It’s almost New Years Day! (Less than two weeks to go y’all and 2025 ends). For many people, that means doing an evaluation of the past year and figuring out what they want the next year to look like. (I’ll take fewer Once in a Lifetime Events, thanks). And of course when you’re figuring out what you want the next year to look like, you’re probably thinking goals and new years resolutions! So today, we are going to do a refresher on SMART goals.
SMART goals are considered to be the standard when it comes to making goals, particularly professional ones. It is an acronym which steers you towards making goals that you are more likely to succeed in and it’s been around for a long time.
S: Specific. Goals that are specific are far more likely to end in success than vague ones. You want to give your goal some firm boundaries; for example, “My goal is to contribute one post to the forums every week for my next two classes” as opposed to ‘contribute more’ which doesn’t really give you anything concrete to strive towards.
M: Measurable: Measurable goals are goals with a clear direction and often a deadline or amount. For example, instead of saying ‘pass my classes next semester’, I would say ‘Get 80% in my classes next semester’. The 80% is something quantifiable and gives me something concrete to strive for.
A: Achievable. Many of us make goals that we fall flat on simply because they were unrealistic. If I’m taking a math course, creating a goal that I will get 95% in that course is just plain unlikely and will cause a lot of unnecessary frustration. Instead, my goal might be to get the 73% I would need to stay in my program. Still not easy, but more achievable. (Thankfully I don’t need to take an economics or statistics course for my program!)
R: Relevant. The goal has to mean something to me, even if no one else cares. If it’s just a goal I’m making for someone else and I personally don’t care, then it’s unlikely I will be successful. Perhaps a relevant goal for me would be to take part in two anthologies. It’s a goal that is relevant to my networking as an author, writing goals, and overall author career, but I don’t need anyone else’s approval to strive for it. Whereas making a goal that I will write in a genre I don’t usually write in probably won’t happen because it’s not something I care about.
T: Timely. (or time constrained). Most humans need a deadline of some sort, either their own or imposed. And saying ‘by new years even 2026’ probably won’t do it as many people can’t think that far in the future. Instead, keep your goals on a time tight constraint or break down larger ones into smaller pieces. For example, instead of saying you’ll lose 40lbs in 2026, your goal might be to lose 4lbs in January. This is a tighter timeline (and more achievable) and builds towards your larger goal.
What’s most important about your goals is to make sure that they are something you can actually achieve, maybe with a bit of work, but achievable. Think about everything you’ve done thus far and what you would like to do to continue your positive trends. I’d also add a P to the SMART (SMART-P); at least one goal should be a positive one. We always do things like ‘lose weight’, ‘quit smoking’, ‘quit drinking’, etc., but positive goals are also more likely to succeed. You can reframe the common goals into positive ones (eat more fibre, put the money spent on cigarettes/alcohol towards a trip), or create a whole new positive goal such as get a micro-certificate in an interest, read 10 more books, or spend two hours a week learning a new hobby.
Sit down at some point over the next two weeks and think about what you want to achieve in 2026, then create some SMART goals around them!
To get you started, here are a few of mine:
- Achieve 80% in my M.Ed courses next year (3-4 classes).
- Read 165 books
- Beat 5 video games
- Log what I eat every day and aim for eating enough fibre, protein, and carbs at least two days a week.
- Walk 10k steps at least 4 days a week
- Publish 1 piece of fiction (novel, short story, anthology contribution, etc).
- Save $5,000 in a TFSA
Happy holidays!
