We’re finally rolling around in the second month of the year, and many resolutioners have already given up hope on those goals made right before the ball dropped on the night of New Year’s Eve. It’s typical: The high-intensity routine that lasted about a week finally came crashing down, and all the habits you tried to implement are gone.
But what if I told you that there are so many ways for you to achieve your dreams and goals this year? I may be a strong believer in the power of goal-setting now, but I wasn’t always that way. I felt as though there was no way to achieve the resolutions I set because they were too big or too hard. After implementing the three strategies listed below, I finally began to see the benefits of sticking with my goals.
Before we get into these strategies, let’s go over how many goals you should set. Personally, I break my goals down into six different categories: personal, experiences, involvement, academic, relationships, and career. However, this can be overwhelming if you’re just getting started. Maybe try setting a goal for your schoolwork and involvement this semester and build from there. Just make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself and burn out!
- Make SMART Goals
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SMART is a goal-making strategy that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Reframing your goals under this structure will help you narrow down what exactly you want and how you’ll get there. Let’s use the example of raising your GPA.
specific
First, you’ll want to make your goal as specific as you can. How are you going to raise your GPA? What options do you have? Try setting a goal for your grades this semester. The more specific, the better. So instead of making the goal of a higher GPA, make a goal for the specific grade you want in each class during this semester. It’s incredibly important to be as specific as you can when setting goals because it shows you the small achievements needed to impact the broader picture.
measurable
Next, you need a way to measure your progress. This could be something like studying for two hours during the week or keeping track of due dates so you’re able to turn all your assignments in early. This step is important to make sure you have a digestible, easy way to track how you’re progressing toward successfully completing your goals.
achievable
Then, you’ll want to think of the habits and practices that will make your goals achievable. Start small and choose habits that you’ll be able to stick to. Putting your phone in another room when you study is a great example of a small, easy-to-manage habit that will improve your study habits and, in turn, will help you do better in school.
relevant
Setting goals that don’t align with your lifestyle is a guarantee for failure. You can’t expect yourself to run a marathon with a month of training when you haven’t run in years. It’s important that your goals are relevant to your wants and needs in life and match what your lifestyle looks like. Doing well in school could make you a more competitive graduate school applicant, which makes it important for you to achieve and align with the future you want to have. Whatever your goal may be, make sure it matches with who you are as a person.
time-bound
Lastly, set a hard-stop deadline. In school, this would be the end of the semester. But for financial, personal, and other goals, there’s no exact answer to when these need to be achieved. That’s why it’s important to hold yourself accountable by deciding when you want to finish achieving your goal. If you want to save up to travel abroad this summer, give yourself until May 1 to save as much as you can. Whatever your goal may be, this step is crucial in the execution and success of your ambitions.
- Construct a Vision Board
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It feels as though 2024 has become the year of vision boards, and I’m not going to lie, I’m a huge fan of this trend. Visualization is one of the most important parts of your goals, and vision boards do just that. Whether you make a physical board or an online one, vision boards give you a space to see what your goals would look like. Trinity Tondelier, host of The Wellness Cafe podcast, is a vision board icon. Her 136th episode covers how to make a vision board that actually works, as well as what’s in and out this year.
- Create a Cross-Off Calendar
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I don’t remember where I got this idea from, but it’s probably been the most helpful advice I’ve ever gotten. Once you have your SMART goals set up and vision boards made, it’s now time to put it all into action. The idea is to create an “X” chain on a calendar. Every day, you have small habits that will bring you closer to your goals that we defined in the measurable and achievable sections of the SMART goal-making strategy. In the example of a higher GPA, this is studying for two hours a day. Each day you do this habit, you cross off that day on a calendar. To miss a day of studying would be to break the “X” chain, which you’ll want to keep going as long as you can, hopefully for the whole month!
It’s not too late to salvage your goals for 2024! Whether you fell off the first week of the year or are looking for some goal-making strategies to get you started, this year is the perfect year to achieve everything you’ve wanted!
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