How to Really Achieve Your Goals This Year

You’ve set a bunch of goals so you can absolutely slay this year, but then life happens. You get busy, priorities change, and one month in from the new year you’re starting to slip. New year, new you starts to shift to new you, next month, and before you know it your goals get put on the back-burner for another year.

We’ve all been there! (In fact, 92% of people don’t achieve their goals.) Good news is, no matter the time of the year – new year, start of the fall season, random summer day – it’s always a perfect time to set new goals. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re starting to fall off track. Just re-assess, re-prioritize, and keep reading to learn how you can really achieve your goals!

1. Set SMART Goals

First things first, let’s kick it back to high school and bring back “S.M.A.R.T.” goals. In order for you to achieve your goals it’s so important to level set with how you set out your goals in the first place.

S – Specific: What is it that you want to do? If you’re looking to get healthier – set a broader goal than “be healthier”. Are you trying to eat cleaner? Are you trying to lose weight? Be as specific as you can be. i.e. I want to lose weight this year.

M – Measurable: Next step, is to make sure you’re able to track your progress. If you can quantify your goal that’s amazing – if not, try to put some element of measurement around it. i.e. I want to lose 50 pounds.

A – Attainable: You want to set challenging goals, but it’s so important to make sure those goals are actually achievable. In other words, if you’re trying to lose weight and haven’t been active in a long time, don’t set a goal where you know your body will burn out or one that’s simply not attainable nor healthy. If your current weight is 150, and you want to drop down to 100 pounds, maybe you need to reassess whether or not that’s an achievable goal. Or, if that’s a healthy goal. Better way to tackle? Start with a smaller denomination and go from there. i.e. I want to lose 25 pounds. 

R – Relevant: Set goals that are actually applicable to your life. How does your goal align to what you want in your life in the long-term? In this case, maybe your overall vision is to be at a healthier weight to be able to take better care of yourself and be more active as you age. Or, maybe it’s to be in your best shape for your upcoming wedding. Perfect – aligns great with your long-term objectives.

T – Timely: It is SO major to put a timeline to your goals. Now I know what you’re thinking – the timeline is to achieve the goal by the end of the year, right? Yes, and no. There’s a bit more that goes into the timely aspect – let’s dive deeper in the next point.

2. Break your goals down into a plan with mini goals

They say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Alright, a little intense, we know. Butttt also – just a bit true. If your goal is to lose 25 pounds by the end of the year, and you have not come up with a plan over the next 12 months, you have to take a step back. We’re all human, get demotivated at times, and a lot happens in an ENTIRE year. To stay on track you have to keep your goal on top of mind, 24/7. What’s the best way to do that? Create a plan with mini goals.

So, your current goal is to lose 25 pounds by the end of the year. That means in 6 months you want to have lost about 12.5 pounds. Break that down a bit more. Every 3 months, you want to lose 6.25 pounds. Let’s get even more granular. What your actual goal is, is to lose about 2-2.5 pounds every month. Now that, is a SMART goal. It’s achievable, realistic, and is a monthly reminder of how you’re tracking for your goal. You have to make small changes in the short-term to reach your long-term objectives.

Now that you’ve cracked that number, time to set a plan to make those mini goals happen. There are tons of different ways to do this, and you can get creative! When you’re working on a monthly goal, it’s so fun to make them into “4-week challenges”. If you’re trying to lose 2.5 pounds in January, perhaps your plan is to go to to the gym 3x a week, and begin meal-prepping. When it comes to February, set a 4-week challenge that you’ll do 2 HIIT sessions per week and not eat out at all for the month. And continue on for March, April, etc., until the end of the year.

When you set 4-week challenges to achieve mini goals, your larger goal becomes so much easier to achieve. With this approach, you’re taking mini steps to create an entire lifestyle change by getting rid of the habits little by little that are impeding you from achieving your goals.

3. Keep yourself accountable and check-in with your mini goals

The last and final step, is to keep yourself accountable. Once you’ve set your mini goals and have created your plan, you can’t just thank u, next and forget about it. Work it in somewhere in your plan that once a month you evaluate your progress on that mini goal. For this specific goal for example, maybe that includes doing a weigh-in at the end of every month, and logging what you could be doing better for the next month. If you’re not achieving your mini goals, you know something needs to change. Re-assess what your current plan is and understand what stopped you from achieving that goal.

Remember, goals are much more than checking something off of a to do list. Sometimes it can be – especially if it’s more of a bucket list type of goal (i.e. I want to go skydiving this year). But when it’s more about personal development and lifestyle changes such as losing weight, quitting smoking, eating cleaner, etc.; it’s about changing habits. It’s not an easy thing to do, but girl, if anyone can do it, it’s you! Don’t get overwhelmed, keep yourself consistent, be accountable for yourself, and just make it happen. You got this!