Many of us create New Year’s resolutions, entering January with a surge of motivation, only to find that energy vanishing by February. You may decide to set an important resolution and feel ready to change your life. But a few weeks later, the goal starts to feel overwhelming, or life gets in the way, and the resolution fades into the background.
It is a perfectly normal reaction to the pressure of New Year’s resolutions. When we set goals that are vague or too large, it can be difficult (or sometimes even impossible) to achieve them.
It turns out that the key to achieving our resolutions is to be strategic in how we define and approach them. Let’s explore two powerful cognitive behavioral tools to help you do that: SMART Goals and Chunking.
Tool 1: Turn Resolutions into SMART Goals
The first trap we fall into with resolutions is ambiguity. Vague goals like “get healthy” or “learn a new skill” may sound nice, but these goals are difficult to measure. To create durable change, we need to make our goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This structure reduces anxiety by removing the guesswork of “am I doing enough?”
Example A: Physical Health
- The Resolution Goal: “I want to exercise more this year.”
- The SMART Goal: “I will walk for 30 minutes after dinner, four nights a week, for the next two months.”
- Why it works: You know exactly what to do (walk), when to do it (after dinner), and how to measure success (four times a week).
- The Resolution: “I want to find a new job.”
- The SMART Goal: “I will submit two tailored job applications every Sunday morning until the end of February.”
- Why it works:It creates a specific goal to apply for two jobs each week at a specific time and it is possible to know whether you’re achieving your goal as you work on it.
Tool 2: “Chunking” to Lower the Barrier to Getting Started
Even with a SMART goal, the task can sometimes feel burdensome to start. For example,submitting a job application requires a lot of steps before we can click that “submit” button. This is where Chunking comes in.
Chunking is the process of breaking a complex task down into its smallest, most “digestible” components. When a task feels too big, our executive functioning (the brain’s management system) can freeze up. By breaking it down, we can lower the cognitive load required to get started.
For example, in the job hunt scenario, you might chunk it into the following tasks:
- Step 1: Use Google to find jobs related to my specific interest
- Step 2: Create an Excel file with each job, estimated salary pay, and a link to the application page
- Step 3: Update CV
- Step 4: Submit two job applications per week
By combining the precision of SMART goals with the manageability of Chunking, you can create a comprehensive plan that feels manageable. This way, we can turn our resolutions into achievable goals that we can accomplish in the new year.