First post of 2019, here we go.
New year’s resolutions are crap. The talk about resolutions usually starts before the holidays. Then right after new year’s (after the hangover wears off) you start to lay these down. Come February, your resolutions are usually already broken and you completely forget about it by March. Go to any gym in January and see how many people are still with it by March.
Sound familiar?
How about trying something different this year? Set goals and lay out a plan to accomplish them. Goals are different than resolutions because goals have more structure. Here is an article for the top 10 resolutions for 2019.
- Diet or eat healthier
- Exercise more
- Lose weight
All crap!!! These are vague, ambiguous, terrible resolutions. Here is what a goal would look like.
Goal – This year my goal is to eat healthier by tracking my eating habits, making better food choices, and maintaining my current weight and reducing my body fat.
Goals – Specific, Actionable, and Measurable
Now let’s go a step further by utilizing a couple of goal setting and accomplishing methods. Two of my favorites are SMART goals and V2MOMs.
SMART stands for
- Specific – Be as specific as you can. Vague generalizations never work out
- Measurable – Measurable goals force you to track progress
- Achievable – Achievable means that you can actually meet the goal
- Realistic/Relevant – Be real to what you can accomplish. Make sure it is relevant to your life
- Time-bound – Give yourself a due date
YouTube has an awesome video that explains SMART goals
V2MOM – Marc Benioff of Salesforce uses this method to align his company. Why not use it to align your life? As Marc explains in his post, V2MOM stands for:
- Vision – Define what you want to do. What is your vision of the future?
- Values – What is most important about the vision?
- Methods – What actions are you going to take to implement the vision?
- Obstacles – What are the barriers that will get in your way?
- Measures – What will you measure to reach your vision?
If you have worked in any company with a reputable employee performance program you have probably have heard of SMART goals. V2MOM has been around but is still relatively new. Pick one method and set some goals for yourself.
If you already use CHAMP life priorities, set one goal for Career, Health, Adventure, Money, and People and 2019 is set to go. Here is one of my goals for Adventure this year.
Smoke every cigar from the 2018 Cigar Aficionado top 25.
Two per month will do in order to meet this goal by the end of 2019. This goal is SMART and it fits into the V2MOM.
This may not be a life changing goal but its about balance. This is for relaxing and reflecting. Smoking a cigar takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours so you have some time to yourself. If you are working hard at life, you need some down time to balance yourself. This is one method that I use that seems to work.
Resolutions are crap, setting goals is better. Make 2019 the year you set some goals and start achieving.