How are your new year resolutions coming along?
By the time February arrives, many resolutions have already started to fade. The enthusiasm that came with the new year often gives way to routine, distractions, and unfinished plans.
Goals are usually set with good intentions. Some prepared well before the year began, others decided in the early days of January. But intentions alone do not lead to results. What matters is not when a resolution is made, but how it is structured and followed through.
If a resolution has already been forgotten, it doesn’t mean it has failed. It simply means it needs to be revisited more clearly, more realistically, and more intentionally.
This is where setting SMART, or in fact SMARTer goals becomes useful.
SMART is an acronym invented by George T. Doran in 1981. SMART specifically stands for, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. But let’s add two more letters to the word as it may help better in achieving your goals. This will be discussed towards the end.
SMART is a good guide for an organisation or management, but it is also helpful in setting up personal resolutions.
Let’s see if we can apply it to both, personal and professional career related goals. Perhaps we can take the most common goal each, as an example and see how we can apply it to SMART.
- Personal Goal: Lose Weight
- Professional Goal: Learn Something New
S – SPECIFIC : Be specific in setting your goals. It should be absolutely clear.
PERSONAL GOAL
Targeting to lose weight is one of many individuals’ personal goals. It is always put as – ‘Lose Weight’. But that is not specific enough. How much weight are you planning to lose? 1kg per month? 5kg every quarter of the year? Make it clear in order for you to achieve it.
PROFESSIONAL GOAL
A self-development goal to ‘Learn something new’ or ‘Learn a new skill’.
What is something new or a new skill are you looking into? How do you plan to obtain it? If training sessions help in gaining new knowledge or polishing specific skills needed, put in a clear goal. ‘Attend 1 training session every quarter of the year’ or better yet ‘Sign up for Training Impact Analysis Workshop’.
Very specific, yes? Now you can proceed to the rest of the steps.
M – MEASURABLE : Track your transformation. This can be easier for goals that are visible. It can also be measured in terms of quality or quantity. But of course, results may take some time. It won’t magically work overnight.
PERSONAL GOAL
Your weight loss journey can be easily measured with pictures. Be sure to document it by taking pictures daily, weekly, or monthly. It depends on how you want to see the transformation.
PROFESSIONAL GOAL
Looking at your professional goal, let’s say you are a HR personnel. You are more crucial to your company’s success than you think.
Your goal of to ‘Learn something new’, can be measured by the quality of your work after you attended the desired training session. It can also link to the quantity of a certain factor due to the improvement of your work.
For example; How effective is the training? Did it help you in playing a part for the productivity of employees in the organisation? Are there less turnover of staff than the previous years? Did it help in creating objectives for employees’ growth?
There are different ways to measure different goals. Be sure that you can track it accordingly.
A – ACHIEVABLE : Goals should be logical as well as achievable. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have bigger goals. But try not to take too big of a step. If it’s hard to reach, it may resolve to you being frustrated which will then affect your whole process of trying to change for the better.
PERSONAL GOAL
You have pointed out the specific amount of weight you wanted to lose at the beginning; ‘1kg per month’ or ‘5kg every quarter’. Although your desired goal might be, to weigh 80kg from 110kg. That is to lose 30kg in total. Take it a step at a time. Do not stress yourself out by trying too hard, too fast. It might affect your health in the process.
PROFESSIONAL GOAL
As for wanting to ‘Learn something new’ or ‘Learn a new skill’. Learning is part of growth but it is not logical for you to attend different training sessions every month. It is not realistic plus pointless to just go for training but not take time to practice it. At the end of the day, all the things learned will go to waste and you won’t progress in your job area at all.
R – RELEVANT : Is it something that matters to you? Are you doing it for the right reasons? Are you looking to better yourself or is it just a ‘in that moment’ thing. If it’s not important to you, then it usually won’t last long.
PERSONAL GOAL
You want to lose weight to have a healthier life. Or, you want to lose weight because everyone else is doing it so you just go along with it too.
PROFESSIONAL GOAL
You want to learn something new for the sake of just wanting to know something you don’t know. Or, you want to learn something to apply it to your way of working with a better purpose and accomplishing a specific outcome for your career growth.
If you feel that it’s good for you and that the change will make you better in any way, then you will likely find ways to achieve it.
T – TIME-BOUND : The timeline or time frame toward reaching your goal must also be realistic. You have to give yourself enough time to do it. Focus on small wins for gradual progress. Achieving little by little from time to time, will give you a sense of accomplishment and will encourage you to keep going.
PERSONAL GOAL
Losing 1kg a month. That is realistic. You have plenty of time to work on it. You may even exceed by losing more than the goal set. That would encourage you to continue the next month.
PROFESSIONAL GOAL
Learning a specific ‘skill’ takes time, especially if it’s worth learning. So, give yourself that time.
You want to go for a training session on a specific topic at the beginning of the year so that you have time to apply and practice it to your work before you plan to go for the next training session. At least you have time to digest the first topic and be able to apply it properly before taking up another topic.
So, the acronym for SMART is complete. But to make it more personalised (customised to the individual), we have added in two more letters to it, which may help you stay focused along the way. Let’s continue with a brief explanation for the two additional letters; ‘e’ and ‘r’.
e – EXCITING : After a few weeks or a few months, the results of your goal may start to show. This is exciting especially if you are determined to reach this goal after failing the previous year. When it becomes exciting, it also gives you the encouragement to keep going and getting to the end.
r – REWARDING: In getting to the end or actually reaching the end, you will look back on your journey and feel that it was all worth it. Better yet, if you feel and see the difference from before you started and after actually getting there, it would boost up your determination to start another goal for the coming year.
Let’s say that from your personal goal, you are more confident with your ‘new look’. You feel healthier as you have better stamina daily. You sleep better, you work better and you feel better overall.
As for your professional goal, you may get a promotion, a higher increment or receive a performance bonus from your effort. This should be rewarding for your career. It’s also good for your own growth if you decide to leave the company in the future.
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All in all, resolutions don’t lose their value just because time has passed. In fact, revisiting them after the first few weeks of the year often leads to better clarity and stronger commitment.
By connecting goals to values and by making them SMARTer, more exciting, and more rewarding resolutions turn into sustainable habits rather than short-lived intentions.
Whether personal or professional, meaningful progress is not about a perfect start in January, but about consistent effort and intentional choices throughout the year.
It’s not too late to reset, refocus, and move forward.