Individuals often set New Year’s Resolutions to kick off a new year. But for many, those resolutions are quickly broken or abandoned. Why? One large-scale study (Oscarsson et al., 2020) asked 1066 participants to make New Year’s Resolutions in one of three conditions: No support (control), Some support (provided information and exercises on coping with hurdles in keeping resolutions), and Extended support (encouraged to create SMART goals + provided additional information on motivation and coping with hurdles). One year later, participants who received support were more successful in achieving their goals than those with no support, and participants who set approach-oriented, versus avoidance-oriented, goals were more successful. Let’s break down those two elements that helped create behavior change:
SMART goals: SMART goals are ones that are:
- Specific: What are you going to do, being as specific as possible?
- Measurable: How much are you going to do?
- Action-Oriented: How often are you going to do it?
- Realistic: Why am I doing this? Is this something I want/like to do? Do I have what I need to do it?
- Timed: When are you going to do it?
A common resolution is to get more exercise. But is this a SMART goal? Framing that resolution as “I am going to engage in aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, 4 times a week, after work but before dinner, to help increase my level of exercise” turns that resolution into a SMART goal.
Approach versus avoidance: Approach goals center on more positive outcomes (increasing exercise, increasing time on stress management activities, etc), whereas Avoidance goals center on more negative items (reducing caloric intake, reducing weight, etc). Avoidance goals can be reframed as approach goals. For example, if a resolution/goal is to decrease soda intake, it could instead be reframed as increasing water intake.
As you look to make any behavioral changes, consider creating SMART goals that are approach-oriented. We used the OSU LinkToHealth website to help compile information on SMART goals – you can schedule sessions with a personal health coach to help you set goals.