How to Set Goals in 2025 (& Actually Meet Them)
Disclaimer; This content is provided as general knowledge and may be used for broad self-improvement purposes but may not be suitable for every person.
If you notice changes to your health or have concerns about your sleep, consult with your healthcare providers.
If you or someone you care about is in crisis, use the 988 Lifeline or go to the nearest emergency department.
January is a popular month for goals*.
*This is an opinion
This post will explore how to create realistic achievable goals.
Therapy and Goals
It is a privilege to explore the goal-making process with clients for topics related to sleep, mental health symptoms, creativity, managing energy, adding new hobbies, or changing a behavior.
Therapists are trained to help develop and craft realistic client goals with actionable behaviors in a way that encourages long-term changes.
That means therapists are trustworthy resources for folks needing support with clarifying goals or creating a realistic behavior change.
What are SMART Goals?
If you ever ask a therapist or psychologist how they develop personal or professional goals their answer will probably use the SMART goal format:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time
Goals are exciting: big goals, small goals, and average size goals. We like all goal sizes here.
Big goals are typically comprised of smaller, short-term goals rather than one grand event and attempt.
How to Use SMART Goals
Suppose I am seeing a hypothetical client named Jasmine and during our first appointment she shares, “I want to exercise more.”
We like all goals here but we love specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely goals.
Let’s use the SMART goal format to transform Jasmine’s goal into an actionable and understandable process.
Additional information about Jasmine and her goal: Jasmine currently runs 2 nights a week and attends a yoga class each Saturday morning. Jasmine’s schedule is flexible in the morning but her evenings are busy.
SMART Goals
Specific:
Specific means the goal is clear and short in length.
In this hypothetical scenario, I would ask Jasmine how we can specify this goal by identifying which type of exercise she wants to include in this goal and she replies, “I want to attend another yoga class.”
Jasmine’s goal started with: “I want to exercise more.”
Upon exploration of Jasmine's schedule and preference we can specify her goal: “I will attend a Tuesday morning yoga class each week.”
Measurable:
Measurable goals allow us to track progress; let’s restructure the goal to reflect measurability.
The example “I will attend a Tuesday morning yoga class each week” can be strengthened by adding, “I will attend a Tuesday morning yoga class each week for 8 weeks.”
I ask clients, “How can we assess progress or barriers towards this goal?”
Jasmine replies, “I log workouts on my phone, where I already track my runs and Saturday morning yoga class so I will use that each week.”
Achievable:
Achievability: Adding 1 new behavior is a remarkable change to the brain's flow or routine. Smaller behavior changes are more sustainable which means they won’t be a short-term phase.
When developing a goal reflect on how likely you actually are to meet it.
Unhelpful framing of this goal may look like, “I don’t work out at all but I want to start going to the gym 5 nights each week.”
Acknowledge and savor your ambition while being real with yourself. Build up size-able chunks of progress and keep adding to them over time.
One aspect about humanness I admire is the spirit of ambition at the prospect of a new goal.
Ambition, in its motivational and aspirational glory, comes up with grand, elaborate, and often unrealistic goals which then invites an acquaintance of unchecked ambition: Disappointment (see also: shame and guilt).
Disappointment thrives with attention and appears at most opportunities; it’s best we mitigate disappointment’s appearance by curtailing our beautiful ambition a little bit.
Big-picture goals come together through tiny steps.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” -Lao Tzu
Relevant:
Reflect on your values and long-term goals.
Ponder the ways this change may or may not align with personal goals and values.
Time:
Start and end dates are a friend.
A start date helps for obvious reasons and an end date provides an opportunity to evaluate how a new behavior was incorporated, hindered, or could be improved.
Setting a 4-8 week time period can help guide your progress and guide measuring your progress.
Hypothetical client Jasmine started with,
“I want to exercise more," and now her goal reads: “I will attend a Tuesday morning yoga class each week," while tracking her yoga sessions in her preferred app for 8 weeks.
Both are goals though one is more likely to be achieved than the other.
Jasmine and I will plan to check-in on her progress towards this goal during our weekly sessions and again at the end of her 8-week goal period.
By the end of a SMART goal experience reflect on what worked best and what now: do you want to reevaluate your goals and add more or maintain progress?
What barriers prevented you from reaching this goal?
How can you mitigate or minimize barriers in the future?
Was there any aspect from this experience that went better than you expected, or were you surprised by anything?
If you struggle to create goals or stick with a goal seeing a mental health professional may help. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not a weakness.
About the Author:
Nicole Zegiestowsky, M.S. (she/her)
Hello, my name is Nicole Zegiestowsky, M.S. (she/her) and I am a pre-licensed virtual therapist in Alaska under the supervision of Dr. Ekstrom (196093, #125200).
I use a trauma-informed approach to provide counseling services for LGBTQ+ adults and perinatal/postpartum populations for concerns relating to anxiety, depression, ADHD/Autism, PTSD, and/or difficulty with sleep.
Learn more about the virtual counseling services I provide for individual adult therapy and group adult therapy.