Setting goals is easy; achieving them is the hard part. Psychologists claim that new year’s resolutions are not achieved because people are too vague about their goals. In other words, their goals fail to outline the details of exactly how and when it will be carried out in your daily routines; along with how to measure and track their performance.

The American educator, Stephen Richards Covey, quoted ‘Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.’ When we set goals for the new year, our focus is on the fantasy of the ‘future’ instead of how we can improve today, in the now.

One way to solve this problem is to set SMART goals – an acronym for a goal setting technique. This method is proven to give individuals a sense of direction and create a clear approach to take meet their goal. It can also reduce stress levels, as it makes the goals seem manageable.

The SMART process for setting goals includes ensuring goals are specific, measurable, achievable, reliable and time bound. It means that it can make a seemingly impossible goal seem possible, by outlining the habits needed to take so you can integrate the goal into your daily, weekly, or monthly routine to achieve them.

Additionally, this procedure allows you to set goals where performance can be measured. This can help one understand how they are currently performing in relation to their goals and give leeway for adaptation and adjustment of their goals, to make it work better for them.

Why set average goals when you can set SMART goals, that you are more likely to achieve. Start 2022 right and start setting your SMART goals today.