How To Set Goals That Are Achievable & Work For Your Lifestyle
By: Amira Sookram
Tags: New Year, Yoga, New Years Resolutions, Goal Setting, 2021

In the Goal Setting 101 E-Book, I share the steps of perfecting a goal for you so that you know you will succeed using The SMARTEY Method (developed from George T. Doran’s “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives.”)

S.M.A.R.T.E.Y. stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Trackable

Excuses

Your Mindset

You want your goals to be S.M.A.R.T. and the E.Y. will help you remove the BS from your mind so you know you will get it done!

Let’s dive into this method…

Is your goal SPECIFIC?

Let’s say that you start off with the intention of, “I want to be more active.”

Here’s how you can make this goal more specific:

Wanting to do more of something isn’t specific. If you worked out for 30 minutes this year, working out for 31 minutes in the New Year would have you reach your goal. This would not bring you closer to who you want to be.

Being unspecific makes it hard to tell the difference between completing your goal or not

Use “I” statements. Try starting with “I will…” — saying that you WILL do something programs your brain for action

Define the action points in your goal. What does being more active mean to you? Do you like multiple forms of activity? Or do you need to be specific about one?

A more specific goal would be: “I will practice yoga.”

Is your goal MEASURABLE?

The last goal is great, but can be more specific! Here’s how you can strengthen that goal by making it measurable:

Making your goal measurable sets you up for success by making it more specific. Put a timeframe onto your goal so that you can ensure progress and make it easy to track if you reached your goal or not.

This is a good place to tweak your goals by gradually increasing or decreasing it. Always start below where you want to be so you can make small steps toward your end goal.

The best timeframe to work with is what you can complete within the next week. That way you don’t look too far into the future, and also spend time planning a bit ahead.

If you are a flexible person, you may find it easier to set goals that are a little less specific. This may apply to you if you don’t work on a schedule, get bored with routine, or don’t like strict rules. It’s good to test out being very specific with goal setting and also being less structured with it. This may vary throughout your life.

If you are working with a fixed goal (has an end date), you can break down this goal into weekly tasks working up to the end date. Work backwards from the end to today.

Making your goal measurable could look like: “I will practice yoga 3x per week for 50 minutes.”

Is your goal ATTAINABLE for you?

Not only do you have to make your goal specific and measurable, but you also have to ensure that your goal is attainable for you so that it works perfectly for you and your lifestyle. Here are some more things to consider:

Think about the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The tortoise is slow, but steady. He takes small steps towards the finish line. The hare is speedy and fast. He gets distracted along the way. The tortoise ends up winning because he has the discipline to keep taking small steps forward. The hare loses focus and takes breaks. This is exactly how goals work for people.

Making your goal attainable means not jumping for the quick fix. The quicker you jump into change, the quicker you’ll jump out. Take it one step at a time and ease into it!

Make your goal attainable for who you are currently (not who you want to be). If you make your goal too hard and it seems daunting, you just won’t do it. The mindset easily goes to: “If I can’t do some of it — why do it at all?!” If you’ve been through this thought pattern before, then this goal is unattainable for you. Build up to your ideal goal by taking one small step.

Determination & self-discipline over speed.

Making the above goal more attainable may look like: “I will practice yoga 4 days a week for at least 20 minutes.”

Ensuring your goal is REALISTIC

If you have never practiced yoga a day in your life, making the leap to do it 4 days a week may be a massive change and not fit into your current lifestyle. Making your goal realistic can help ease you into the fear of change. Consider this:

When you say yes to your goal, you are saying no to something else in your life.

Whether or not your goal is realistic for you will be based on what you’re willing to give up to succeed. If this means giving up family time, eating, working, sleeping, or time spent on your studies, then this is a good time to reconsider if this goal is actually realistic for you AND your lifestyle.

Take account of your priorities. Maybe you have other things going on that are more important than your goal currently. You can always start by building a smaller goal. For example, if you would like to practice yoga for an hour every day, but hardly have the time to sleep and eat, you can start with a simpler goal like: “I will practice yoga 2 times a week for 20 minutes.” You can choose an even smaller goal than this. Keep making small strides towards being consistent with something rather than giving up altogether. Small steps lead to big change overtime.

If you are a flexible person, you may find it easier to set goals that are a little less specific. This may apply to you if you don’t work on a schedule, get bored with routine, or don’t like strict rules. It’s good to test out being very specific with goal setting and also being less structured with it. This may vary throughout your life.

You can set a goal to work on something for as little as 1–5 minutes a week. Forget what everyone else is doing and set a goal that works for you. For example, I often set the goal to practice yoga for at least 5 minutes, even years into my goal setting journey, because this works well for my lifestyle.

TRACKING Your Goal

This is the simplest step. If I asked you to track your goal for 1 whole month, could you track your goal? All you have to do is confirm that your goal can be tracked week-by-week so that you can see yourself moving toward your Ideal Self.

If there is any ambiguity in your goal, you should notice it when you have to say: No, I cannot track my goal. To make sure that your goal is in an actionable step of what to do next, you must be able to answer: Yes, I can track my goal week-by-week for the next month.

Tracking your goal leads to a better success rate. You get to see what went right and what went wrong by seeing your results right in front of you. This helps you create awareness around your behaviours and learn what works for you and what doesn’t.

If you don’t work on your goal for the week, you can see find a solution for how to fix that in the future. You can also see which weeks went well and reward yourself for working on your goal.

Start tracking your goal(s) with the Goal Tracker Digital Planner by setting monthly goals, tracking the, and reflecting on your progress at the end of each month.

Do you have any EXCUSES?

If you have an excuse, you have a reason to fail at your goals. You will continuously fall back on this excuse until you let it go.

This is usually a hard statement to hear because it will often bring up more excuses. You may also feel the need to blame something external to you for why you can’t work on your goal. The truth hurts, and the truth is that you are the only one who can work toward your Dream Self.

Get out a pen & paper and write down every excuse you have on your mind. Write down every thought that comes up telling you why you can’t complete your goal. Remember to use “I” statements. Instead of saying “because there’s no space to work out”, try saying “I cannot work out at home because there’s no space” — Putting the focus on you helps you see that you can find solutions to the problem.

Start re-writing those excuses into micro-goals. Think about it like problem-solving. Write down a way to get around that thought (a solution) or an alternative way to think about the problem (mindset shift).

Here’s an example:

I can’t work out because I don’t have the energy to do so after work → I will use affirmations to tell myself that, “I have energy!” or I will modify my workout to my energy level if I am fatigued.

YOUR MINDSET is key!

Your mindset must be in there right place for you to complete your goal.

To check this, answer the following questions:

Do you believe you can keep up with your goal for the next 4 weeks?

a.) Yes

b.) No, because…

If you answered “Yes” to both questions, then I have complete faith in you that you can reach your goal… because YOU have complete faith in YOU to reach your goal. That’s the secret! The secret is keeping up consistently with a sustainable goal is to build a goal that YOU believe you can do.

If you answered “No, because…” to any of the above questions, try jumping in with a goal for the sake of learning. This will help you create awareness around what works for you and what doesn’t. The key here is to reflect every week on your journey to create self-awareness. Join the Goal Setting 101 Community to get accountability, weekly journal prompts, the goal tracking workbook all-in-one!

Remember that you can always tweak your goal. If your goal isn’t working, then you need to tweak it so that it does work for you. Forget about what other people are doing, drop the comparisons, and focus on YOU and YOUR IDEAL SELF.

Ready to get started on your Goal Setting Journey?

Grab the Goal Setting 101 Bundle to get all the support you need in starting to set goals that work perfectly for you and your lifestyle, while taking imperfect action toward your Dream Self.