It’s February 2020. A new decade is already a month in, and it’s possible you made a resolution for yourself. According to Ashira Prossack at Forbes, 25% of people actually stay committed to their resolutions after just 30 days, and only 8% accomplish them. Which part of the statistic are you in? I feel 92% of the readers just put their paper down. 

Change in behavior is hard. Making one specific behavior change like flossing every night, for example, requires several behavior changes to take place. You need to have the floss and make sure it’s readily available when you brush your teeth. You need to account for the extra time it will take you getting ready, and you need to be mindful, when you do brush your teeth, to then stop and floss. We automate behaviors. If we have been brushing our teeth without flossing for 15 years, adding a change in our behavior can take some time. 

Resolutions tend to be broad and require several behavior changes. And the broader your resolution is, the more variables that require mindful behavior. Ultimately (or for 92% of us), our habits take over. It is simply easier because it’s what our minds and bodies are comfortable doing.

So what are the 8% doing that we aren’t? 

Let’s begin by retitling a resolution as a stretch goal. 

In Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity by Charles Duhigg, he explains the need for stretch goals alongside SMART goals. Your stretch goal is what you want for yourself, what you called your resolution – lose weight, save more, write a book, eat healthy, be organized. These are all broad behaviors. Your whole lifestyle and behavior choices are affected in each one of these stretch goals. 

SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timeline) goals help break down behavior change. SMART goals help you break apart the stretch goal and tackle it little by little. 

In Smarter Faster Better, Duhigg recommends writing a specific to-do list. On the top, write your stretch goal; for example, “lose weight.” Below your stretch goal, write your SMART goal. 

For example:

Stretch Goal: Eat healthy.

Specific: Switch drinking soda with water.

Measurable: Drink 64 oz. of water daily.

Achievable: Fill water jug (16 oz.) at night. Set a water cup next to bed to wake up and drink from.

Realistic: Place a full water jug in the car so it is ready to take to work. Fill water jug at noon and at 4 p.m. Drink a glass of water with dinner. On Saturday and Sunday, set reminder on phone to refill water jug and have two full water jugs ready, if we are going out. 

Timeline: If I drink a cup in the morning, the jug on the way to work and during work, refill twice, and drink a cup with dinner, then I should be drinking 64 oz. daily. If I am not drinking 64 oz. of water daily by Sunday, then I will come up with a new plan. If I am drinking 64 oz. daily by Sunday, I can continue my water plan and look at a plan for healthy snacks.

Creating a stretch and SMART goal plan only takes a few minutes, and it helps you avoid making decisions on big, broad resolutions. It breaks down behavior and allows you a clear sense of how to proceed with fewer distractions in the way. 

Keep your plan handy and remind yourself of your stretch goal. Drinking water may feel like a drag, but when you remind yourself of your greater goal, it puts the behavior change into greater perspective. Combining stretch and SMART goals helps create a roadmap to a better you.