Setting SMART Goals
I hope everyone had a safe and healthy New Year’s celebration. The highlight of my evening was beating my 22-year-old half-brother-in-law in a fierce family room Nerf basketball game and managing not to break anything in the process.
With the New Year comes resolutions. But really what are resolutions? To make a resolution is to resolve to do something. Meriam-Webster further defines resolution as “the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones.”
Have you made a New Year’s resolution? Some of the most common New Year’s resolutions include exercising more, getting organized, learning a new skill or hobby, saving more money, and reading more.
According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 46% of people who made New Year’s resolutions were successful in keeping them. The study also involved non-resolvers, people who did not make a New Year’s resolution, but had a goal they wanted to achieve that year. The same study found that only 4% of non-resolvers were successful at achieving their goals.
One of the reasons why people don’t keep their resolutions is because their resolutions are too vague and broad.
For example, if you resolve to exercise more, what do you have to do to keep and ultimately achieve that resolution? Rarely is the answer simply to exercise more. Maybe you have to better schedule your day to allow for more exercising. Maybe you have to eat healthier to allow for more workouts. Maybe you have to sleep more to make longer workouts possible. Maybe you have to find exercises that motivates you so that you can incorporate them into your schedule regularly.
In other words, when you think about how to keep and achieve your resolutions, it’s helpful to divide that big target (whether it’s a resolution or a broader goal) into smaller goals that are more achievable and that work towards that big target.
As another example, maybe a goal is to study more for the bar exam, or to study “X” number of hours each day.
Instead of just telling yourself that you’re going to study a set number of hours each day, set smaller daily goals that are SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-sensitive.
Instead of telling yourself that you’re going to study Contracts for four hours today, tell yourself that your goal is to review the Mailbox Rule or remedies or third-party rights, and that you won’t move on to the next area until you’re comfortable with your progress in the material you’re reviewing. Tell yourself that you’re going to answer a number of questions in a particular area until you achieve whatever percent correct goal you’ve set for yourself.
For more information on how to draft SMART goals, click here.
Remember: Studying effectively for the bar exam doesn’t necessarily require studying harder but rather studying smarter.
