Why "New Year, New Me" is Actually Making you more Anxious – Let's get SMART about our Goals
The start of a new year often brings a peak in goal-setting, yet many of those resolutions rarely last. This can lead to feelings of anxiety and guilt when we fail to follow through on our commitments.
From managing daily tasks to pursuing long-term career aspirations, nearly everyone sets goals. When executed effectively, goal setting provides a valuable method for defining intentions and guiding the direction of our lives with intentional actions.
However, the high rate of abandoned resolutions and uncompleted projects suggests that mere desire is not enough. Achieving goals requires more than just ambition; success is more likely when goals are approached with a structured and intentional framework.
When discussing goal setting in sessions, we often joke with our clients and ask them how many New Year’s resolutions they have achieved or if they can even remember the ones that they have made. These types of goals tend to be rather vague, lofty and virtuosic rather than specific, realistic and intrinsically motivated. These New Year resolution type goals often lack clarity and specificity and in turn, they are easy to forget and/or give up on.
So what can you do to increase the chances of accomplishing your goal? Whether it be abstaining from substance use, cutting down your drinking, being more social, getting better sleep or living a value based life, we encourage you to set goals that follow the S.M.A.R.T. goal framework. The S.M.A.R.T. goal framework will help you to frame your goals and aspirations into concrete, actionable steps.
In this blog post we will explore the psychological basis for the S.M.A.R.T. framework (i.e., why we think it works), detailing how each component targets a specific mechanism to enhance motivation and increase the chance for progress.
The Problem with Vague Goals
Goals frequently fail because they are not sufficiently defined. When a goal is too abstract such as, "I want to improve my mental health" or “be a better leader” it presents several psychological challenges that can increase the risk that we will not follow through.
Decision Paralysis: The lack of a clear starting point or immediate action prevents us from easily initiating the tasks to accomplish or goal. For example, “I want to improve my mental health” leaves a big gap with so many places to start, from self-help books, signing up for a gym, meeting with a therapist…The sheer scale of the goal can cause you to feel overwhelmed and this can trigger avoidance or procrastination.
Absence of Reinforcement: Without defined goal posts, there is no objective way to recognize a small win. As human beings, we tend to adopt behaviours that are reinforced and recognized. When we achieve something and identify it, we get a bump in dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter that when released in the pleasure centre of our brain, makes us feel good. Without the reinforcement, we don’t get the bump in pleasure and we are at risk of losing motivation.
Priority Drift: Without a deadline, the goal lacks immediate urgency, allowing lower-priority tasks (aka the daily grind) to take up our time and energy that should be dedicated to the higher-value objective.
It’s especially common to feel like you’re lacking specificity when you’re in a tough place; may that be in active addiction, newly-founded recovery, dealing with mental illness or chronic health concerns. The future feels blurry, scary and overwhelming, making it easy to get stuck going in circles or procrastinate making change (because you have no idea where to start). The S.M.A.R.T. framework directly addresses these issues by introducing the necessary structure and clarity to start pushing the needle in a forward direction.
Deconstructing the S.M.A.R.T. Goal Acronym
What is a SMART goal? It’s more than just being an intelligent one… Let’s break it down, letter by letter.
“S” is for Specific
A specific goal answers the questions of Who, What, Where, When, and Why. It leaves little room for interpretation about the outcome we are seeking or the steps required to get there.
Being specific in our goal setting helps reduce what we call a cognitive load when we are making changes. The cognitive load is essentially the resources our brain requires to process information and make good decisions. When we are trying to make change, the load is high because we are trying to break patterns or habitual ways of thinking or doing things.
An example of a SMART goal that is stated clearly could be, "I will go to the gym three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 45 minutes and do 20 minutes of cardio and 25 minutes of weights” versus “I am going to get fit.”
Another example of focusing on specificity in a goal is, “I will address my social anxiety by signing up for a run club that I will attend on Saturday mornings. I don’t have to feel pressure to have conversations, but simply be around other people while engaging in an activity I enjoy.”
Reducing the cognitive load can help automate the initiation of the task, conserving mental energy that would otherwise be spent on deciding what to do next. The clarity ensures the brain is primed for execution rather than deliberation, and the lighter the load is, the greater the chances we will be able to follow through.
M is for Measurable: The Objective Progress Tracker
A measurable goal includes observable metrics that allow for objective tracking of progress toward our desired result.
Measurement creates a feedback mechanism; it helps us to get a hit of dopamine as we take steps towards the outcome we are wanting to achieve. Each time a metric is reviewed and shows progress (e.g., words written, savings accrued, workouts completed), the brain receives a direct input of success. This positive reinforcement is a powerful psychological tool that reinforces the process part of the journey that we need to execute to achieve our goals and strengthens motivation to keep taking those next steps.
Measuring progress also counters cognitive biases that might otherwise lead to giving up after a minor setback, as it objectively anchors us in the accumulated results of our effort. There is also good research that even simply tracking a behaviour can result in positive changes.
For example, the goal of “I will attend 2 AA meetings a week for the next month” is measurable, as you can easily track whether you went to those meetings or not.
A is for Achievable (or Attainable): Building Self-Efficacy
An achievable goal is realistic and attainable given the available resources, time constraints, and skill level. It should be challenging enough to require effort but not so ambitious as to guarantee failure.
For example, as a new parent, the notion of working out five times a week at the gym for an hour each day is more likely to lead to discouragement than achievement.
Setting achievable goals is foundational to building self-efficacy, or the belief in one’s own capacity to execute tasks necessary to produce the desired outcomes. If a goal is too difficult, repeated failure can erode this belief and lead us to slowly back away from moving towards positive changes.
Achievable goals, however, facilitate mastery experiences, or the belief that we can get better at something when we put in a good effort. Each time a demanding but realistic milestone is met, your self-efficacy can increase, creating a positive, upward spiral that makes you more confident and willing to take on increasingly difficult challenges. This also helps us to be more gritty, a topic that we covered more in-depth in another post.
R is for Relevant: Aligning Effort with Values
Relevant goals align with your long-term values and personal mission. It answers the question of whether the goal is worth the effort in the context of what you find to be purposeful in your life.
This transforms goals from the things that we “should” do, to the personal “why” we want to achieve them.
Personal relevance drives intrinsic motivation or the motivation that comes from within ourselves. Actions driven by internal satisfaction and alignment with core values tend to be more sustainable than those driven purely by external rewards or extrinsic motivation.
When a goal is relevant, the effort invested feels meaningful, making you more resilient to the inevitable metonymy or difficulties encountered during the process of working towards a long-term goal.
For example, for someone living with a chronic illness, a SMART goal could be “I will follow my treatment plan by taking my prescribed medication daily and tracking my symptoms for the next 8 weeks to reduce flare-ups and improve my energy levels.” This goal is relevant and valuable because managing symptoms will help you to show up more consistently and have enough energy for daily activities.
T is for Time-Bound: Introducing Necessary Urgency
A Time-Bound goal has a clearly defined completion date or scheduled milestone deadlines.
Deadlines give tasks a definitive end point and create a sense of commitment. They help reduce procrastination because unfinished tasks create mental pressure that pushes us to take action.
The deadline moves the goal from the realm of possibility to concrete reality, forcing you to create a timeline, allocate specific resources, and begin to take steps.
For someone living in the depths of depression, time can be elusive. Days and moments drag, the future can feel unclear, and the deep desire for things to change can feel overwhelming. Creating a goal that has a timeframe that is manageable but close enough to feel achievable is important. For example, “I will reach out to a therapist that specializes in depression and book a consultation by Friday”. This timeline gives yourself a clear expectation and timeline to complete this task.
For long-term projects, using intermediate time-bound milestones helps maintain momentum and prevents the project from becoming overwhelming. This is often referred to as “chunking” and breaking up larger goals into smaller tasks with deadlines can help us to stay the course versus giving up when the larger outcome we are seeking feels like it will require too much effort or is too far away.
The Synergistic Power of S.M.A.R.T.
The real benefits of the S.M.A.R.T. framework emerges when all five components are implemented together. The system works because it:
Provides Clarity (Specific, Measurable): Eliminates ambiguity and ensures that the goal and the path to it are clearly defined.
Manages Risk (Achievable): Protects self-efficacy by setting a realistic level of challenge, ensuring effort is converted into tangible success.
Sustains Effort (Relevant): Links the task to deeper personal values, fueling the intrinsic motivation required for long-term consistency.
Forces Action (Time-Bound): Instills the necessary sense of urgency to transition from planning to execution.
By setting goals using this framework, you are not simply writing down a wish or a New Year’s resolution; you are systematically engineering your environment and mental processes for successful achievement.
Conclusion: A Framework for Consistent Performance
The S.M.A.R.T. goal framework offers an evidence-informed method for transforming desired outcomes into achievable milestones. It moves the focus from the passive act of wishing for things to get better to making improvements using a structured formula for planning and executing on your goals.
If your past attempts at goal achievement have faltered, the solution is not likely more willpower, but a better structure. By consistently applying the principles of Specificity, Measurability, Attainability, Relevance, and Time-bound action, you can curate the necessary conditions to maintain focus, build confidence, and, ultimately, achieve sustained progress towards your goals.
If you need help and some accountability towards making the changes you want and live in Calgary or the surrounding area, we are here to help. Our Calgary therapists are experienced in helping people like you make change and we would love to connect with you to see how we can help you to achieve your goals.
