Turning New Year Resolutions into SMART goals
By Jamaea Martin, PTA, LMT
As we prepare for winter and the holiday season, we reflect on the past year. Many of us reflect on the ebbs and flows of 2025, great memories of vacation, and if you’re anything like me, you're missing the warm weather already. We also tend to think about our goals for the New Year and set what most of us call ‘New Year's Resolutions.’New Year's Resolutions can often be vague when we talk about them and write them down in a journal, but they start to set the tone for being more disciplined in the New Year. However, my Hot Take on New Year's Resolutions is that they can be hard to stick to and follow through on as the winter blues set in. Getting out of bed on the cold mornings is a full-on task in itself. Not only that, but attempting to start “new goals” in the middle of the season, where nature around us is essentially dead or in hibernation, may seem counterproductive.
To keep ourselves accountable, we want to ensure we establish SMART goals. Resolutions such as “lose weight, save money, and spend more time with my loved ones” can be set as SMART goals and lead to better outcomes. SMART goals, a concept introduced by George T. Doran in 1891, are a powerful tool for creating clear goals. The acronym has now evolved to Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. SMART goals can help you achieve a simple goal, such as losing weight, and transform it into losing 20 pounds by the end of 2026. Let's break this goal down the SMART way:y:
Specific - yes. The goal is established with a specific weight we wish to lose.
Measurable – Yes! You can track your progress by using the scale and monitoring time.
Achievable- yes. If we start this goal at the beginning of the year, that breaks down to losing 1.6 lbs a month; this is a healthy, achievable, and sustainable weight loss.
Relevant- this is when we have to find our why. Why is this goal important? Maybe losing 20 lbs by the end of next year is relevant because you want to improve your lifestyle, be more active, and eat less processed foods.
Time-bound- absolutely. We have a goal to complete by the end of 2026.6.
Establishing SMART goals turns “spend more time with my spouse” into “Plan two date nights a month with my spouse,” and another example, such as “save more money,” into “Save an additional $25 every paycheck for 6 months.”
The acronym that stands out the most to me would be Relevance. As I explained earlier, it allows us to find our why. Why is this important to me? Does it make sense of my overall vision for my life, values, and long-term plans? Be sure to align all your goals with your bigger picture. No goal is too small.
