Following through on your SMART Goal New Year’s Resolution

Tips to keep you on the path to success.

Last week’s blog talked about how to create a New Year’s resolution using the SMART Goal framework. Now that you’ve made your goal here are some tips to help keep yourself accountable and stay on track.

Write Your Goal Down
The simple act of putting pen to paper or typing and printing your goal can be very impactful. This process gives your goal permanence. It literally becomes something you can hold onto. Post your written or printed out goal on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, or a door leading out of your house. Seeing and reading your goal daily can help keep yourself focused and be a good reminder of what you set out to do.

Create a Schedule
As discussed last week making a goal measurable and time-bound are two components of the SMART Goal framework. Make yourself a daily, weekly, monthly schedule of the things you want to accomplish on the way to your end goal. As you reach your milestones or complete a task on the path towards your goal cross it off or mark as “done” in some way. On the path to success, it can be hard to know or feel if you’re moving in the right direction and having a visual of the things you’ve done or accomplished can motivate you to keep going when things get tough or you feel like giving up.

Share your goal with someone else
Find a friend that has a goal of their own and check-in with each other. Knowing that someone else is on their own journey to better health can increase each of your chances for success. Even if your goals are different it can be helpful to both of you to share your goal and track each other’s progress.

Setting your SMART Goal in the new year is the first step and following through on it is where the rubber meets the road. Contact Live Your Life today to see how an exercise professional can help you set a goal and create an action plan to help hold you accountable and achieve it!

Wishing you good health!

• 

Andrew holds a B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota (2009) and a Master of Organizational Leadership Certificate from St. Catherine University (2016). He is accredited through the American College of Sports Medicine as a Certified Exercise Physiologist (2011).

Andrew has worked in the adaptive fitness world of neurological rehabilitation since 2009. He helped foster program growth and expansion of adaptive fitness opportunities for individuals with Spinal Cord Injury and other neurological diagnosis through Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute’s Activity Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE) program, part of Allina Health, establishing Minnesota’s first and only Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s NeuroRecovery Network Community Fitness and Wellness Facility. He also works as a contract installer of FES products for Restorative Therapies, Inc. providing installation, education, and training for FES home users throughout the Upper Midwest. 

Additionally, Andrew serves as a Board Member of Get Up Stand Up to Cure Paralysis Foundation (gusu2cure.org) a nonprofit organization in Minnesota working to unite, educate and support those dealing with Spinal Cord Injuries and to advocate for research and the restoration of function. GUSU’s initiatives include advocating for SCI Research; community involvement through peer group and one-on-one peer mentoring; and promoting adaptive fitness.

He enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters living an active and healthy lifestyle, enjoying the outdoors through cycling, running, hiking, and gardening. When he’s not outside Andy enjoys following University of Minnesota athletics, Vikings, Twins, MNUFC, Wild, Timberwolves, and Liverpool FC; listening to music; and reading.