New year, new you? Many people use the start of a new year as an opportunity to set yearly goals or establish ways to better themselves. However, often times as the year progresses, these resolutions are forgotten as life gets busy and things change. Let’s make this one the year that goals are actually attainable. 

According to a variety of students, the fundamental means of creating achievable goals include avoiding procrastination, time management, and prioritizing. You know that thing you’ve been putting off for weeks? Adding it to every to-do list and thinking about how it should’ve already been done, will only make you want to actually complete the task less. There’s no time like the present and imagine how good it’ll feel once it’s done!

Time management is another significant factor that goes into achieving goals. It’s important to start small and work your way up until completing the goal. Effectively managing time will help make the process of starting and sticking to it easier. This leads to the third factor; prioritizing. 

By focusing on one particular goal first, then moving on to others as the year progresses, one is more likely to be able to consider the goal itself and the means necessary to achieve it. For example, if someone wanted to begin learning a new language at the start of the year, they could start by committing to 20 minutes a day of practice. Then, gradually work up to more and more as they become more serious and invested in their progress. It is also important to make work the resolution into a daily routine in order to make it a habit. Habits are created after repetitive behavior for approximately 21 days, which is why it is important to be as consistent as possible, especially in the beginning. And after about 75 days, it could be considered a type of lifestyle. 

Other factors that contribute to making achievable goals are being realistic, physically writing them down, and finding a way to motivate yourself throughout the process. It’s important to be reasonable and specific when creating goals; “get more sleep” is harder to achieve than “go to bed by 10 p.m. every night.” Determining the difference between short-term and long-term goals will help you know what to prioritize. It’s also important to remember that it is never “all or nothing” and never too late to start. 

A good way to start is by writing them down; it is scientifically proven that actually writing goals down makes you more likely to achieve them, whether this is on paper, vision boards, etc. Lastly, incentives, as long as appropriately given, will make it a little easier to start at first and begin a habit. 

With these ideas in mind, hopefully goals this year will be more attainable and exciting. Good luck!