Have trouble keeping New Year's resolutions?

If so, then before you embark on any resolutions, be sure they are MASTERed goals.

What are MASTERed goals?

MASTER goal setting is Navigating Life's variation of a technique picked up while attending a time management seminar. This technique is deceptively simple, yet profoundly effective. I urge you to try it as soon as possible.

To create MASTERed goals, you must create goals that are:

Measurable—set an amount and a deadline.
Accountable—make sure that you are personally responsiblefor the outcome.
Specific—make it a specific action.
Timely—give yourself enough time, but not too much time.
Exciting—make it positive; make it something you really want.Goals should never feel like punishments.
Realistic—don’t ask yourself for super-human strength.

Whenever you set goals that are not MASTERed, you set yourself up for failure.

I’m always amazed at how often people set goals like, “I want to lose weight,” “I want to get healthy,” “I need to find a job,” “I need to be more responsible,” “I want to be a better parent,” “I want my boss to respect me,” or “I want to get rich.”

Do they sound familiar?

These goals are immeasurable, unaccountable, vague, rushed, unexciting and unrealistic. So is it any wonder that they don’t help people accomplish anything? If you want goal setting to work for you, you need to learn the art of MASTER goal setting.

Let’s take the goal, “I’m gonna throw out all of my junk,” as an example. That’s a typical goal for a lot of people. Well, throwing out all of your junk is not something you can possibly accomplish. No matter how much you try, junk will always reappear. Throwing out all of your junk is an objective, not a goal. In order to accomplish that objective, you need to set a MASTERed goal. Something like, “I’m gonna toss out ten things every day, until I finally get the clean drawers I want.” Throwing out ten items every day is easily accomplished. It’s measurable, accountable, specific, timely, exciting and realistic. Moreover, performing this MASTER goal daily should eventually help you to gain your objective, which was to clean out your junk.

How about another typical goal; losing thirty pounds? Have you ever gone on a diet with the goal of loosing thirty pounds, done everything right and lost three pounds the first week, only to find that the following week—even though you still did every thing right—you’ve plateaued and lost nothing? If so, you know the frustration of doing everything right and still letting yourself down. Considering your disappointment in yourself, is it any wonder that you drown your sorrows in ice cream?

I’m here to tell you that your problem isn’t you. Your problem is how you define your goals. You have absolutely no control over how you metabolize calories. Your body is going to metabolize whatever it metabolizes. The only thing that you can control is what you put into your mouth and how you spend your time.

In other words, you can’t force your body to lose pounds; however, you can learn to make healthier choices. That being the case, maybe learning to make healthier choices is the goal you need to MASTER. So instead of imposing an overwhelming goal like “losing thirty pounds,” your MASTERed goals might be to “drink a liter of water everyday, take a daily walk, and eat five ounces of fresh produce daily.” I mean, let’s face it, if you drank a liter of water, took a walk and ate five helpings of fresh produce everyday, you would be healthier. Moreover, your success would not depend upon your ability to metabolize calories.

The point that I’m trying to make is that unless you create goals that you can actually accomplish every time, you are only going to disappoint yourself eventually. MASTERed goals are always possible. MASTERed goals allow you to progressively realize your objectives. For every objective that you have, you should create a matching MASTERed goal.The table linked here provides a list of common objectives along side their corresponding MASTERed goals. It should help demonstrate what I mean. As you look at the table, please notice that MASTERed goals are achievable. They may not achieve their objective each time, but at least you can keep the goal. At least you can keep the promise that you made to yourself.

If your strategy fails to work, then you can always change your strategy. But unless you develop the habit of setting MASTERed goals, you will not ever achieve your goals. So learn to keep your goals measurable, accountable, specific, timely, exciting and realistic; or don’t set goals at all. Nothing destroys your self-esteem faster than breaking a promise to yourself, and that is exactly what you do every time you fail to meet a goal.