As a tradition for most people across the world, the latter part of every year or month gives people an opportunity to retrospect and adjust themselves accordingly to the new year or month through their new year or month resolutions. New year or month resolutions are mostly the plans and goals individuals or organizations set for themselves to achieve in the new year or month and set the expectations of change in the lives of these individuals and organizations.

Although many individuals and organizations set new year or month resolutions, many people do not have practical management ideas to make their new year or month resolutions work, accounting for their inability to make gains from their new year or month plans.

As project managers, we believe individual lives and organizational goals or objectives in the new year or month are projects worth embarking on with the right set of knowledge and tools to achieve more than the bare minimum. Individuals and organizations need to be SMART about their goals to make gains from their plans.

• Individuals and organizations must ensure that their goals and objectives this year or month are SPECIFIC. There should be no form of ambiguity in the goals and objectives of individuals or organizations since that is a recipe for project failure. The aims and visions of the individual or organization should be straightforward and clear. For organizations especially, having ambiguous goals would generate chaos due to the lack of understanding between the leadership and the team. Narrowing your goals helps you understand the required tools needed to achieve them.
• The goals and objectives of individuals and organizations should be MEASURABLE. There should be ways of defining how to measure the progress of your goals in the year. Having goals with measurable progress indicators allows individuals and organizations to reassess themselves and determine whether they are making progress with their goals as time goes on. 
• The goals and objectives set for this year or month should be ACHIEVABLE. There should be a conscious effort to challenge oneself or team members with goals within their reach. Achievable goals bring the best out of the individual efforts and available resources at their disposal. Superfluous goals would only work you out, waste your time and effort. Your goals should be realistic and achievable. 
• The goals you set for yourself or the organization should be RELEVANT.  Your goals for the year or month should be aligned to your long-term objectives as an individual or the values and objectives of the organization. The goals set should count and contribute towards your progress and long-term goals.
• Your goals should be TIME-BASED with specific timeframes to achieve your goals. Clearly defined timelines serve as a form of motivation for achieving goals and also help in prioritizing goals and objectives. Your timeline should be realistic enough to avoid rushing through the process.

Being SMART about your goals in 2022 helps you properly define the resources and steps needed to ensure your goals are achieved while providing you with a metric to measure your growth and progress in line with your goals.

Be SMART about your life or organization’s projects for 2022 and see yourself or your organization attain the best results by the end of the year. 

Be like IMPLEMENTERS, the SMART project management firm.

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