Be SMART about your resolutions

According to University of Scranton research, only 8% of people fulfill their New Years Resolutions.

You might think: “Most people are stupid.  Sure, 92% of people’s goals go unrealized, but I’m not most people. With hard work and determination, I’ll succeed, right?”While that’s possible, there is another possibility.

“Most people set stupid resolutions.”

Lots of people have good intentions, work hard, and still manage to fail. In fact, I’ve been that person more times than I can count and I’m sure you have been too. That’s not a fault of character, but a fault in goal-setting. So, how do you stop setting stupid goals?

Create SMART ones.

SMART goal setting is a well-known, tried, and true method. For those who are unfamiliar, SMART goals use a basic framework. It’s actually an acronym that stands for:

• specific (“make a public speech without any filler words” vs. “get better at public speaking”)
• measurable (“don’t say the words “like” or “um” more than twice” vs. “give the perfect speech”)
• accountable / action-oriented (“Join Liberty Toastmasters or AFF’s Let’s Talk series” vs. “practice alone in the mirror”)
• realistic (“share an inspirational story” vs. “convince liberals of the genius of Ayn Rand”)
• time-bound (“practice the full speech once per month” vs. “be ready when the time comes”)

SMART goals aren’t fool-proof, but they can be a great place to start. Hard work and persistence goes a long way, but only so far it’s going toward a goal that can be achieved. These rules don’t only go for New Years Resolutions; try it out with any goal you have and let me know how it goes!