April is drawing to a close. At work you may be composing 1st quarter reports, getting first quarter performance reviews, and receiving progress reports at home from your children’s school. Now is the perfect time to gage where you are, compared to where you planned to be for the year. Kind of a self-analysis of some of the things you hope to accomplish in 2017. You may not have gone so far as to call these tasks “New Year’s Resolutions,” but the same premise applies. Regardless, it’s always a good idea to track your progress and the close of the first quarter of 2017 is just as good a time as any.
Another way to think of a NYR is as a goal. One effective means to reach any goal, is to build into the goal a means to gage your process. Sure, you can have a pass or fail mentality, but to ensure you actually get there, it helps to have a way to know you’re on track or realize that you need to work a little harder. So, hopefully, the resolutions/goals you’ve set for 2017 have a means to check your progress, and now that spring has sprung, you should do just that!
Whether it was a tangible goal or a change in behavior, most people use the dawning of a new year as a catalyst for change. Usually, you are the only one keeping track…or are you? To reach the goals we set for ourselves, evaluating ourselves periodically is just as big a part of setting the goal as the decision to do so. Here are some tips to set goals and track/assess your progress:
- Make your goals specific. When you have an exact destination, you definitely know when you’ve gotten there.
- Measure progress. If you can measure it, you can change it; which is a fundamental principal of psychology. The feedback you get from assessing your own progression, can be strong motivation to keep moving forward or realize that you may have reached a plateau or even slipped backward.
- Be patient with yourself. Some people see rapid gains, while for others progress will be painfully and deceptively slow. Just remember, making lasting change takes time.
- Share your goals with others. Now, this may be hard because while it can give you added need for accountability, it also opens you up to criticism and, at times, less than productive feedback. Best case scenario, having an “accountability partner” will add the discipline you need to stay the course.
Research shows that only 8% of NYR setters reach their goal, so it is a statistical probability that you were in the 92% that didn’t. And, that’s ok. What’s less ok is lack of progress. It’s not too late to set goals for the year and for your life. While doing so, make sure there is a way to track your progress. Then, if at the end of the year you have not reached said goal, you can at least revel in the fact that progress was made. And, that, is motivation in and of itself!
By: Alicia M. Caldwell, AMC Literary Services
