#1 Be Un-SMART: New Year's Resolutions that Stick

Getting stuck with your New Year's resolutions? Learn why SMART goals may backfire —and how Un-SMART goals and a mental reframecan help finally reach your life goals.

In this episode of Change, Actually, we explore how traditional goal-setting can undermine your abilities to meet your personal goals. Listen to the common motivation traps and learn how to hack your brain to achieve personal growth stress-free. 

Transcript

At work, we’re told to make our objectives “S.M.A.R.T”—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Does it stress you out? You’re not alone. The problem is, a lot of us treat life goals like work objectives.  

Welcome to “Change, Actually”—a podcast about change—in the workplace, in organizations, and in ourselves. I’m your host, Hillary Chan.  I’ve spent years helping leaders, humans, including myself, and organizations navigate change--grounding what makes us human into practical strategies for individual and organizational growth.  If this sounds like you, subscribe/follow the podcast. 

As we head into the New Year, some of us are setting New Years resolutions, and some of us, like me, watch others write a 100-item list of things they will do in the upcoming year… goals like: Get my dream job by December 31, 2026. 

Goal setting. It has a powerful effect on us; it can make us.. or break us. When we make our goals at work “S.M.A.R.T” : specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound… it usually works? Outside of work? For personal goals? Maybe not so much. 

Recent research around goal setting finds that setting goals similar to the S.M.A.R.T method can be detrimental to your motivation and self-esteem. And that goal setting alone rarely translates into actual behavioural change, which is a good chunk of the new years resolutions we hear about: I want to read more this year, I want to travel to a certain place and so on. 

There is a fallacy in thinking that setting life goals with the SMART method will lead to success.   

Life goals generally are overarching aims—and done right, will give you a sense of where you’re heading—a direction. Aims can sound more like what corporate calls “strategy” and “vision”…both of which take time to execute and is ongoing…your trajectory in life takes time to execute… time that is often dependent on so many things that are out of our control: the economy, discovery of friendships (and the end of some), health, and, we often forget: time! Yes, we cannot control time.

With all the factors that ARE out of our control, we can’t guarantee we can lose those 5 lbs in healthy way by next month. 

Personal goals are beyond who we are at work, it impacts our life as a whole... and not just impact it for a moment, think about it, it can have life-long impacts… so don’t you think you deserve well-informed decisions…that aren’t rushed for completion within the year?

Ok so you might be thinking: if I want my behaviours to change, what am I supposed to do?” Good question. Start with lifting the pressure of performance reviews off your personal goals, off those new years resolutions. You are in a competition with yourself. And it psychologically won’t help if you keep checking whether you’ve reached your goal by a set date or regularly questioning yourself if your goal is achievable and all those other letters in SMART.  When you revisit personal goals the same way you revisit your work goals, it actually works against how your brain’s reward system functions. 

When you constantly see how far away you are from a goal, your brain tends to register it as a loss, not progress. You have to set goals in a way that plays in favour of your brain’s reward system. 

And this is where you hack your brain: focus on the step directly in front of you. 

What does that usually look like? Beginning and re-beginning, If you’ve fallen off the horse, get back on it. And it’s important to do it while remembering this important statement:  Every small step counts. You might want to write this down and tape this statement on your bathroom mirror.

 When you only focus on the next small step, you’re much more likely to complete it, feel that dopamine hit, aka that small win, and reach your goal effectively instead of being held back by whatever intimidates you in that overarching goal. I mean even if the small step is to take a step back or to take a break, that is a win!   When you create all of these small wins, and focus on the next small win, you’re much more likely to keep working on the goal you’ve set. You’ll feel more positive and energized in general, which will allow you overtime to achieve the big wins you’ve always wanted. Not to mention, when those uncontrollable factors I mentioned earlier blow in, you’ll feel less discouraged too and continue your momentum. 

So make that list of resolutions if you want to, but more important, what’s a small step you want to try this week? 

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Remember, real change doesn’t happen on a fixed deadline, it happens because you are driven by the small steps you’re taking. That’s "Change, Actually."