A solution for the New Year’s resolution predicament – and how it changed my life…

This post is NOT about how to formulate SMART goals to make it more likely to achieve them. I suck at setting goals and the more specific they are, the more unlikely it becomes for me to follow through. I’m sure this is also the reason, why I’ve never been able to stick to a very structured training plan (or study plan, house chore plan, whatever comes to you mind).

At the same time, I’m very much capable of getting things done on time, I achieve important milestones and I can follow through with things that are important to me. I’m balancing a demanding work life with many ambitious projects in my private life and make progress in both. But for some reason I always felt bad because I really struggled to formulate SMART goals and accomplish them as planned. It was so ingrained in my head that to be successful you must have clear goals and a plan on how to achieve them but that is exactly where I failed. Which is a bit ironic, because I very much see the value in reflecting on what you accomplished in the past and what you want to achieve in the coming year.

A different approach

For my fellow failed goal setters I want to share a different approach of reflecting about your ambitions that worked for me. Obviously, this can be done at any given point in time throughout the year, but I personally really like the end of the year to look back and dream ahead.

The way I like to approach this, is by formulating an overall theme for the year. By having an overall theme for the year, you basically give yourself a frame of reference against which you can test everything you do and every decision you’ll make. Using this frame of reference will not only help you make decisions that will help you to get ahead with your ambitions but also will help you see your progress from a bigger picture. This to me is essential to keep motivated especially during times when it gets trickier to navigate time constraints and different demand of life. It also helps me to try things, I’ve never tried before. So far, I only tried this approach in my private life but I’m sure this could also apply to your professional development.

Change what you are capable of

I’ve been doing this together with my husband for the last two years and it completely changed my outlook on what we both actual can accomplish. This is not a new or unique principle I came up with. The first time I stumbled upon a similar idea, I read a blog post from the No Meat Athlete.* The author wrote about how he was planning his coming year and how it will be all about “vertical gain”. I’m sure he was much more organized with his approach but for some reason specifically these two words stuck with me. I was blown away by how much these two words summarized what I wanted to achieve myself. I told my husband about this concept of having a common theme for the coming year as guiding principle for our plans. As per usual with his very open mind he was all in, and so we defined our first yearly theme.

2018 – Vertical Gain: In 2017 I discovered my passion of mountaineering and my partner and I dabbled into trail running for the first time. We enjoyed ourselves so much and wanted to make sure we kept up with this newfound passion going forward. Therefore “vertical gain” made complete sense. It not only significantly influenced how we spent our free time and how we trained but it further cemented our love for the mountains and strengthened friendships that were and still are based on the same values.

2019 – Team Work: In November and December of 2018 my husband and I made two decisions that would have a big impact on 2019 and beyond. We decided to get married some time during 2019 and we registered for our first mountain ultramarathon. Two very different life events but both require a lot of soul searching and are easier with a strong partner at your side 🙂 Having the constant reminder that we are both in this together as a team was wonderful and strengthened both our relationship and the believe in our own capabilities.

2020 – TBD: Our theme for 2020 is not yet 100% put into words, however it will be somewhere along the line of “get it done” or “follow through”. Reasoning behind this is the fact that we both have our side projects (besides our full-time jobs) that we are both passionate about and we want to achieve certain milestones. However, it is not always easy to be inspired and motivated even though we both know that one of the biggest keys to success is persistence. I’m certain it will benefit both of us to have a constant reminder that sometimes it is ok not the feel 100% motivated if you are persistent and still follow through.

How you can be successful

If you want to try this simple yet very effective approach for yourself, here are three questions you can ask yourself to help formulate your theme:

1. Are there any significant (life) events coming up next year? Reflect on how you want to feel when they finally arrive.
2. What brought you the most joy during the past year? Really think about these situations and try to find the common denominator.
3. And finally, is there something you can’t get out of your mind, an idea you carried with you for a long time?

Don’t spend hours and hours contemplating the “right” answers for these questions, the true answers are usually what’s first on your mind. Based on the answers it should be easy to formulate a short and easy to remember theme.

Once you have your theme, you will start noticing that it will pop into your mind at random moments. It is now up to you when and how you want to truly utilize it. I personally love to think back at my theme especially during times when I feel a bit bored and unmotivated or when I must make bigger decisions. Specifically, during these times, the theme can be a great reminder of the values you set for yourself and help you get back on track.

Why I love this approach

I love this approach because it eliminates the “bad conscious” I always had, when I yet again did not stick to a SMART goal for whatever reason. Nonetheless, it is a powerful and constant reminder on WHY you chose to do something and that WHY is based on the premise that it made you happy in the past. In addition, the beauty of this approach is, that once you spent a year thinking about a certain topic and you enjoyed the ride, chances are you will stick to it for much longer.

*I’m certain there are many great authors out there who put similar concepts into words but this is the source that sparked the idea for me personally.