Going For Goal
I used to be hesitant about goal setting, if not downright cynical about the whole New Year’s resolution thing. Not that I had my judgy pants on, just that it seemed like something high-achieving suit-people did, and not for little old me. Over the last nine years or so, I’ve really come around on the practice of setting goals at the beginning of a New Year. Let me state it a bit stronger – I am convinced that spending time detailing what I want to achieve each year gets me farther in life than when I don’t clearly express my intentions.
Perhaps my reluctance was because the road to reaching our goals is seldom simple and easy to travel. Here’s some sobering stats for you:
The average person makes the same resolution up to 10 times before finding success (Hyatt)
Less than ½ of people are still actively pursuing resolutions after 6 months (Forbes)
Only 6% of people are ultimately successful in sticking with their resolution (Forbes)
I guess that’s why gyms oversell their capacity at this time of year! They’re making money off our failure. Now that’s a bit depressing.
Go ahead and ask me why I’ve embraced New Year’s goal setting for the last decade or so.
“Garry, why are you so into setting goals for yourself at New Year’s?”
Glad you asked!
The short answer is that I did some research, took a course, and picked up some tools to promote success. With a little learning and practice, the process is far more motivating and empowering then I used to experience it. Here’s some juicy morsels to sink your goal-setting teeth into (they’re drawn from the course I took and a study by Dr. Gail Matthews of Dominican University – there's links at the end):
You're 42% more likely to accomplish goals just by writing them down. Somehow the process of visualizing goals, doodling some notes, and ultimately crafting clear prose primes our brains to remember our goals and get emotionally engaged. At Pathways to Education, we use spreadsheets to state and track our monthly work plan goals and I have decided to do the same for my personal goals this year!
Tap into motivation. Find your “why”. ‘Why is this goal important to me?’ is a great question to answer. Think about what it will mean for you to achieve your goal and what results if you don’t – for you, your family, your work, etc. Stew in the purpose of it all. This lends some staying power when things feel like a grind. Shannon (my spouse) and I share a goal to go on several dates a month and I am absolutely motivated by how this will positively affect our relationship.
Make the shift from Realistic to Risky when setting your goals. Risky goals stretch you into new territory without being too overwhelming. Keep in mind that discomfort might actually be a marker that you’re on the right track. I fully appreciate life is full of curveballs and you might not be in a place to welcome some uncertainty, but I want to remind you that you are worth the risk. This idea is from Michael Hyatt’s SMARTER framework that makes some helpful adjustments from the old standby SMART goal acronym. For me, I played it safe in 2024; I’m leaning into the stretch this year.
Plan out your next steps but don’t overthink it. It is easy to get bogged down in creating an ultra-detailed road map to get to your goal, like that is the work in itself. The wisdom that has helped me is to act on the low hanging fruit – what's the one thing you will do next to move the needle towards your goal? Planning and acting go hand in hand. Just get started and more plans will form. So, pick up the phone, buy the book, reserve your ticket, look up a recipe – do something to get started! As soon as I send this newsletter off, I have a call to make to get a knee-strengthening goal underway.
I know resolutions aren’t for everyone, but I hope this little in-service on goal setting helps support you in your pursuit of good things for yourself and your people in 2025. As far as Teach Resilience is concerned, we’ve cooked up a bit of a goal of our own. In addition to ongoing training opportunities and community partnerships, we are excited to reach out to you, the fine reader of this newsletter. Our goal is to make individual contact with our entire mailing list to check in, say hello, and have some conversation. Check your inbox!
All the best to you in 2025!
Garry Castle (on behalf of the Teach Resilience team)
PS – Seriously, you’ll hear from us eventually, but if you’d like to chat about goal setting or anything else in the meantime, please get in touch. We’d love to connect!
Sources and further reading:
Stats on American goal setting in 2024: New Year’s Resolutions Statistics (2024) – Forbes Health
A study on writing out goals: https://scholar.dominican.edu/psychology-faculty-conference-presentations/3