All right, we’re going to keep this simple because you’ve probably got about three minutes to focus before someone’s going to call you on to your next activity. (P.S. This idea and many more can be found in the book, “This Year I Will…” by M.J. Ryan.)
S = Specific. Pick a goal that is something you can “pin down.” Don’t just say, “Be a better mom.” or “Take more time for myself.” Maybe choose a goal like “Learn to play three songs on the guitar.” or “Only yell at my children once every three days.” Sound simple enough?
M = Measurable. You’ve got to have a way to measure your progress or you will never feel like you’ve accomplished anything. If you chose a goal like “Run for 30 minutes 3 times a week,” well, that’s certainly measurable, but there are other goals that you can also measure by creating a scale from 1-10. For example, one of my goals is to stress less about the imperfect cleanliness of my house. I’m going to measure my success with this goal by rating my stress over my house on a scale of 1-10 each week. Right now I’m at about an 8 (10 being highest). My goal is to get down to a 2 or 3–not that I won’t still try to have my family help keep the house clean, but I won’t let it stress me out. I will be calm, cool, and peaceful to live with.
A = Achievable. This means be realistic, ladies. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Choose a goal that you know you have control over and you can actually achieve.
R = Relevant. Make sure this is the right kind of goal for you to be setting. Is this really important to you? Getting a lead role in a Broadway musical might not be relevant right now if you have three preschoolers and no one to help babysit and you live in Phoenix.
T = Time-bound. Give yourself a deadline–at least a point in time in which this goal will be “done.” You can reassess and start over, but you need to have some idea of how long you will be working specifically on this goal.
All right, do you have yours? Write it down, put it somewhere you’ll see it, and good luck becoming a better person in 2010!
NEW:
Listen to a PODCAST featuring Power of Moms Founders April and Saren for further ideas. Right click on the link and choose “save as” if you want to save this to your computer and listen to it later. Or click on the link and listen to it now!
Christa Johnson says
I am very excited about goal setting time… Since I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, I am setting the goal of overcoming cancer while having a positive attitude. Now I will work on writing out the specifics. Thanks for the great challenge!
Betina Powers says
I was going to set a goal of cooking more nutritious meals for my family, but after reading the above posted comment, I am setting a goal to give service to those in need.