Be a S.M.A.R.T.Y.P.A.N.T.S. When Setting 2024 Goals!
Vision boards. Manifest stations. New year’s resolutions. Whatever you call them, goals are often top of mind this time of year. Longtime readers know that as an academic teacher, SAT tutor / ACT tutor, and college essay coach and writer myself, I’ve written and lectured extensively about setting and achieving goals. (You can download my free e-book on goal-setting here or listen to my public lecture on it here. You can also check out my various blog posts* on the subject.)
You’ve probably heard that our goals should be “ S.M.A.R.T.” Since 2016, I’ve used the following variation of creator George Doran’s list of characteristics – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound – while teaching basic goal setting to students of all ages in library workshops and small group classes.
But, we are so beyond the basics in 2024, right?
And, since one of my own personal goals is to play more in the new year, I want to offer a playful update on Doran’s mnemonic acronym. Effective goals shouldn’t just be S.M.A.R.T. They should allow us to become S.M.A.R.T.Y.P.A.N.T.S.!
Image by @enginakyurt on Unsplash
Y. Or, rather, “Why?”
If we fail to identify the reason we’re setting a goal, it’s difficult to muster the motivation to achieve it. For example, many adults – me included – set the goal of weight loss in January. Specify the exact number of pounds you want to lose. Measure that loss on a scale or with a tape measure. Ensure that your goal is realistically attainable in the timeframe you set. Then ruminate on WHY you want to lose the weight. For me, I want to fit into some of my favorite dresses again, take pressure off my joints, and be able to do a forward bend in yoga more smoothly.
As an SAT tutor, I often ask students what their dream school is instead of asking them their target score. An SAT score is good for one thing – to help a student earn acceptance to university. Without knowing the college’s median SAT of admitted freshmen, a student has no way of knowing whether they should shoot for a 1200 or a 1500! What’s your “why”?
P. Purpose.
Isn’t that the same thing as “why,” you ask? Well, not exactly. The purpose of your goals is even bigger than your “why.” Purpose is more akin to the “why” of your “why.” For example, in my own case, the purpose of taking pressure off my joints is to live a more pain-free existence. I want to be able to dance more often and for longer periods of time. Dancing brings me great joy and will aid in my quest for more fun in 2024!
As an SAT tutor, I’ll ask students why they want to go to the university they named in the “Y” stage. If they’re not certain, that’s a sure sign they need to do more soul-searching and more researching of various colleges. When they can declare, “I love College X for its interdisciplinary programs in business and the arts,” for example, I know they’ve found their purpose. Then my work as an SAT tutor can begin!
A. Actions.
Doran’s 1981 article likely covered the necessity of identifying actions en route to achieving one’s goals. But his original acronym doesn’t mention “ACTIONS” explicitly. Since we can’t achieve any goal without them, I thought it worth including that indispensable word here.
As I advocate here, I wrote down one action that will help me achieve my goal of losing weight. “I eat only that which is healthy, in healthy amounts.” As an SAT tutor, I might encourage a student struggling in geometry to write, “I make and review key facts for 15 minutes per day.” What actions can you take to make your goals a reality?
Image by Dominique Padurano
N. “kNow Thyself.”
I “kNow” this is cheating my acronym. But knowing your worst self is essential if you’re going to become a S.M.A.R.T.Y.P.A.N.T.S. boss. What do I mean by this? Well, for starters, knowing yourself means identifying your pitfalls. For instance, you want to lose weight, but you know your willpower to eat healthily wanes by evening. When you don’t find any healthy options in your fridge after working till 7 or 8pm, you overeat or choose calorie-dense foods. You want to eat healthily, but your “hanger” is building. (Have you figured out that the “you” here is me!?)
I could fail to acknowledge my goal-sabotaging patterns and order a pizza when I finish a parent call at 7:30 tonight. Or, I could accept them and cook several healthy meals for the week on Sundays. I’m happy to report that my lentil soup, purple cauliflower, and partially cooked salmon will be popped into the microwave at 7:31, avoiding a hangry slip.
But parents, take note. Self-awareness and, especially, the ability to circumvent one’s own flaws are rare among adolescents. If you’re asking your child to set goals for the new year, help them to pinpoint their own personal Achilles’ heels – and ways to work around them. For instance, as an SAT tutor, I suggest that students leave their flash cards in the car. They review those geometry formulae during the 15-minute ride to school every morning.
T.S. Tiny Steps.
We all know that Rome wasn’t built in a day. But when it comes to our own goals, we want to lose those 30 pounds in two weeks or become an A-student overnight. Because their prefrontal cortices, the “brain region… considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals,” won’t be fully developed until age 25, teens have particular difficulty assessing the amount of time it will take to achieve a goal, as well as breaking a large or long-term goal into a series of smaller, shorter-term actionable steps. As parents, loved ones, and SAT tutors, it’s our responsibility to model how we do this to achieve our own goals. We also need to support teens as they plan and take their own tiny steps en route to their goals.
I understand that this process can become fraught with one’s own child. They might be sensitive to any parental oversight, viewing it as intrusive or even manipulative. If you’d like your teen to set goals – be they academic or otherwise, short- or long-term – with someone other than you, please feel free to reach out to me here. And if you’re a librarian or non-profit programmer who would like to book a goal-setting workshop for your patrons, you can also email me here. Many of the students who I’ve helped through a goal-setting process are now thriving in college and the workplace of their choice!
Till then, best wishes for a fantastic and productive 2024!
*To read more on specific aspects of goal-setting, see:
“Wait Till LATE January to Set Goals”