Resolutions, Goals, and Bucket Lists

Creating and specifically, writing down goals is often hailed as one of the best methods for achieving a desired outcome. New Year’s Resolutions; however, are often destined for failure within days, weeks, or if we are lucky months.  So what if anything is the difference between a goal and a resolution?  What makes one more likely to succeed than another?  Webster’s Dictionary offers us the following clarification:

• resolution – the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc.
• goal – something that you are trying to do or achieve.

Resolutions are often large reaching and very rarely specific.  Common ones are lose weight, stop smoking, or read more.  These intentions are valuable, but it’s often difficult to measure success or failure.  For most of us, New Year’s Day is rarely the best day to start working towards a new goal.  Most of us are pretty hung over; if not from alcohol the night before (seriously, people I’m in bed by 8 PM – I have toddlers), than from the constant activity that accompanies advent and Christmas.

Goals, especially those not married to a start date of New Year’s Day, are often a valuable way to make progress towards succeeding with our resolutions.  Goals that lead to the accomplishment of a resolution often have several common elements.  Goals should be:

• Clear
  • Create goals that are easily understood.  Commonly used words such as successful, better, or good are often not clear.  An example of a goal lacking clarity might be to be better at eating healthy as a family.  To make the goal clearer, defining what is meant by eating healthier is essential.  For some this may mean eliminating desserts or reducing sugar, for others it may mean including less processed food or increasing the amount of vegetables and fruits that are consumed at the family table.

• Specific BUT Not Too Specific
  • Specifying a desired end result using exact and precise language makes it possible to determine when a goal has been achieved.  For instance, instead of a general goal to learn Spanish, a specific goal of learning 20 new Spanish words a month may be more effective.
    • If goals are too specific or rigid it can actually make them more difficult to achieve.  For instance, a goal of learning all the Spanish words in the dictionary in order might be difficult to achieve if an extremely difficult word to learn or pronounce is encountered.  The flexibility to alter the order in which words are learned may make the goal more achievable.

• Measurable
  • Goals that are measurable enable an individual to determine whether or not the goal has been reached.  Assigning numbers, specifying desired outcomes, or detailing expected results allows success to be identified and celebrated.  A goal of “reading more” is difficult to quantify, whereas, a goal of “reading 3 books a month” is easy to assess for failure or success.

• Challenging BUT Attainable
  • If goals that are created are too simplistic or easy to accomplish they can often be boring and forgotten among other more challenging items.  An example would be church attendance.  Granted just getting to the parish with two toddlers and a husband in tow can be exciting enough on some Sundays, but expounding about that goal to include making sure to review the gospel reading either during mass or later in the car makes the goal more challenging and therefore, more interesting.
    • Don’t create goals that are going to result in excess frustration and grief.  Be kind to yourself.  Allow for some wiggle room.  Don’t aim for perfection, rather work towards improvement.  Avoid goals that require perfection 100% of the time, such as being on time for mass every Sunday.  A goal of being on time for church at least 80% of the time when the family is healthy is still challenging, but attainable.

• Timely
  • Make sure that goals are written with results that can be observed in the near future.  Long-term goals that span several weeks, months, or years are often better broken down in to short term goals.  Instead of “I will publish a book within the next five years,” try breaking that goal down into day, week, month, and/or year increments.  Examples might include writing a certain number of words per day or for a certain amount of time spent writing each week.

• Positive
  • Create goals that result in actionable items.  List items that can be done, rather than items that must be avoided.  For example, if a resolution is to be more active, make a goal of walking 30 minutes as opposed to a goal of not sitting on the couch all afternoon. If the resolutions is to make healthier food choices, try a goal of eating more fruits and vegetables as opposed to a goal to not eating junk food.

There is strong evidence to support that the simple act of recording goals on paper can greatly increase the likelihood of success.  Blogs tend to be a fabulous way to record goals, both for motivation and accountability.  One of the most common forms bloggers utilize to showcase their goals is in a bucket list.  Bucket lists are simply lists of things that one has not done, but wants to do before a certain end point.  Many bloggers create life bucket lists or bucket lists for a particular season.  Still others create bucket lists to go along with their New Year’s resolutions.

Whatever the method chosen, resolutions, goals, or bucket lists all require purposeful contemplation of what one hopes to achieve in life.  All are also helpful in identifying and defining one’s desires and determining the steps that must be taken for them to fulfilled.

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