As we approach this next year let us not look back on how terrible/wonderful 2016 was but instead think about what we will do with 2017. For many, the commencement of a new year is a time for making new goals and resolutions. Making and keeping goals is a wonderful way to improve yourself and grow as a person. However, some of the goals and resolutions people make are, to be quite honest, ridiculous. That picture up there is a screenshot of a sketch about new years’ resolutions. His resolution was that he was going to start stealing as much as he could. The scene is quite funny but it reflects a lot of the selfish and silly goals people so often make. So many people give themselves impossibly un-achievable goals or goals that are shallow and won’t actually improve themselves or their life.

The weight loss goal is a perfect example of this. If you make yourself a specific plan to live a healthy lifestyle and weight loss happens to be part of that plan, then this goal is realistic and will improve your life. But there are people who want to lose weight because they think they’re fat and want to look better. So they do extreme exercise and diets until they give up a month or two in. These are dumb goals. The reason you want to lose weight should only ever be to make your body healthy. And if you can’t even stick to your goals then why make them in the first place?

When setting a goal for yourself, be sure to do these three things: make it attainable, make it trackable, and make a plan. Your goal should challenge you, make you stretch a bit, but it must be within your reach. If it’s impossible to achieve you will soon realize the impossibility of your task and lose all motivation. Set a goal you can reasonable attain and once you do reach your goal then set another, more challenging, goal. Because you see yourself reaching your goals, you will stay motivated and be able to stick to your goals.

Making your goal trackable is also very important. This means that your progress should be measurable. If it’s doing 30 minutes of exercise a day then make a checklist so you can keep track of the days you exercised and how long. If it’s doing an act of service or kindness each day, write down your experiences each day so you can look back and see how often you remembered to think of others and serve. Find a way to record or track or measure your progress. This will also help to stick to your goals instead of forgetting or giving up. It can also help motivate you to see the progress you’ve made.

If you only have a vague idea of want you want to achieve, you won’t know what you’re reaching for and how to get it. Make yourself a plan of attack, so to speak, to help you in the journey towards your goal. Write down your game plan, set rules, make checklists, whatever it is that will help you and stick to them. This will speed your progress toward your goal and make your goal more attainable.

Other things that will help is being accountable to others. Tell somebody about your goal and ask them to check in on you every once in a while. Or make a group goal. That’s a great way to stay motivated because everyone in the group is accountable to each other. Rewards are another great way to keep you motivated but make sure the rewards won’t set you back. If you’re trying to quit smoking, don’t make the reward a cheat day of smoking as much as you want. I hope you’ve learned a bit about goals and I wish you the best of luck with your own new years’ resolutions. Let’s make 2017 the best year yet!