For most of us, December is the month when we generally take stock of the year that was. We reflect on the experiences that we have had, whether good or bad, and try to understand how they impacted us. We should celebrate the successes we’ve had such as, new healthy relationships, health and fitness goals achieved, completion of further studies and personal growth. For some of us, this year has brought us moments where we needed to grieve, and that is okay too. It is quite easy, and common, to stop here and just focus on reflecting because we typically like to wait for the new year to set new goals for ourselves.
Instead of using December as solely reflection or celebratory month, we should also use it as a month where we determine what meaningful goals will form our new year’s resolutions. If we do wait until January 1, our resolutions general aren’t well thought out, and we don’t have a proper plan in place to achieve them. This can often lead to resolutions being abandon as early as February, which means we don’t attain the goals that we’ve set.
To clearly define our resolutions or goals, we ought to follow the SMART principle for goal setting. This means making sure that each of our goals are Specific; that they can be Measured; that they are actually Achievable; that they are within our reach and are Realistic; and they have a Timeframe. In doing this, we can have confidence that the goals we set are appropriate for us.
I understand that not many of us want to start thinking about our new goals now, because December is the time to unwind, not plan our next move. However, if we start now it will give us more time to understand our why, which puts into perspective our goals. If we are able to do this, we can hit the ground running when the new year rolls around and give ourselves every opportunity to successfully attain our respective goals.
Working out your why, and setting SMART goals aren’t strictly limited to the health and fitness aspect of your life. You can use the same principles for every goal that you want to achieve in all areas of your life.
I want to encourage you to keep on striving to be better than you were even three months ago. Look forward to 2020 with plenty of excitement and anticipation, and a desire to continually grow into the best version of you.
DK
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