Goal Setting in 2018

As this year comes to a close, let us look back with fondness no matter the hardships 2017 may have brought us; let us remember, as we press forward, that every trial, every problem, and every challenge we weather changes who we are and molds us into the person that God wants us to become. As we look forward to 2018, let us do so with renewed hope and courage; let us be eager for every new experience this year will bring, and set goals to help ourselves improve in every aspect of our lives.

Goal setting is extremely important if we want to accomplish our dreams, and can be especially helpful as we enter a new year.  Elder M. Russell Ballard said it best, “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” (Talk given to Salt Lake Area Young Adults, Oct. 18, 1981)

So what goals should we set? You might have a goal to be a better mother or father, a better husband or wife, or perhaps a better friend. Surely these are good goals to have, but they can be better. You can transform them into SMART goals. These goals are:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely

Turning Goals into SMART Goals

For instance, if your goal was to be a better father, you can make it more specific. Ask yourself, what would make me a better dad. Would it be spending more time with your children, would it be having more patience or being more understanding? For this example, we’ll choose the former, “I want to spend more time with my children.” Now to make it measurable. This can be difficult with spiritual goals as these tend to deal more with matters of the heart. Our example, however, is much easier to make measurable by simply asking, “How much more time do you want to spend with your children?” To answer this, you first must ask, “How much time do I spend with them now?” You might alter your goal to: I want to spend an hour devoted to my children after work each day. Next, you need to determine if this is achievable. If you set a goal to spend three hours a day after work with your children and you get home from work at 6:00 and bedtime is at 8:00, then it’s not very achievable. However, in this scenario, our goal of one hour is. But is it realistic? Do you bring work home? Do you or your children have extra-curricular activities in the evenings, such as sports practices and games, church meetings, or other community events? If so, it may not be realistic as a daily goal. It might need to be further amended to: “I want to spend an hour devoted to my children after work three times a week (Mon-Fri). Lastly, is our goal timely, i.e. does it have a deadline? In this case, it does. It’s a weekly goal, and expires on Friday. Now we have a SMART goal that is much better than the original: I want to be a better father. Now we have gone from good to better, but if we want our goal to be best, it needs to be more than a “want”. We need to believe that we “will” achieve this goal and work for it. The best goal would be: I will spend an hour devoted to my children after work three times a week (Mon-Fri).

Long-term vs. Short-term Goals

Not all of these goals need to have an end date of 2019. We can set long-term goals with a much more distant expiration date, provided we set short-term goals that will achieve our long-term goals. For instance, I set a goal to make $25,000 over the next 5 years through my writing. I also set a goal to have an average of 1000 pageviews a day on this blog by the end of the year. By achieving this latter goal this year, it sets me up to achieve my long-term goal of $25,000. I also have a goal to finish the first draft of a novel that I’m writing by the end of the year. This will also help me to attain my long-term goal. Your long-term goals don’t have to be career-oriented, although you should have at least one. They can be spiritual goals, fitness/health goals, character-building goals or emotional goals. Simply see who you want to be in 5 years, and build a series of SMART goals to get there.

Staying Motivated

Motivation is the key to achieving your goals. It does no good to set goals in January if you forget about them in February. Many of the goals we set are to overcome habits that have long been ingrained. I have found it very helpful to write my goals down and post them somewhere I will see daily, like the bathroom mirror. This gives me the needed focus in the morning when I’m getting ready for the day, and at night when I get ready for bed. Having a friend to hold you accountable also will help you achieve your goals. Of this President Thomas S. Monson stated, “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” (“Thou Art A Teacher Come From God,” Improvement Era, Dec 1970, 101) Perhaps the greatest tool you have to stay motivated, however, is you. You can be “fixed in [your mind] with a determined resolution” to achieve your goals (Alma 47:6). In the end, it is all up to you.