Guest Post

Ellie's Smart Goals

So it's a New Year, which inevitably means a New You! Woohoo. January is always the month for hopes and dreams, which all too often fall apart after the first week. Well I'm going to let you into a well-known secret of all the great achievers of the modern ages.... introducing SMART goals. It is a well known fact that writing down your goals is a great first step to victory so I suggest grabbing a pen and putting your aspirations on paper.

Most importantly though, is to follow the SMART format for all goals you make.

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

This means not simply saying "I want to get fitter", " I want to do more work". It means setting targets such as "By April, I want to be able to run 10k in 50 minutes." 

So for me, my goals are:

Getting to the library: 3days a week between 11 and 4pm. Because let's be honest, any more would be unrealistic. If I manage more, then I'll feel super charged. 

Going to 4 gym classes per week. As a final year student, there has never been a more important time to keep working out to destress and keep the mind clear and calm. 

and a bit of a fun one... trying a new recipe each week. I find it so easy to get into food ruts where you always end up cooking the same meals so I thought this would be a reasonable resolution to make. It's also on my list to start making my way through the BFI top 100 film list because it is actually shocking how few I've seen. E.g I only just watched The Shawshank Redemption last week! 

SMART goals mean you can measure your progress and therefore you're far more likely to stay on track. Of course, all goals will still require hard work and determination, but at least with this there will be a bit more motivation woo hoo. 

So good luck! Over to Frankie to tell you her goals for the year! Happy days!

So according to Ellie by putting my goals on the internet I will be more likely to follow them..

Here we go...

#1. Go for a run at least once a week (6k in less than 40mins- just to make Ellie happy)

#2. Post on my blog every day!

#3. Have a real life adult job by the time the rest of my friends enter the job market in September

#4. Run a 10k fun run by April

#5. Take my fish oil tablets three times a day

Finally this one doesn't fit into the smart formula, so I added it once Ellie had left (!), but do more Londoney things, and I'm making a good start with my visit to the Andaz hotel tomorrow for the Winter Club Sandwich, check back tomorrow!

The rest are rather vague, but the fewer I have the more likely I will stick to them!

What are yours?