Welcome to 2025, a new year for all of us to set goals, plan, seek new opportunities, and create actionable plans for previous years’ mistakes. Many of us roll into January with a new found sense of excitement for the possibilities ahead of us. January is a logical break from the past and a great time for a fresh start. Yet, so many of us fail to live up to the expectations of what we want for ourselves. So, we want to give you actionable strategies for success in 2025 along with some ways you can better understand yourself along the way.
Most of us have heard of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Bound) Goals. These are your goals broken down to help you understand what needs to happen from planning to implementation to achieve your goals. Remember, a goal without a functional plan is simply a wish. Use this strategy to ensure your goals meet these five criteria. Using the SMART goals roadmap will help you on your way to goal achievement.
Plan for roadblocks along the way. If you know you have a family obligation or major deadline at work coming up two months down the road. Plan for this if you are setting a goal for movement with the plan for using movement to lose weight. The roadblocks are simply challenges and should not be looked at as an immovable object to achieving your goals. Again, this is where proper planning and being realistic with your goals comes into play. Embrace flexibility in this process. I was once told by a graduate school professor 20+ years ago that sometimes life gets in the way of what we want to do. Simple, yet powerful words Embrace the challenges and be flexible along the way.
We want you to find success in achieving your goals, and thinking differently about how you develop your goals can make a big difference for you and your success. Goals can be broken down two ways, Outcome Goals and Process Goals. Outcome goals focus on… outcomes, an example. I will lose 25 pounds by April 30. Your goal has a specific outcome established for you to achieve. But, we know that life gets in the way, so developing a process goal that will help us to lose 25 pounds by April 30 is more realistic. Be mindful, we are not dieticians, your process goal could be, I will work out 45-60 minutes a day, six days a week. I will meal plan a target of 2500 calories per day, and I will use a daily habit tracker to monitor my progress.
By focusing our process, we will ultimately achieve our goal of losing weight by breaking down the process of how we will lose the weight. These three processes offer flexibility for us and give us reality checks in the process. Having accountability in achieving your goals is another way to keep us on track. A habit tracker helps us see progress, but having a person or team to be a wire brush for us when we make excuses, can be key to our success. In turn, you may need to be the other person’s accountability partner. Remember, this person is a support for you. But, if they cannot seem to get out of their own way, how will they help you to achieve your goals? Choose your people wisely.
Lastly, how will you measure success? Did you follow your process goals for a specific amount of time, but you only lost 20 pounds? The answer is yes, you were successful. Not just in losing weight, but changing your lifestyle over the past four months. The lifestyle change is what we are really looking for, right? A healthier and more energetic you is always a good thing. You have proven to yourself that you can make this lifestyle change. Now, you continue to follow this new path you have made for yourself, and create more positive changes and processes in your life.
We used weight loss as an example, but you can follow this process for any personal goal you have control over. Don’t wait!! If you are looking to make changes in 2025, know that today is already Day 3. There should be a sense of urgency in wanting to make changes in your life. Remember that days turn to weeks and weeks to months very quickly, because… life gets in the way of what we want to do.
We have been talking a lot about the idea of success and programs for 2025. You may hear more from us about what success means to you, is your success truly your success, are we chasing things that truly have meaning to us, or are we chasing someone else’s success.
We are very excited about the opportunities we have ahead of us in 2025. Stay tuned to our social media pages and feel free to reach out if you have questions or think we can be of help to you. Also, if you need an NLM Habit tracker for your 2025 goals, feel free to print the one included.
Happy New Year from us here at NLM!!
Comments