Goal setting for 2016

With only two more days left of 2015 I can't help but look forward to the upcoming year with enthusiasm and more gusto. I have always been one to set goals and so this time of year is such a fun time for me. Being able to see everyone starting to make their resolutions and getting all fired up! The last couple of years though I feel like I have gotten more lax in my goal setting. This year...I want it to be different. I want to be very thoughtful of what goals I am setting and in getting specific with my goals. Which reminds me of a great system I learned about for setting goals. It's called being a S.M.A.R.T. goal setter.....

Specific: So let's say I have a goal of being a "better homeschooling mom" or "exercising more". At the end of the year how will I know that I achieved my goal? That's why it's necessary to be specific. Also if I set a goal that I'm not passionate about then I will be less likely to be committed to that goal. Hence it being so important that I find my why when setting my goal. We will use my "exercise more" goal as an example. In order to be specific in my goal I could say I want to exercise 4x a week for 30 minutes. That's a great start. I could even be more specific my noting the days of the week I want to exercise and if I want even the time of day (but don't get too hung up on details that you set yourself up for failure). 

Meaningful: As far as the why this goal is important to me? Well I want to be healthy and be able to be an active individual and an involved mom but this year it goes even more detailed than that. I love aerial silks and pole fitness and I want to be able to progress in my love of silks and pole fitness so exercising more is meaningful to me because it means I am progressing in a passion of mine. 

Action Oriented:  If my goal is to exercise 4x a week for 30 minutes and I want to be improving in aerial silks and pole fitness while doing so then I need to take some steps to ensure that the type of exercise I will be doing will help me improve in those areas. So I can set a day to do pole fitness and get specific on what types of moves I want to learn or how I want to improve, I can set a day to work on my flexibility so that I can bend and do some of the pole or silks moves, I can set a day to work on strength training and targeting certain muscles I know I need to work on for certain pole or silks moves I am learning, and lastly I can set a day to do aerial silks, working on the specifics of how I want to improve there. 

Realistic: How do you know your goal is realistic? For starters look at your track record and your time allotted each day to see if you have the time and resources to accomplish your goal. If it turns out that you decide maybe your goal is asking too much of you right off the bat, back up a bit. Maybe you start by exercising 2x a week for 15 minutes a day for a month. Then once you have accomplished that you can lengthen the time or exercise more frequently. The trick here is to have little successes  along the way. While goals are intended to push you and help you improve, they are not meant to test you. Give yourself some breathing room and celebrate the small successes!

Timely(Time-Bound): Some goals have a definitive end such as "Become certified as a group fitness instructor" others are more of a lifetime development.  At the end of 2016 if I exercised 4x a week for 30 minutes a day then my goal would be met but that's a long time waiting. That's why I recommend with lifetime goals  that you do it in baby steps. With this particular goal you could start slow by only working out 1x a week or you could start by focusing on "drinking more water" for the first month and then  adding a workout day.  The point is to just keep moving!

I hope this helps you have a more organized way of setting and achieving goals. Happy New Year!

Here's to a wonderful and meaningful 2016!