Strategies for Effective Goal Setting in 2026

This is the year that you are going to eat healthier, lose some weight, or maybe even make a career change. Sound familiar? These are definitely admirable goals and likely very important to you. However, despite your good intentions, are you biting off more than you can chew (pun intended!)? Are you setting yourself up for failure? Does it feel like you are rowing upstream in a waterfall?

Behavioral changes take work and often lead to beneficial outcomes. This process requires motivation, realistic goals, and a blueprint on how to get there. Quite often, we get stuck in the step of setting realistic goals a

nd doable actions to meet those goals. With this in mind, I would like to introduce you to a helpful tool that I have often used with my clients/patients in similar situations. This tool is called the S.M.A.R.T. goal.

A S.M.A.R.T. goal is:

• Specific: What exactly do I want to do?

• Measurable: How will I track my progress?

• Achievable: Is this realistic for me to accomplish this week? Do I have the resources I need?

• Relevant: Why am I doing this? Does it matter to me?

• Time-bound: When will I have this completed?

  
  

For example, I may set the goal that I am going to exercise. The goal "exercise" is not in a S.M.A.R.T. goal format and is likely easier to be overcome with obstacles. Instead, the goal could be modified to: "I will walk a total of 2 hours this week, walking 30 minutes each day on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings at 7 AM." As you work through this approach, you should be able to answer each part of the goal. If not, then you need to go back and rework the goal. Pay attention to potential obstacles and how you would overcome them by incorporating them into this framework.

No one said that behavior change is easy, but with some S.M.A.R.T. goals in place, you will be taking a step in the right direction!

Good luck and be kind to yourself along the way!

Dr. Powell