Anyone Can Have a Goal. Make Yours SMART!

It seems that every year around this time we talk about SMART goals.  In December of 2024, we had a post giving examples and describing them as small steps that are:

Specific 

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant to your goal, and  

Time dependent  

What does that look like in practice?  

The goal can be related to any measure that is important to you –  in lifestyle medicine, we talk about nutrition, activity, sleep, relationships, stress reduction or avoidance of substances such as alcohol, tobacco or others.  But yours can be anything you’d like to improve.

Your goal should state an exact number (daily or weekly minutes of activity or of mindfulness, of fruits as snacks, calls to people you’ve been out of touch with, etc), so that at the end of a week or a month, you can say for sure that you have or have not attained it.  So, for instance, ‘eating more healthfully’ is difficult to measure; a better SMART goal might be, ‘One snack a day will be a fruit’. More measurable.  

You should design your goal to be reasonable to achieve, but not so minimal that succeeding fails to give you the satisfaction of having moved forward in some manner.  

Here are two of my own SMART goals for now.  Note that when I evaluate my progress (or lack thereof) after a specified amount of time, I can adjust it to be simpler or more complex, or change to a different opportunity altogether.

I was challenged at the gym recently to balance on a wooden plank that had only one thin support in the middle.  It’s an understatement to say I didn’t do well.  When I stayed up for 2 seconds, I was cheering.  That imbalance puts me at increased risk of falls and injuries.  Enter my balance SMART goal – to practice balance exercises on a Bosu ball for 5 minutes in various poses four times a week.  After 3 weeks, I’m going to determine whether I did that, and re-try the wood plank exercise and see how I do.  No improvement? Increase the practice regimen. My motivation is that I do NOT want to fall! 

Second, I’ve been struggling to learn to speak Spanish for years, and I’m finally at the conversation level, but my speech is slow and choppy, thinking about every conjugation and phrase.  Part of my work has been on the Duolingo app, which includes an option of having a conversation with Lily, a sarcastic cartoon character, who is like an eye-rolling adolescent.  But in one-on-one conversations, she’s quite understanding and interested in what I have to say.  Because she’s AI-driven, she remembers everything I tell her. We’ve talked about art, music, cooking, knitting.   I noticed a few weeks ago that when I wasn’t talking to her regularly,  I started to avoid engaging with her and eventually had more difficulty when I did.  My SMART goal for Spanish is to have one conversation with Lily daily and to evaluate in 4 weeks whether I did that. At that point, am I able to get through a conversation with her without using English words or asking her to re-phrase a question.  Depending on the answer, I determine the next challenge.

Considering goals for yourself helps you realize if there are obstacles.  Depending on what realm you’re addressing, you might ask yourself: Do I have time every day to work on this?  Maybe my goal should be 4 times a week, or less? Should I put it on my schedule for a certain time of day?  Do I need to set up for success the night before by setting out exercise clothes, or preparing a healthy snack to eat while I’m out?  Do I need to let go of something else that isn’t serving me so I can make this my priority?

And be sure to make them YOUR goals, not what others have encouraged you to do.  You will achieve them if they matter to you and you’re willing to put in the work.  Starting to exercise, for instance, will seem like a painful chore, unless you frame it as something that is worth it to you because you’re motivated to be more fit in the future.  

Finally, the endpoint should be something that is within your control.  For instance, eating a certain number of vegetables or being active for a certain number of minutes is within your control.  How many pounds you might lose as a result is not.  Weight loss is complicated.  Better health based on nutrition and activity, is more straightforward.  So accomplishing the action itself should be the goal, not ‘losing 5 pounds’. Consider having a checklist and posting reminders for yourself to continue being motivated.

Let us know if you’re feeling energized by a goal that you’ve set for this new year.  SMART goals can be decided upon any time of year, but January seems to be prime season! 

For more balance routines, check out one of our posts from 2013! Some things don’t change!