Maintaining Goals and Accountability in the New Year
Maintaining Goals and Accountability in the New Year
As the calendar turns to January, the New Year’s resolutions start pouring in. Whether you’ve promised you’re going to eat healthier, exercise more, spend less time consuming media, or rearrange your finances, we’re here to help you approach goal-setting and accountability in a thoughtful manner, so your resolutions can stay alive and thriving throughout the year after the initial excitement fades.
On this week’s episode of the More Than A Therapy Couch podcast, we sit down with Tara Wagner, LPC an experienced mental health clinician to check in with your New Year’s resolutions and troubleshoot some common challenges in consistency.
How to Set SMART Goals
In order to create realistic, attainable, and lasting New Year’s Resolutions, there are several tips that one can implement when setting or changing goals. Wagner walks us through setting realistic resolutions that avoid vague or unrealistic expectations. Oftentimes, when exploring goal setting with clients, mental health clinicians will encourage clients to set SMART goals. The acronym SMART stands for:
Specific: Clearly define the “who, what, where, when, and why” of the goal you are trying to accomplish.
Measurable: Identify how you will track your progress.
Achievable: Ensure your goal is realistic given your current circumstances.
Relevant: Choose goals that matter to you.
Time-bound: Set a clear deadline.
By utilizing SMART goals, Wagner and her clients work together to create achievable, realistic goals that help them track consistent and measurable progress. “If you can set a goal that meets all this criteria, then you’re probably going to be able to hold yourself true to it.”
Holding Yourself Accountable
Once you have determined your goal and clearly defined the parameters surrounding it, it is important to hold yourself accountable to maintaining what you set out to achieve. Some practical strategies to hold yourself accountable include:
Share Your Goals: Tell friends, family, and coworkers about your resolutions. They can provide encouragement and check in on your progress.
Find a Buddy: Partner with someone who has similar goals. Whether it is a workout partner or a financial accountability buddy, teamwork can make the journey more enjoyable in a mutually beneficial way.
Use Tools and Trackers: Leverage apps, journals, and spreadsheets to monitor your progress. Visualizing your achievements can be incredibly motivating and help you develop a growth mindset.
Utilizing a combination of internal and external measures to create regular check-ins with your goals can go a long way to ensure your success. By doing so, you ensure that you have multiple sources of support that can serve as additional layers of accountability.
Common Pitfalls and Roadblocks
Even if you have taken the time to create realistic goals, it is important to be aware that life happens, and setbacks are inevitable. Anticipating these challenges can help you prepare for how to avoid or address them as they arise. Some common pitfalls that Wagner brings up in the episode include:
Being too specific
Not giving yourself flexibility
Forgetting to track progress
Not checking in with your goals regularly to reflect and adjust as necessary
Ignoring the potential for burnout
All-or-nothing thinking
In order to acknowledge inevitable setbacks and stay on track with your goals, Wagner suggests being kind to yourself. “It’s easy to be self-critical…when that version of you is not the one that messed up. It’s easy to be critical when you’re not looking at all of the information, especially what you learned along the way.” While challenges are bound to come up, planning ahead and giving yourself room to make mistakes can go a long way to avoid completely derailing your goals.
Ultimately, Wagner shares that “everybody’s needs are individual…I always encourage therapy. I think that as both a therapist and someone that goes to therapy, I appreciate the weekly check-in.”
When should I see a professional?
Holding yourself accountable doesn’t have to be a solo journey. At Tree of Life Counseling Center, our team of experienced professionals are dedicated to helping you achieve your goals and build the life you want. Whether you are navigating stress, seeking better relationships, striving for personal growth, or more, therapy can be a powerful tool to support your resolutions.
Ready to make your resolutions a reality? Contact our team today to schedule your first session. Let’s make 2025 a year of transformation and growth, together.
About Tree of Life Counseling Center
At Tree of Life Counseling Center in Princeton, NJ and Freehold, NJ, we have an experienced team of 50+ clinicians to help support you, and your family, through whatever you may be facing. Schedule an appointment today by calling 732-393-8391 or filling out an online form at https://www.treeoflifecc.org/start-today
