“Spring adds new life and new beauty to all that is.” ~ Jessica Harrelson
I love this season. It is such a hopeful time of year. Springtime is like a new beginning in a lot of ways–flowers bloom, trees blossom, birds chirp… it feels like the beginning as the earth is reborn. It is a beautiful metaphor to how we can view our lives and also our goals. Let’s revisit them and do a little check-in about how we are doing. 🙂
Remember those New Year’s Resolutions of ours in January? How are they going? Where are we with our progress? Have we fallen stagnant in any area? How and where can we improve? Just like spring is a time of beauty and rebirth for the earth, it can also be one for our personal growth and development. Here are steps to a springtime goal review:
- Review goals. If we have not already taken the time to write the specific ways we would like to learn and grow, let’s do so now! We can start by listing the specific goals we have for the year. Then we can prioritize them based on importance or time-sensitivities. And remember–our goals need to be SMART: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound in order to be as efficacious as possible!
- Make a plan. This is where we break larger goals into smaller steps (ie. running a marathon will necessitate running shorter distances beforehand to prepare). Write these steps out then track progress, manage challenges, and acknowledge (and celebrate!) growth and progress. If you have found that your current steps to achieve your goals are too large, take a moment to break them down now.
- Be accountable. We need to be accountable with our goals. We can ask a trusted friend to check-in and keep us going, or we can set dates to track our progress. Regardless of how we choose to remain accountable, we need to be tracking our progress–this is when we can adjust our plans and/or ask for help if/when necessary.
- Review and learn from the process. In the spirit of a springtime goal refresh, let’s review how we are doing and make adjustments where necessary. As we go through these steps and [hopefully] reach our goals, we will learn what worked well for us and what did not. This will enable us to implement existing or new methods in the goal-setting process in the future.
I think the biggest help to follow through with our New Years’ Resolutions is making sure our goals are meaningful to us. We should not try to meet any societal expectations in goal-making, but rather create goals that are personally motivating. We are more likely to see a goal through to the end if it is one that we feel passionately about.
Additionally, I have observed many people set abstract, big-picture scale goals, but fail to be specific and break that big goal down into smaller, more manageable, measurable steps. When we do this, we can set ourselves up to fail. How can we achieve a goal if we do not know how we are going to achieve it? Creating attainable steps from our goal sets us up for success. Once we have achieved that step, we progress to the next one, and we can celebrate the movement forward. With each recognized step forward, we can feel motivated to keep progressing towards our goal, and working towards other goals. It is a happy cycle that begets itself!
Lastly, be gentle with yourself if your goals or resolutions don’t unfold exactly how you envisioned. Progress isn’t always linear, and it’s okay if things take longer or look different than expected. We all experience setbacks—it’s part of the journey. Instead of feeling discouraged or giving up, try to see these moments as chances to reflect and adjust. What can you learn? What might you do differently? Each challenge is helping you build the tools and resilience to reach your goals. Keep going—you’re growing with every step.
Happy goals,
Melissa
Melissa Cluff is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in North Texas, providing face-to-face and telehealth therapy options to clients in Texas.
References:
- American Psychological Association: “Making Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick”
- Atlassian: How to write SMART goals
- Cluff Counseling: Making 2018 Your Year: Resolutions
- Country Living: 68 Short Spring Quotes to Welcome the Season of Renewal
- Forbes: “A Psychologist’s Secrets To Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick”
- HuffPost: “How Long Does It Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science)”
- Harvard Health Publishing: “Seven steps for making your New Year’s resolutions stick”
- Kaiser Permanente: 7 Tricks for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions
- LifeHack: “7 Steps For Making a New Year’s Resolution and Keeping it”
