February 2019 Issue
It’s February, folks. Hallmark’s month of love, Winter’s month of purgatory, and for most, the graveyard of resolutions. “Fizzle-Out February”, as I call it, because every year like clockwork, New Year’s goals pretty much come here to die. We enter a funk that reeks of the same old habits and routine, and it was only recently I learned why(Dr. Seuss rhyme not intended).
This past New Year’s Day, we were driving back home from a trip visiting friends. It included a New Year’s Eve party the night before, so queue dark sunglasses with a tall coffee in one hand, and a huge bottle of coconut water in the other. Suddenly, my
11-year-old son declared from the backseat that he “wanted to set a New Year’s resolution!" I perked up a bit because not only was I surprised he knew what a resolution was, but because (and I love him) he’s not always the most proactive. That’s of course when my teacher husband pipes in “Resolutions are for suckers. If you want to make actual change, you have to set smart goals.”
“Isn’t it always smart to set goals?” I asked.
“No, they have to be S.M.A.R.T. goals. It’s what I use in school with my students,” he said, casually.
Now, some of you may already know this, but if you’re like me then you had no idea that S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Actionable (or Attainable), Realistic, and Timely. It’s a method of goal setting that outlines specific perimeters towards effectively reaching them. Learning this made me feel a little like a dummy because while I’m very goal-driven, I tend to give my clients and their goals most of my efforts and “smarts.” I realized that I don’t always lay out a meticulous game plan for myself like I do for them, so when it comes to my own goals, I’m left being more of a smart *ss than a S.M.A.R.T. goal setter. You know that expression “cobbler kids have no shoes”? That’s me, and I’m sure that’s a lot of you. We put others before ourselves; leaving our resolutions, goals, what-have-you, as dried up as the dehydration of a painful hangover.
As I was drafting this letter, I confess I hadn’t yet carved out the time to break down my 2019 goals in a S.M.A.R.T. manner. (Side note: it’s Editor’s Edge high season, it’s been hectic AF). Buuut by the time this hits your inbox, I will have put my S.M.A.R.T. cap on, poured myself a stiff drink, (because obviously, I didn’t learn my lesson from New Year’s) and will have fleshed them out.
📢📢 It’s time we stop being the procrastinating perfectionists we are and get too legit to quit about our goals this year! 📢📢
...because as my wise(*ss) husband says “resolutions are for suckers.”
Feeling like a dummy? Stick around for the upcoming newsletter to S.M.A.R.T.-en up your goals, and if you agree old ways won’t open new doors, let’s game plan your S.M.A.R.T. goals together on a 30-minute complimentary consult call.
