The New Year is upon us. 2017 is just about here! That means time to think about your goals for the New Year. What are you wanting to accomplish in 2017? What did you struggle with in 2016 and want to work to improve?

To set yourself up for success it is helpful to make sure that the goals you have for yourself are able to be accomplished. Being able to take the time for write "SMART" goals can help ensure that you are successful.

SMART Goals

Specific - Set a goal that is specific. Avoid something vague or too broad. How else will you be able to tell if you have accomplished your goal, unless it is specific? For example, if you want to work on being more active then make your goal specific by saying what type of activity you want to do. "I want to be increase the number of days per week that I run."
Measurable - After you have determined your specific goal, then plan a time line. Take a moment to figure out over what duration in time you want to work on accomplishing this goal. For example, determine the time you want to meet this goal. "I want to plan on running for 3 days each week for the next 3 months."
Attainable - Whatever goal you have in mind, make sure that is able to be accomplished. Don't set too lofty of a goal or you won't be able to accomplish it. For example, make sure that you are able to meet your goal parameters. Running for 3 days a week is possible for me, because I have done this before, but if I had never run before this might be too much. "I will plan on running 3 days a week for the next 3 months."
Relevant - Make whatever goal you are aiming for to be relevant to what you want to accomplish. This may seem like a no brainer, but if you don't care about your goal, then you will for sure not accomplish it. My goal is about running, now if I didn't like running, then I would make sure that my fitness goal was about something else. That goal should be relevant to what you are interested in and care about. "I will plan on running (outside or at the gym) 3 days a week for the next 3 months."
Time-Based - Make sure that your goal is time-bound. This means that you are able to put a start/stop time on the goal and that will be allow you to re-evaluate your goal and see if was accomplished. For my example the end of the goal is at 3 months from when the goal was set. That gives me 3 months to try to accomplish this goal and then if at the end of the 3 months, I can re-evaluate and determine if I met the goal. "I will plan on running (outside or at the gym) 3 days a week for the next 3 months."

Hopefully some of these tips and tricks are helpful to you as you look forward to the New Year and set some goals for yourself. I am not the biggest fan of New Year's Resolutions, because most of the time they don't stick, but that is often due to the fact they are not SMART goals.

What goals do you have for yourself? How do you want to change and be more healthy this next year?