How to Make New Years Resolutions the SMART Way
If you, like many of us, can’t wait to wave goodbye to 2020 and celebrate putting this year behind us, then you might have already started thinking about your new year resolutions and what you want 2021 to bring. Most of us have had things we were forced to postpone or have needed to temper our expectations for due to COVID. Especially if you’re a small business owner, this year has been tough. But, with a light (however faint) now at the end of the tunnel in the form of a vaccine, we can start the new year with some cautious hope.
If you’re the sort of person who starts every year with the best of intentions but, by the time the 5 of January hits and the hangover has worn off you’re reaching for a glass of wine despite the resolutions of dry January, then you might want to consider making your resolutions SMART this year. More commonly used in business settings, SMART can just as easily transfer to your personal life as well to give you optimum chances of success. Here’s how.
SMART is an acronym, where every letter of the words stands for a piece of guidance on how you can approach your resolution. What you want to achieve should be Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related.
Specific
Whatever you are hoping to achieve, whether related to your personal or work like, your goal needs to be specific. If you have a vague idea of improvement, like ‘I want to do better at work,’ this sort of target can only lead to failure, because you haven’t been specific about how exactly you want to get better, which areas you’re looking to improve in. Similarly, if you’re hoping to lose weight but have found yourself watching tummy tuck videos, then you already know which part of your body you’re hoping to work on. That means you can change your resolution to something with much more clarity, for example, ‘I want to get a promotion.’ You can make this even better by adding in what you’d like to be promoted to, so which position you think is next for you in the future.
Measurable
This is how you are going to set an indicator of progress on your resolution. How will you know if you have achieved it? In our example, it’s quite straightforward - you’ll know you have achieved your resolution to get a promotion when you have that shiny new job! But this might have a few different steps along the way. So, if you’re hoping for a promotion, will you need to complete any training that might make you better qualified? Should you be looking at work experience or job shadowing? Do you need a better home office in order to focus at work? Break down your resolution into measurable steps and it will feel much more achievable.
Assignable
Who is going to get this done? If it’s a personal resolution, the answer is often you. This is why it’s a good idea to make resolutions that are within your control and don’t rely too heavily on other people. There’s nothing wrong with looking for support and getting your friends to champion you along the way, like running a marathon with a training partner. But if your resolution relies solely on someone else for success, and something comes up for them, then you’ll be left unable to complete your plans. If your SMART resolution is work-related, do you have a team or employee in place who can complete this? If not, then is this something you need to consider and factor into the timeframe for your resolution?
Realistic
What can be achieved, given the available resources? If you have a small business, or you’re a sole-trader, what is a realistic ambition or goal for yourself for the year, or even the first quarter of the year? It might be unrealistic to expect to quadruple your customer base, but increasing customers by 5% per month may be more achievable. Understanding what is possible with the time and energy that you have available is key to realistic, SMART goal-setting.
Time-related
The last point of a SMART goal is that it’s time-related. Especially if you are only answerable to yourself, then it can be easy to make resolutions and end up shifting them further and further back until they fall off the to-do list and are never seen again. But, whether it’s improving your small business, or enhancing your personal life, if you make deadlines that you actually stick to, you’ll be able to make 2021 your year.
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Running a successful business can feel like walking on a tightrope while juggling multiple swords at once, both high adrenaline and exhausting. Success requires knowing when and what aspects of business require precision planning versus those you can leave to chance, whether that be startup superstardom or veteran CEOship.