Setting Goals in 2016

setting goals

Happy new year!  The beginning of a new year can bring with it feelings of hope, excitement and renewal.  Indeed, ‘tis the season for old endings, new beginnings, and new year’s resolutions.  This blog is designed to offer you a new perspective on new beginnings by presenting you with ways to set and achieve goals!

Especially when there is added pressure to engage in making changes, like at the turn of the year, understanding ways to make goals easier to engage with and attain can be especially useful.  Any goal you set whether it’s at the beginning of January, or in the middle of the year should have certain characteristics.  Specifically, your goals should be: 1) specific, 2) attainable, 3) measurable, 4) time limited, and 5) hierarchical.

To explain each aspect, let’s examine a popular new year’s goal: “I want to exercise more.”  There are many ways in which this goal can be improved to be more effective and useful.  Here are some ways:

  • Specificity: Ask yourself–is “I want to exercise more” specific enough?  What are some ways in which to introduce more specificity?  One way would be to specify an outcome you would like to measure.  So, “I want to exercise 5x per week.” may offer more specificity.
  • Attainability: Ask yourself–is “I want to exercise 5x per week” attainable for you?  Do you work, have kids, travel a lot?  Think carefully about what you can reasonably introduce into your life.  Perhaps “I want to exercise 3x/week” would be more attainable.
  • Measurability: related to specificity, ask yourself–is “I want to exercise 3x/week” something you can measure?  In this case, perhaps, introducing some measurability to the term exercise may be helpful. So, perhaps “I want to jog for 20 minutes on the treadmill 3x/week” may offer a goal that is more measurable.
  • Time limited: Ask yourself, is “I want to jog 20 minutes on the treadmill 3x/week time limited?”  What is a way you could introduce a limit?  Perhaps “Until March 1st, I would like to jog 20 minutes on the treadmill 3x/week.”
  • Hierarchical: Finally, ask yourself: Is “I want to jog 20 minutes on the treadmill 3x/week until March 1st” hierarchical in nature?  Can you break that task down into sub-goals (e.g., joining a gym; changing my morning routine to accommodate exercise) and see it in the context of a larger goal (e.g., training to run a 5k in the Summer)?  If so, then the goal set is hierarchical!

So, in applying these tips, your goal has gone from:

  • “I want to exercise more”;
  • “I want to jog 20 minutes on the treadmill 3x/week until March 1st” 

Again, whether your aim is to make big changes at the beginning of the year or to start on a  gradual road towards bettering yourself, setting good goals can make all the difference.

 

Adam Joncich, Ph.D - NYC Therapist
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3 comments

  1. I think a very common mistake that people make when setting goals is that they often aren’t honest with themself when determining the attainability of a goal. People often jump to grand plans to drastically change their lifestyle, when in reality setting smaller goals that act as stepping stones toward a larger goal have a much higher chance at being successful. Remember to make your goal attainable and realistic so that you can enjoy the pleasure of accomplishing it!

  2. In my experience, the atmosphere of the holidays and the sense of space and time when I’m out of my normal routine always inspires me to set ambitious goals for myself. Then January kicks in, and inevitably my brain and schedule fill up, and the goals can go on the back-burner. Thanks for offering some concrete tips to help me up my game when it comes to goal-setting!

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