As we bid farewell to 2012 and prepare to usher in the new year, it's time once again to review your resolutions for the year and to plan up some new ones for the coming year.
Studies have shown that 88% of all new year resolutions fail. The way I see it, more thought should be put into setting up the goals.
A popular mnemonic in the world of semiconductor manufacturing (where I've spent the last 12 years of my life earning an honest day's work) is S.M.A.R.T. - let's see (or recap, if you're familiar) what this stands for and how we can apply it for setting our new year resolution, or some other commitments.
[S]pecific - any task would stand a fair chance of success if the executor actually understood the task in the first place. Not a fault of not asking for clarification, but some goals are really abstract.
Avoid planing to "becoming a better person" or "losing weight". Just ask 5 separate people what they think would make you a better person and you will likely get 5 different answers.
Instead, do "try to participate in at least X charity events by Y (date)" or "reduce weight to X kg by Y (date)". At least when you have a target, you know what you're supposed to hit.
[M]easurable - goals should be quantifiable so that at least you can gauge the degree of completion or measure of success. Often, if progress is subjective, one's personal opinion can affect the actual progress / achievement.
Some goals to avoid - "study harder" or "work harder". How "hard" are you doing something anyway?
Try to "score at least X % in the end year English Test" or "spend less than RM X on petrol next year". These goals, you'd be able to see how close you are to the target, and in the unfortunate event of failure, see just by how much you missed it, and therefore re-plan / re-strategize for the next round.
[A]chievable - perfectionist and mission:impossible goals are nice to show off, but being realistic, setting goals are for yourself, to improve progressively. Setting a goal you can never meet does not mean you will not improve, but failing to hit something because it is not (yet) within your capability may have a negative impact in your confidence in your own abilities and affect your motivation. In the worse case scenario, you'd give up. Instead, plan something within reach - break up a big goal like "quit smoking" to several milestones which you can work towards progressively.
[Relevant] - the ability to juggle may help you impress some friends and be the life of any party, but other than that it would be of little use (unless you're in the entertainment business or a circus). Imagine putting in hours of practice each day, until finally you've achieved your goal. But, what is the point?
Setting a goal that has little or no relevance in life is a poor use of resources and time, both of which are limited. If you work for something you have no need for or you cannot use, then it will be hard to maintain the resolution to press on forward, especially when we encounter some obstacle or difficulty. Striving to run 20 km in 10 hours, for example, will only make sense if you are a marathon runner. If you have no intention of running in a marathon (there are other ways to be healthy), then it makes little sense to work hard to strive for this, when you would rather be putting your effort towards achieving something more meaningful - like getting that post-graduate degree to advance your career.
[Time-bound] - looking at many minutes of meetings (MOM) over the years, one touchy subject (apart from the "who") for action items is the "when". When we have open-ended goals, there is no sense of urgency or pacing. Procrastination can easily set in, as you can always work a little bit on it "tomorrow". A task with a really, really long deadline is as good as having none, as well as one so short it is immediately doomed to failure.
One thing to keep in mind is that setting goals is part of planning, which is a crucial phase in any project or activity. It is justified that one should spend a fair amount of time with careful consideration to plan, rather than make something up in the span of a few minutes or at the spur of the moment (perhaps a foolish dare from a friend?).
Setting goals the S.M.A.R.T. way will require us to define the constraints of our goal, to assess if the degree of success or progress is quantifiable and can be measured, whether or not we can succeed, whether or not it is worth our effort and a reasonable time frame to boot.
When you're able to find some quiet and peaceful time to brainstorm, list down goals that you can think off in the "Do (what) by (when)". Then perform a sanity check to see if these fulfill the other S.M.A.R.T. requirements.
Lastly, we live in a world of limited resources. If you try to achieve 3 goals, chances are you'll succeed in all 3 of them. If you try to accomplish 6 goals, you'll probably fail at 1 or 2. If you have more than 9 goals, you'll probably only succeed at 1 or 2. In the case you have too many goals, you'll have to prioritize and decide which ones you'd like to work on first. Individual tasks may not seem like much on their own, but put all of them together and you will not have the focus or dedication to work on all of them. Even if you manage, the quality of execution might not be as good as if you were able to focus your attention on getting a few solid goals done.
Well, having said that, go ahead and plan out your next goals. They don't have to be done yearly - if you succeed before the year is done, you can start planning for the next challenge immediately. If something is really long-term, then don't add new goals to your list just yet.
It's up to you to keep them to yourself or to openly commit them (which is quite easy, given the availability of online social networking these days like Facebook and blogging). In general, I don't think it's necessary, as while friends might offer a lot of encouragement, this is not always the case. In the end, it's all about getting things done that matter the most to you.
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