With each new year comes a major cultural conversation about resolutions, intentions, determinations, and goals. Whatever you want to call them, these are the specific measures of success that we identify for ourselves, usually for betterment in some area of our lives. And while nothing can rival the clean slate feeling of January 1, there’s no reason we can’t reset, reorient, and revisit our goals on a more frequent basis.
We’ve taken deep dives into how to improve your goals by making them SMARTER, but with resolutions fresh and hopefully still intact, this refresher may help you double down on your commitment to them:
Specific: Be as precise as possible with your goals. If your to-do list says “get your life together,” the overwhelm will set in before you even have a sense of how to achieve that. A better approach is to break down what that means; you’re probably a bit more likely to “do the laundry, clean the apartment, and take out the trash.”
Measurable: Measurability is one piece of specificity. How will you determine success? Sleeping eight hours every night? Then you should track that. If you're hoping to grow brand awareness or an audience base, then measure website visits, downloads, open rates.
Achievable: Are you set up to make your goal happen? Is it doable in your timeline? This is the time for a reality check: do you have the resources to get it done? If not, how can you evolve, scale back, and refocus on what’s doable and essential.
Relevant: Why does this goal matter to you, your team, or your overall mission? If you don’t have a good answer to the question, you may want to reassess.
Time-Specific: This is crucial. Tasks without due dates don’t get done. Even if it’s arbitrary at first, giving yourself a deadline increases the likelihood that the thing (whatever it is) gets done.
Exciting: Make sure your goals excite you. If it doesn’t spark joy, perhaps it isn’t a worthwhile goal in the first place.
Revisable: Once you’ve evaluated how close you came to achieving your measurable goals, you can revise the approach for next time. This step is crucial for growth.
Open a spreadsheet app or a blank notebook. Create a column for each component of the SMARTER goals, and then list out your resolutions or intentions by row. By forcing yourself to be as specific, measurable, and time-specific as possible, you’re not only interrogating the actual merit of each goal, but you’re increasing your likelihood of success.
Now let’s zoom in on that last one: revisable. You can revise your goals on a recurring basis and at whatever frequency makes sense to you, but we definitely recommend doing it more than once a year.
What would happen if you implemented a system for your life the same way businesses and organizations implement systems and strategies to meet their goals and measure their success?
What would happen if you created, implemented, and committed to a weekly, monthly, or quarterly reset — or even more impressive, a combination of them all?
The weekly reset, for instance, allows you to batch process all of the odds and ends of being a human; let’s call it “life administration.” We know that routine reduces stress, so create and implement a weekly ritual that allows you to move through the chaos of life from a grounded and organized place. Doing this has completely maximized the productivity of many of the freelancers in our lives!
Of course, the exact nature of your weekly reset task list will vary based on who you are and what you do, but here are some ideas to get you going. If this list overwhelms you, just pick two or three to start. Once it becomes a routine, it won’t feel so daunting. In fact, it’ll be a breeze.
Task Management: Prioritize your to-do list for the week ahead. Break down each task step by step so there’s nothing in the way of you getting it done.
Inbox Management: Read and process your emails. Put events on your calendar and tasks into your task manager (even if that’s just a pad of paper).
Other Correspondence: If you aren’t meticulous about logging tasks as they pop up in Slack channels, text messages, and the other spaces you chat, make sure you’re revisiting these threads on a weekly basis and putting the actionable items somewhere useful.
“Saved” Items: If you’re like us, you might save items on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) or articles (via Pocket or your browser bookmarks) — often for entertainment or for personal and professional growth. Don’t let these links build up. You probably saved them for a reason, so either digest the content and put the takeaways somewhere useful, or reassess whether it’s worth your time.
Calendar Management: Take a look at the week ahead. Follow up on tentative plans. Grab tickets to that performance. Remove whatever may be irrelevant.
Budget: Balance the checkbook. Pay the bills. Put on a playlist, pour yourself a coffee or tea, and knock it out!
File Management: Make sure your digital (and physical) files are organized in a way that makes future referral a breeze. Clean out your Downloads folder, clear the clutter from your Desktop, and put what you need to keep into its appropriate folder. Same goes for Google Drive and Dropbox.
Phone: Clean your phone. Sure, the actual device, but what’s in it, too! Follow up on texts, voicemails, voice memos, and notes. Import or upload photos you want to keep. Delete the ones you don’t.
Goals: Check in. Hold yourself accountable. Track your progress. If you took a few steps backwards, don’t be too hard on yourself. There’s always next week.
What would happen if you gave this weekly reset a shot? How much more could you get done? How much better might you feel? Bottom line: digital organization, ritualized in this way, will make you more efficient and less stressed.
Most important: You can’t do this all at once or all by yourself. Pick two or three from this list and start there. As Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”