(Belated) New Year's Resolutions

I know it's a little on the late side -- but then again, I guess it's never too late to make some resolutions for the upcoming year.  You know what those are -- the "I'm going to lose 5 lbs", "I'm going to learn a new language", "I'm going to travel more" type of goals.  Sometimes they're helpful, and sometimes they slip through the cracks.


I bet everyone can guess one of my resolutions. 


RUN A MARATHON!
(That was for the people who couldn't figure it out on their own...)


That's my major one.  And this new year ushers in four and a half months of training to make sure I'm ready for it.


But other than that, what else do I want to do this year?  Here's my list.


AMANDA'S RESOLUTIONS
1.  Complete a marathon race.
2.  Maintain a better work/life balance.  Don't leave all my "life" stuff for the weekend.  Find ways to puff more "life" into the work week.
3.  Take at least a one-week vacation FROM EVERYTHING (except exercise, hee hee).


It'll be interesting to see how many of these become realities.  Maybe now that they're posted for all the world to see, I'll subconsciously be more diligent about fulfilling them.  What about you?  Write down those goals (not a laundry list, just the top 1, 2, or 3) and get them DONE this year!


When writing your goals down, it sometimes help to make them SMART goals (S-M-A-R-T).  They should be:

• S:  SPECIFIC - The smaller and more specific the goal, the easier it is to achieve.  For example, "I want to learn how to have a basic conversation in Italian" rather than "I want to learn Italian."
• M:  MEASURABLE - How will you know you've met your goal?  Set a measurement.  For example, "I want to lose 5 lbs." rather than "I want to lose weight."
• A:  ATTAINABLE - Make sure the goal can be attained within your realm of control.  Things like meeting a celebrity might not be attainable.  Running a sub-2-minute mile might not be attainable.  However, breaking a personal record or playing a song on the piano is attainable.
• R:  REALISTIC - This differs from "attainable" in that your goal is realistic based on the timeframe and your current starting point.  For example, although it might be "attainable" for you to make $100,000 per year SOMEDAY, it might not be "realistic" to set that goal if you're just out of college and your deadline is 3 months.  It might be more realistic to say, "In the next three months, I'm going to earn a 5% pay increase."  You could even break that up into smaller goals that detail how you're going to get that raise.
• T:  TIMELY - Give your goals a deadline.  For New Year's resolutions, this is usually 12/31 of the new year, but it can be sooner if you wish.

Using these guidelines will ensure that your goals can both mentally and physically be achieved.  They make your goals bite-sized, seemingly achievable, and provide you with the motivation to reach them.
With the example of my marathon, I've made it:

Specific:  I set a goal for a particular race, rather than just running more in general.

Measurable:  A marathon is 26.2 miles.  If I traverse that distance on race day, I'll know I've reached my goal.

Attainable:  I know I can run a marathon with proper training, because I know many other people who have done it successfully.

Realistic:  I'm giving myself 20 weeks to train, and I have a solid conditioning plan in place.

Timely:  The race is on a fixed date (see the countdown timer above if you haven't already).


With all that said, welcome to the new year....now let's get going!