Using SMART New Year's Resolutions to Achieve Your Goals

There is a trick to accomplishing your New Year's Resolutions. You simply need to apply the same objective setting techniques that work on the job to your personal life. Business professionals set SMART objectives in order to achieve corporate goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. If you create SMART New Year's Resolutions, you will increase your odds of success.

Specific - If you want to accomplish something, you have to be "Specific" about your goal. Instead of resolving to lose weight, resolve to lose 25 pounds. Instead of resolving to exercise, resolve to join a health club and exercise three times per week. A specific New Year's resolution will point you towards taking real action.

Measurable - The old management cliche is that you can't manage what you can't measure. If you incorporate measurable progress indicators into your New Year's resolution, you'll be able to tell if you are on track towards achieving your goals. If you resolve to lose 5 pounds per month, you'll be able to step on the scale each month, track your progress, and increase your efforts as needed.

Attainable - When you make your New Year's resolution, you'll want to set a realistic goal that you can achieve in a reasonable amount of time. If you don't have any experience with musical instruments, you can't reasonably expect to attain a position as a violinist with your state's symphony in a short time. A better resolution might be to take class and learn an instrument at a local music store. You have to judge your talent and the amount of time and resources you can realistically devote to accomplishing your resolution.

Relevant - If you are going to take the time to make New Year's Resolutions, you should take the time to set resolutions that will help you accomplish something that advances you towards the life goals you envision. For example, if you want to put a child through college, it would make more sense to commit $100 per month to a 529 College Savings Plan instead of enrolling in Yoga classes.

Time-bound - If you don't set a New Year's Resolution solidly into a window of time, you may never get around to accomplishing your goals. America's couches and recliners are full of people who want to lose weight one day, who want to travel, who want to learn a foreign language, or who want to get their finances in shape. But, without a timetable for achieving their resolutions, most Americans procrastinate. If you truly want to accomplish your goals and live the life you envision, you need to create a schedule for accomplishing the things that will move your life along. If you resolve to lose 25 pounds over the course of 5 months, you'll have a time bound New Year's resolution.

When you set SMART goals for New Year's Resolutions, you will have a much greater chance of succeeding. Great success in life can be accomplished through a series of SMART goals. Resolve to set at least five SMART Resolutions within the next two weeks and achieve your goals in the business of life.