate family game nights.”). Then break these broad goals down to SMART goals. You want your goals to represent short term steps towards a long term goal.
Next you want to visualize your goals, literally; write down your New Year’s Resolutions or create a Vision Board. Having that visual reminder will help keep you accountable and motivated towards completion. The most important part of creating New Year’s Resolutions is celebrating you. When you have devoted time into something that is important and life changing that can yield an improvement in mental health, personal outlook towards the future, and pride in oneself. So why not start thinking about your goals for the New Year.
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