Resolve: This year will be THE year that you achieve your goals! It is simply a matter of learning how.

We all periodically set goals to be a better person, get a better job, manage our finances better, eat better, exercise better. But we never quite define what “better” means or looks like. Eventually, we lose momentum and foucs and return to old habits.

Why?

The problem is not lack of willpower power, it is lack of clarity. “Better” is too amorphous a term that doesn’t offer any specifics or shed any light on the what, why or how of accomplishing the resolution.

You have heard it before: goals must be SMART. They must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timebound. That is a good formula to address the what and how of goals such as get a better job, save money, lose weight, exercise more but it does not address the why. Why is that your goal? Why is that important to you this year? It is in understanding the why that will make the difference in whether or not you will be effective in achieving the goals.

It is often those things that we are embarrassed to say out loud that serve as our greatest motivators. Change can not be sustained through knowledge alone; it is always fueled by emotion. Those “evil secrets” sound silly or self-serving when we say them out loud, yet those are the things that drive us. Are you motivated by money? Prestige? Position and power? The opportunity to do good? Autonomy? Work/life balance? You must acknowledge those internal drivers, without judgment, in order to tap into the fuel needed to achieve your goal.

Imagine your goal has been achieved overnight. What are the tangible signs you would see or experience in the morning that would prove the goal has been achieved? Identifying those signs offers insight into the why the goal is important to you.

For example, if your goal is to “have a better job” perhaps the tangible signs you would experience include waking up an hour later, having breakfast with your children and driving 8 miles to the office instead of leaving the house before sunrise to catch a 6:15 a.m. train for a 90 minute commute. That would suggest a why of “to have a better job” is about wanting more time for yourself and your family as well as a shorter commute.

Perhaps your tangible signs include waking up in a nicer house, putting on a suit and carrying a briefcase instead on a donning a pair of jeans and carrying a backpack. That would suggest a why of wanting more money and position of power/prestige to create a different lifestyle.

Once you understand the why THEN you can apply the SMART Goal formula. Think of each S-M-A-R-T component as a variable that can be altered and manipulated to further clarify your goal.

In the first example, “to have a better job” becomes “to find a job within 30 minutes of home by March 1.” That is Specific, Measurable and Timebound. However, is it Attainable and Realistic? To determine if it is Attainable would require research into the marketplace within 30 minutes of your home and the industry you are in. The information gained may help to clarify that the goal is not changing your job but moving to a new locale. Or maybe you discover altering the goal to be within 45 minutes of home instead of only 30 would work. Similarly March 1st may not be a realistic target, but July 1st might be.  Refine the goal.

Clearly, goal setting is a process. Once you have established the goal, the next step is to establish you action plan. Things worth achieving don’t come quickly or easily. There is always a price to pay to achieve your goals. Sometimes that price comes in the form of time and effort, sometimes it comes in the form of sacrifice and/or pain. The question always boils down to: What are you willing to do to achieve your goals?

Anything is possible IF you are willing to invest the time and effort or accept the sacrifice or pain. For example, I truly believe I could become a prima ballerina, despite the fact that I am over 50, never studied dance and am 30 pounds overweight IF I am willing to quit my job, spend 8-10 hours a day in a dance studio, change my diet and endure the physical demands a dancing career requires. The reality is I am not willing to do any of those things. That would suggest being a prima ballerina is a dream, not a goal.

However, a dream can help create a goal. Assuming ballet is something I have an interest in or a passion for, with some further self-reflection and self-assessment I could identify my innate abilities and talents for managing a business and set a goal to open a ballet school in my community by July 1. With a tangible goal in mind, I can now create an action plan which would include drafting a business plan, securing financing, renting space, hiring staff, advertising and securing clients. Each of those steps requires identifying small, manageable, concrete tasks to be completed in a specific timeframe. Those are things I am willing to do.

Even the most well-defined goal is likely to encounter obstacles and setbacks along the way. However, with an understanding of the underlying why this goal is important, the energy and motivation to develop a strategy to meet any challenge will be available.  If you get to a point where you are not willing to do what is necessary to meet the specific challenge, reevaluate the original goal and feel free to simply refine the goal. That is not failure. That is making a choice. It is all part of the evolution process of goal setting. You always have control.

Achieving your goals is possible once you understand WHY they are your goals in the first place and trust the process to lead you where you are meant to go.