Now that we are almost a week into the new year, have you grown tired of all the headlines; get fit now, get organized now, lose weight now… The promises of “easy solutions” and “fast fixes” seem to come from every direction.

Before we get sucked into all of the resolution hype, let’s take a step back out of the noise, and take a minute to craft our own goals. Instead of New Year’s resolutions that barely stick until the end of January (if we are lucky), let’s make some true goals. Goals you can work consistently towards throughout the year.

Goals are dreams with deadlines.  -Diana Scharf Hunt

There are countless books written on the subject of goal setting, so I will spare you a rehash of too many details! In fact, I won’t even go as far as sharing my own goals. I only want to encourage you to write down your goals.

When my goals are written down, I have seen them make a huge impact in my life. Don’t get caught up in making your goals perfect. The SMART goal setting method (in the photo above) is a general guideline for good goal making criteria.

Goals should be:

• specific -you have stated exactly what you want to achieve

• measurable - you’ll know when you have achieved them
• attainable - be realistic with what you are trying to achieve
• relevant - they matter to you and fit within a larger framework of where you want to be or what you want your life to look like
• time-bound - give yourself specific start and end-points

If you are looking for more structure, here are a few great resources to help you along the way.