You know who hates resolutions?

People who don’t achieve their goals, that’s who.

I speak from experience on this. The years when I hate setting resolutions are typically the years when the goals feel audacious, I didn’t accomplish what I intended the year before, or my goals lack clarity.
The reality is that goals are the only way we get anything done ever, whether we explicitly set them or not.

• “I need to mow the lawn today.”
• “I’ve got to send out that spreadsheet by 5pm.”
• “I’m going to prepare my lesson.”
• “I want to save $50 for that widget I’ve always wanted.”

Whether we realize it or not, our life is driven by goals. The only reason you get up in the morning, eat food, and go to work is because you set micro-goals.

• “Ok, now I’m really going to get out of bed. Here…I…go!”

Goals work. We use them all the time.

Why not make them intentional and meaningful?

I use the the following categories and set 1-3 SMART goals in each:

• Career
• Financial
• Spiritual
• Physical
• Intellectual
• Family
• Social
• Relationship with Wife

What makes a great goal? For me, it’s simply about specificity and deadline. Also, I should be able to pinpoint when it’s complete.

For example, “I want to get healthy” isn’t a goal, it’s an aspiration. “I want to work out five times a week” is more of a goal, but lacks specificity. “I want to work out five times a week at 5:30am like this: M — Run for 30 min, T — Chest/Back, W — Run for 30 min, Th — Legs, Fri — Run for 30 min.”

That’s a goal that’s likely to happen.

Once your goals are set, read over them keeping in mind the three things that derail goals:

1. They’re too audacious. “I want to make $1 million this year” when you’ve only made $50k historically is a demotivator. “I want to make $75k this year and here’s the plan” is more likely to result in $75k and probably more.
2. I was unsuccessful last year. The past is only an indicator of future success if you don’t change anything about your future trajectory.
3. Lacking specificity. If you want to be healthier, richer, more empathetic, or more productive, you likely won’t. Aspirations are nothing more than wishes. In fact, these aspirations come as a result of actions taken. You’d be better off setting specific goals, where these things become the byproducts: “I want to work out 5 times a week (healthier), increase my net worth by 5% (richer), ask questions and listen to my kids during dinner to learn more about their day and strive to really understand them (more empathetic), and wake up at 5am, work out, read scripture, check and respond to all emails and eat breakfast by 8am (more productive).”

But what if I don’t accomplish them?

“We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.”
-Earl Nightingale

It was never only about the goal in the first place.