By: Robert Johnston, President of Exton Region Chamber of Commerce

By this time of year most of us fall into one of three categories: Those that have kept their New Year’s resolutions; those that made resolutions, but broke them before the Mummers parade was finished; and those of us that don’t bother to make resolutions because we know that we’re not going to keep them anyway!  If you are one of the few in the first group, congratulations! You are a member of an elite group. For the rest of us, here are a few ideas to help improve our success rate:

Stop calling them “resolutions.” For many of us the word “resolution” has come to mean “a promise I have no intention of keeping.” Instead, try calling them “goals,” or “objectives.” It may seem silly, but the word choice makes a difference in how we think about something. Don’t wait until next January 1st to try again. There is nothing special about that date when it comes to goal setting. You can set a goal today! Avoid goals that include the words “every day,” or “every week.” For example, if you promise to “walk for 30 minutes every day,” what happens when you miss a day? You have just failed. What’s worse is, since you have “failed,” there is no need to continue walking at all.

Set SMART Goals. – Most of us have heard of SMART goals but they are so effective that they are worth repeating. Your goal should be Specific and Measurable. A goal that says, “I’m going to get into better shape,” is neither. Instead, say, “I will lose 15 pounds,” or “I will save $10,000.” Make sure the goal is Attainable. Setting a stretch goal is good, but if you set the goal too high, you may not believe in it yourself. If you know in your heart that it’s going to be impossible to save $10,000, you may not bother trying at all. Set goals that are Relevant to your life. I once set a goal to read a biography of every American President. I failed miserably because the goal had no relevance to anything else in my life. If it’s not important, you’ll never set aside the time or energy to make it happen. Finally, make sure your goal has a Timeline. If you’ve decided to save $10,000, take the next step and assign a deadline. Then you can start turning your goal into action steps. If your deadline to save $10,000 is one year from today, that means you must set aside about $200 per week. Keep in mind that “$200.00 per week,” is not the goal; it is a means to achieve the goal. By doing this, if you miss a week, you haven’t failed – you just need to do the math again and save a little more every week.

Setting goals is easy; keeping them is tough. But with a little discipline and some planning you can achieve your goals and make progress toward.