For The Press and Standard
You did it! You made it to 2023! Congrats! I love the new year. So much hope. Everyone gets a clean slate. You just can’t beat it. But all of that means nothing if you don’t decide to take advantage of it. And that doesn’t mean making a resolution.
You’ve probably heard by now that most resolutions don’t last past January. So we aren’t going to make resolutions this year. We’re making goals. SMART goals. A SMART goal is:
Specific: You know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how you’re doing it.
Measurable: Women lie, men lie, but numbers don’t lie. What numbers can you put on your goal?
Actionable: Is this something you can actually do? “Be a millionaire” is less actionable than “Earn $83,333.33 each month by selling popcorn.”
Realistic: Does this fit with your life? There’s a reason I’m going to run instead of start snowboarding for exercise.
Timed: When is this going to be done? Each day? Every month? By the end of the year?
My most successful New Year’s goal was in 2020. I made a plan to become active again by running 30 miles each month for a year by running at least a mile a day on average. I used to run track, so it was realistic. But if you look at how I wrote it, you can see that it was SMART. And it worked. By the end of 2020, I ran 395.4 miles. That was 35.4 miles more than I planned, and 29.4 more miles than there were days in that leap year. And because I believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, my SMART goals to be healthier in 2023 are:
To drink a gallon of water each day
To eat mostly (at least 50% of all meals) fruits and vegetables each day
To run at least 3 times a week
Now you all know exactly what I should be doing and when I should have it done by. So please, if you see me going for my Boston Cream at Dunkin’, please ask me how many plants I’ve eaten that day.
But what are you going to do? I’d love to hear how you are going to be healthier in 2023. You can get in touch with me on Facebook (House Calls with Dr. B), TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter (@housecallsdrb). I’d also love to hear your questions for future articles. Next time, we’ll talk about how to use the healthcare system to help you keep your goals, but until then, drink water, eat plants, and get moving, y’all.
