Healthy + Happy #22: Goodbye Resolutions, Hello Micro-Goals
Raise your hand if your New Year’s Resolutions usually fade before the end of the month. If your hand is up, you’re not alone: about 80 percent of people abandon their goals by February.
Good news: we’re here to help. We can all benefit from setting goals, especially as a family (think: built-in accountability partners), so here are our “6 Steps for Setting (and Maintaining) Your Micro-Goals in 2023”:
Set your family’s BIG goal. Example: “Our family will eat healthier this year.”
Start with your WHY. Never choose a random goal — find something meaningful to your family and connect that meaning to the end goal. Example: “We’ve seen some of our family members struggling with health conditions that were preventable. We want good health so we can move freely and feel good every day.”
Create Micro-Sized SMART Goals that support your Big Goal. Build out tiny, specific everyday habits that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timebound. Example: “Our family will start our dinners with a fresh, leafy green salad on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from January 1 to March 30, 2023.”
Habit Stack. Pair your micro-goal with something your family already does daily. Example: “Since our kids have sports on Tuesdays and Thursdays, our family dinners already happen on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”
Measure your success. Decide on a start/end date and record your progress (think: apps, calendars, whiteboards, etc.). Example: “Maddie will record the days we eat salads on our family calendar that is in our kitchen.” Tip: Get the kids involved! Kids love making check marks and sticking stickers.
Reward hard work: Adding incentives to the journey make success all the sweeter. Example: “If we achieve our goal of 39 salads in 3 months. We will plant a butterfly garden in our backyard this spring (something Maddie desperately wants) and we’ll also get to grow our own salad greens.”
Building new habits takes practice (and time). Remember to be flexible and modify your plan if your micro-goals aren’t working for your family. Once your new micro-goal becomes a family habit, choose another one and repeat.
Learning this strategy not only benefits your family in the short-term, but it’s also a skill kids can apply in the future (think: academics, sports, career, well-being, etc.). Help set up your kids for future success. Ditch those resolutions and set some micro-goals!
We wish you a wonderful end to 2022 and a Healthy + Happy 2023. Reach out to us with any content suggestions, questions or thoughts.