As in previous years, many people from different ethnicities, backgrounds, ages etc. do something that is universal. They all make New Years Resolutions. They have plans and dreams of habits they want to break or habits they want to develop. As New Years Resolutions are common, breaking them are even much more common.  According to YouGov, 23% of 1656 of adults from Great Britain weren’t able to keep any of their resolutions. Whereas, only 48% were able to keep some of them. This article, will show you different ways, young people especially, should set goals and targets this year. 

One way you can set goals is by using the SMART Goal Technique. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based. A lot of the time, when we set goals we aren’t specific with what we want to do. Our goals are very vague and so we can’t work towards them in a simplistic way. We should learn to measure the time we want to achieve certain goals. Your goal is quantifiable to track progress or success. Attainable, we should set goals that we can reasonably accomplish in a certain time frame. For example, the certain frame we could be working at is 2-3 weeks or even 2-3 months. Sometimes, we even set goals that are not in line with our passions or ambitions. Your goals should align with your long term objectives. And finally, Time-based. We should learn to set goals with a realistic end date (which ideally is the end of the year!) Setting a end date will help with task prioritisation and it will motivate you to work even harder to make sure you meet your goals. You can even set daily reminders to make sure you are constantly being reminded of the end goal.  

As young people, we are more likely to set revision goals this year. For example, one goal could be that you’d like to set 20 hours of revision every single week. However, you did this and now you have revision fatigue. There are many ways that you can avoid situations like this. For example, changing up your revision techniques. Two revision methods you can implement this year is the Pomodoro Method and Eat, Sleep, Revise and Repeat. The Pomodoro Method is a good way for people who struggle with having a good attention span etc. The Eat, Sleep, Revise and Repeat method helps with retaining information as the brain processes it while you’re sleeping. 

Finally, in order to make your goals come to fruition, make POSITIVE declarations every day. In Proverbs 18:21 it says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.”

If you say positive things and also act on your goals and you shall surely see the results. 

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