December 31, 2018 (Updated March 8th, 2023)
The smart way to achieve your New Year goals
New Year’s resolutions – let’s face it, most of us make them. But, why is it so common for our motivation and good intentions to dwindle after a couple of weeks, falling back into our old habits before the winter snow has had a chance to thaw out?
The biggest reason why our goals fail is simply because they are unrealistic or too broad – making it difficult for you to visualize them becoming a reality. As an example, if your resolution is ‘to be more productive in the new year’, you will find it difficult to know where to start. However, by breaking this goal into smaller, more specific actions, such as ‘I will fit in an extra hour of work each day in January’, this will help you identify definitive actions that you are more likely to stick with in order to achieve your ultimate goal.
The key to resolution success is to make your goals SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Considering these factors will have a great effect when it comes to defining clear goals; it will allow you to put a plan in place, so you can actually achieve everything you’ve set out to accomplish.
Additionally, putting them into a visual format is also highly beneficial as it will make your aims feel more concrete, as well as keep you motivated by giving you a constant reminder of what you’re working towards.
With the New Year countdown on, now is the perfect chance to step back and consider what you want to achieve in the next 12 months. Read on to discover how Ayoa can help you not only create SMART goals, but put these into action so you can watch your resolutions materialize.
Decide what’s important to you, and capture it
The first step to creating successful resolutions is to think about what’s important to you. What do you really want to achieve during the next year and why? Begin by gathering your ideas – there are a number of ways you can do this in Ayoa, such as a Radial Map or Canvas View for Task Boards.
Though both highly effective and visual tools, the format you choose will depend on your individual preferences. Inspired by the classic pie-chart, Radial Maps start with a central idea which can be broken down into segments. You can then add children to these segments to be even more specific, and adjust the size of the segments in your map to signify importance and how long an action will take to complete. Canvas View, on the other hand, puts your goals into circles that contain colorful and visually stimulating bubbles.
No matter which format you choose, when brainstorming your goals, it can be easy for these to add up quickly. With Radial Maps, simply use segments to organize everything you’re working on. With Canvas View, be sure to make sense of your tasks by using Categories to organize your tasks into various themes. Perhaps you’ll want a category for your personal goals, and a separate one for your career goals. Whatever the case, using categories or segments will help you to split your ‘bigger picture’ ideas into different areas, so you can hone in on these with further details later.
Make it SMART: Dividing your tasks into categories will help you achieve the first step of your SMART goals – making them specific. Break your ideas into different groups so you can focus on specific areas and tasks that are important to you. This will also tick off another SMART objective – making your goals relevant. When building your ideas in Ayoa, understand exactly why you want to achieve each goal and what it would mean for you, so you can stay motivated.
Turn your goals into actionable tasks
Once you’ve broken down your goals into specific tasks, this is where you can really start to put steps in place to ensure you follow through with each of them. In Radial View, children can be easily turned into tasks that you can then add Notes, Checklists, Due Dates and Reminders to and track your progress. In Canvas View, any action you add to your Task Board is already a task that can be actioned.
Some tasks will naturally be bigger than others, and it is important that you break these down so you can manage them effectively. Add Checklists to your tasks to identify smaller actions needed to complete the task, that you can tick off as you go along. This will help you visually track the progress of your task, and give you mini targets that you can work towards.
Make it SMART: Your goals should be a challenge, but not impossible to reach. Make sure your goals are realistic and attainable. Using Checklists will help you to break your tasks down into manageable steps so you can avoid feeling overwhelmed. While you’re working on your goals, one of the most important steps is to ensure your goals are measurable – use Ayoas’s task features to add extra detail on how exactly you will measure the success of your work on an ongoing basis.
Keep track of your success
So, you’ve decided on your resolutions, broken them down into specific tasks and identified the steps you need to take to complete them. How do you now make sure nothing slips through the net? Once you’re in a task, you can set Due Dates so you can organize your schedule and the importance of each item. Once you’ve set your deadlines, you can then add Task Reminders to add greater efficiency to the way you work and keep you alert to approaching deadlines and any action you need to take.
Make it SMART: Adding Due Dates to each of your tasks will cross off that final step to creating your SMART goals – making them timely. Setting yourself deadlines will hold you accountable to your actions and progress, and allow you to manage your time effectively. Setting these dates will also help you to visualise your finish line, and give you that extra boost of determination to see each task through to the end.
Make this your most successful year yet. Try Ayoa for free today, and get your new year off to the best start.