New Year, BETTER Me

Every year when the clock strikes midnight people always promise to commit to their New Year resolutions. A fun pastime that inspires us to be a better person, and hopefully as a result make the new year better too. I have always been fascinated with this tradition and did some research. According to Forbes nearly 60% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions. Unfortunately, only 25% of them commit up to thirty days and only 8% complete their goals.

We here at McKenna Property Management love to set goals, so we want to give you our not-so-secret guide to goal and resolution success. It is called the SMART method and SMART stands for:

• Specific: Well-defined, clear, and unambiguous
• Measurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress toward the accomplishment of the goal
• Achievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieve
• Realistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant to your life purpose
• Timely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency

These five categories are a tried and true equation to accomplish goals, whether that be for work or personal life.

First, to achieve your goals you need to be specific.  Goals that are specific have a significantly greater chance of being accomplished. To make a goal specific, the five “W” questions must be considered:

• Who: Who is involved in this goal?
• What: What do I want to accomplish?
• Where: Where is this goal to be achieved?
• When: When do I want to achieve this goal?
• Why: Why do I want to achieve this goal?

For example, a general goal would be “I want to get in shape.” A more specific goal would be “I want to obtain a gym membership at my local community center and work out four days a week to be healthier.”

Next, your goal must be measurable. If there are no criteria, you will not be able to determine your progress and if you are on track to reach your goal. To make a goal measurable, ask yourself:

• How many/much?
• How do I know if I have reached my goal?
• What is my indicator of progress?

For example, building on the specific goal above: I want to obtain a gym membership at my local community center and work out four days a week to be healthier. Every week, I will aim to lose one pound of body fat.

Once your goal is specific and measurable, it needs to be achievable and attainable. This will help you figure out ways you can realize that goal and work towards it. The achievability of the goal should be stretched to make you feel challenged, but defined well enough that you can actually achieve it. Ask yourself:

• Do I have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal? If not, what am I missing?
• Have others done it successfully before?

If you’ve never cooked a day in your life don’t make your goal to make Beef Wellington, start with something attainable like chicken noodle soup, or lasagna.

The next part of a goal that helps increase your chances of succeeding is if it is realistic. This means that the goal can be realistically achieved given the available resources and time. A SMART goal is likely realistic if you believe that it can be accomplished. Ask yourself:

• Is the goal realistic and within reach?
• Is the goal reachable, given the time and resources?
• Are you able to commit to achieving the goal?

Last, but not least, make sure your goal is timely in that it has a start and finish date. If the goal is not time-constrained, there will be no sense of urgency and, therefore, less motivation to achieve the goal. Ask yourself:

• Does my goal have a deadline?
• By when do you want to achieve your goal?

For example, building on the goal above: On August 1, I will obtain a gym membership at my local community center. In order to be healthier, I will work out four days a week. Every week, I will aim to lose one pound of body fat. By the end of August, I will have realized my goal if I lose four pounds of fat over the course of the month.

The last piece of advice I will give is something Jenni, the broker of McKenna Property Management, told me which is to always write down your goals. Make it tangible and put it in writing. Keep yourself responsible by taking it out of your mind and into real life. With all these ingredients you are sure to make a goal or resolution this New Year's that you can follow-through on and complete.