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New Year’s resolutions are notoriously hard to keep. Some statistics say that the success rate could be as low as 8% (that’s the general public, your rate is of course, probably a lot higher!). So why are they so hard to keep? Well the fact that they’re usually made after several champagnes certainly doesn’t help! Seriously, the reason they don’t work is they are just not SMART. Let me explain what I mean.

Being smart is more than just an intellectual thing, and certainly has nothing to do with spelling, just ask Homer Simpson. In terms of New Year’s resolutions, being SMART is about planning to achieve success. SMART is an acronym used by many successful people throughout the world to guide them in their resolutions and business goals. It stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Tangible

These five words are a helpful reminder that will structure your New Year’s resolution in the SMARTest way to optimise success. If you truly want to succeed in achieving your resolution, then why not put a little bit of effort into working out the best way to make it happen. By putting a common New Year’s resolution under the scrutiny of the above acronym, I will help to clarify what I mean by SMART.

“This year I am going to give up drinking and smoking and eat more healthily!”

Is this resolution SMART?

Specific

There are a number of words in this statement that could be fleshed out and made more specific. For starters, “this year” is an ambiguous phrase that could be replaced with “from the 1st of January.” “Drinking and smoking” is also a very broad description and could be further clarified by defining it further. This resolution could say “drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes,” or if you prefer, “drinking more than a glass of wine per evening and smoke only 3 cigarettes per day.” Lastly, what does “eat more healthily” even mean? This can be written far more specifically so let’s change ours to “eat takeaway only once per week.” The point to remember: your goal should be stated so clearly that your intention cannot be mistaken or your meaning misinterpreted.

“From the 1st of January I am going to give up drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and eat take away only once per week!”

Measurable

For a resolution to be successful it’s advised to word it in such a way as to make it measurable. This means that you can later look back and actually say “yes, I did do it.” It also gives a time frame to work toward which is often what is needed to motivate actions toward the goal. Taking the example resolution, there is already a start date for this resolution, but a completion date needs to be added for reviewing success or failure.

“From the 1st of January I am going to give up drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and eat take away only once per week. I will stick to this until Christmas 2011.”

Achievable

A lot of people get this and ‘realistic’ confused. In essence they are very similar words. In the SMART format, they both speak towards the achievement of the goal or resolution, although there is a subtle difference in meaning. Achievable means “CAN you achieve?” So all things in your life considered (e.g. resources, time, etc.), is it reasonable to say that this goal CAN be achieved. Only you can answer this. If we look at our example resolution, it may be decided that there is no way that all of these things could be tackled at once, and in fact, lifestyle or work requirements could perhaps dictate that takeaway only once per week is actually not achievable.

“On the 1st of January I am going to give up drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. I will stick to this until Christmas 2011.”

Realistic

The subtle difference between ‘realistic’ compared to ‘achievable’ is that instead of focusing on “CAN,” the point is now, “do you WANT to?” So ‘realistic’ stated in a good question format would be, “do you REALLY WANT to achieve the goal?” Having a strong desire to achieve the goal is extremely important in realizing success. When contemplating the goal, is it something that you really want to achieve, or did the momentary climax of a New Year’s event make you a bit over ambitious? Let’s say that giving up drinking alcohol is just not realistic — that glass of wine each night with dinner is just not going to be removed from the daily routine, and you just don’t WANT to give it up. So this unrealistic portion of the resolution can be removed.

“From the 1st of January I am going to give up smoking cigarettes. I will stick to this until Christmas 2011.”

Tangible

A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses; that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal has a tangible result you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable, and thus, attainable. Often the moment a tangible aspect is added to a goal is during the thought process of making it measurable. These two will often go together so that in return, the measurable portion of a goal is usually something that is tangible. So instead of just stating the measurable time frame that you will commit to, it is important to try and add a tangible benefit/measure. How will you know when your goal is achieved? What will be the difference in your lifestyle pre and post goal? Using the example of smoking creates a perfect pre and post measure. Before you set this goal, you smoked cigarettes. When you review your goal at the set period stated, you should be no longer smoking cigarettes — a clear, measurable, tangible outcome. Perhaps you wish to have more fitness or a healthier lifestyle (as per the original raw statement), so adding something measurable along these lines would also work.

“From the 1st of January I am going to give up smoking cigarettes so that by Christmas 2011 I will be able to run 5km in under 30 minutes”

So…how are your 2011 New Year’s resolutions going so far?

Perhaps now you might want to consider a rewrite, make them SMART, and see if you notice an increase in your success.

Good Luck!