How to make SMARTer goals for 2024

Every year, we make goals, but about 80% of those New Year’s resolutions fail. But why is that? Well, one big reason is that your goals aren’t SMART enough. We’ll learn about the other reasons in next week’s blog post, but today, we’ll be focused on improving how you make your goals so that you can make 2024 your year!

Specific

Your goal has to be clearly defined so that you know what to aim for. Don’t have imprecise goals, otherwise, you won’t know what to do to achieve them! Making your goal specific allows you to break it down into smaller steps so that you know exactly what to do to achieve it.

Not specific: be a better student

Specific: study consistently

Measurable

Decide on an end-point for your goal so that you know when you’ve achieved it. This makes it trackable, so you can see your progress and figure out how to improve! Ask yourself: at what point will I have achieved this goal?

Not measurable: be a faster runner

Measurable: run a 5k in 30 minutes

Achievable

Setting a goal you can’t achieve will cause you to lose motivation: be ambitious but realistic. Ensure it’s something you can maintain in the long term. When making your goal, consider whether you can truly see yourself working towards it every day for the rest of the year.

Not achievable: study for 10 hours a day

Achievable: study for 2 hours a day

Relevant

Your goal should be relevant to your life and other goals. If it’s not, then you might lack the motivation or resources to follow through with it. Your goal should fit within your identity (more on this in the next post!), otherwise you won’t be able to achieve it. If you’re a student, then your goal shouldn’t be to become an Olympic shotputter, unless you’re already into athletics. That goal isn’t relevant to your life, so you won’t have the systems or motivation in place to achieve it.

Time-bound

Setting a date by which you should complete your goal will add a sense of urgency, which motivates you to work on your goal! However, remember the A in SMART – make sure your goal is achievable within the time frame.

Not time-bound: be better at maths

Time-bound: be able to do trigonometry by June