While you shouldn’t wait for the new year to change your habits or set goals, the new year presents a great opportunity to reflect on what you have been doing and decide what to start doing, stop doing, or continue doing.

In order to increase your chances of success, it’s important to both set the right goals and set your goals right.

Setting the right goals is all about making sure you are working down the right path to get your desired outcome. To use a common example, if you want to lose 5 lbs, is your goal to “eat less” or is it to “replace current processed snack foods with whole fruits and vegetables with lean proteins”? The number of calories you consume might not be the issue here. It could be that you are reaching for highly processed snack foods or sugary drinks. Eating fewer calories might leave you feeling tired and be unsustainable if you get below what your body needs. By instead focusing on substituting for healthier options, you are still working towards your goal while also building sustainable, long-term healthy habits.

Setting goals right is all about the exact way your goals are written. To use the same example, if you want to lose weight, making your goal “lose weight” is likely to leave you unsatisfied. How will you know when you’ve lost enough weight? And what if you lose 1 lb? You’ve technically achieved your goal but was that your desired outcome? Making your goals specific and measurable gives you a better framework to track progress and more clearly define success. Rephrasing your goal as “lose 5 lbs from my current weight X lbs to weigh X-5 lbs by December 31, 2021” gives you a set start and end weight and a time by which you want to achieve this goal. It also makes the goal seem more manageable. And the goal gives you a framework that makes making decisions easier.

Goal-setting is essential for creating a framework around your life and activities. Otherwise, it can be easy for time to just pass by. In addition, setting and achieving goals leads to greater satisfaction and confidence. Set yourself up for success this year by setting the right goals and setting your goals right. And get excited for more content from RunningBySix in the New Year!

What are your goals for 2021? Share them with us in the comments section below or on Instagram @runningbysix. Good luck!