Hello 2017! We've been waiting for you! With the new year comes new you's and potentially unrealistic resolutions that will happen this year. How can you ensure that your resolution can stick this year? Simply be SMART. Allow me to explain:

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that you can use to create goals that can actually be achieved. 5 simple categories that turn your abstract goals into something obtainable.

SMART- Specific

Is you goal a broad statement like "lose weight" or "eat healthier"? These are too general because even just eating a carrot instead of a cookie is already allowing this goal to be achieved. Add details to your goal such as, "over the next three months I want to lose 15 pounds, which is a little over a pound a week" or "I want to cook more meals that have vegetables and meats". These create attainable goals that you can measure.

SMART- Measureable

When you have a general goal there is no way to establish when it is met. Like being specific, allow a way to measure your resolution. A potential resolution could be something like read a "free read" book for an hour a week or make two meals a week with cooked vegetables. This not only gives you a time or amount, but also makes it an objective to reach at an attainable level.

SMART- Attainable

Is your goal in your ability to accomplish? Is this something you can honestly do? This isn't meant as a demeaning to put down your goals, but it's a way to better enhance your chance for success! By being realistic to lose 1-2 pounds a week, as opposed to wanting to lose 5 pounds a week, you make it achievable, and losing crazy amounts of weight is probably unhealthy and will add stress to your lifestyle. Another example would be to ask yourself to read for one hour a week, not a whole book. When you make your goals attainable in your schedule, they will also become relevant.

SMART- Relevant

Why do you want to accomplish this resolution? Are you wanting to do something that is actually for the person you are? It's hard to make a goal to run a marathon when you don't even like running, or make it to the Final Four and you don't even play basketball. It's especially hard to buy a house and have a family when you're in your dorm room in college. The point of a relevant goal is so that it is fit for you and something you can get behind. If you can't find time for your resolution, it might just be irrelevant to you, or be a goal to later attain.

SMART- Timely

When it comes down to your specific goal being measureable, attainable, and relevant, it also needs to fit into your lifestyle and schedule. Create deadlines for when you want to achieve your goals and resolutions. "Setting aside an hour for reading a week and it needs to be done by Thursday night, and if it isn't done by then, Thursday at 7p.m. I will have time to read."This allows you to find time, and if not you have an hour in the schedule dedicated to your goal. Same thing for cooking, or exercising. Allow yourself to achieve the goal, but if it isn't done by a certain time, take that time to do it.

So to recap, set a goal that is specific with a way to measure it being worked on and when it is complete. Make sure that it is attainable and something that you honestly want to do and is relevant to your life. When you have all of that, find and set aside time to complete it, and set a deadline to get it done.

Now, be smart when you set your new year's resolutions, may you achieve your goals and happy 2017!