Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

Let’s use an example of a goal for me to lose 25 pounds and apply our SMARTER tool : S pecific: Vague goals are hard to reach, so make sure you are very specific with your goals. I want to lose some weight is vague, I want to lose 25 pounds is very specific. I need a target to hit. M easurable: If it can’t be measured, it can’t be tracked. In this example, I can follow my progress by weighing myself each week as I march toward the completion of my goal. A ttainable: Goals must be realistic or they will be doomed to failure. Losing 25 pounds by this Friday is not reasonable. I will set a pace of losing one pound per week. Lots of other people have achieved a one pound per week weight loss so there is no reason I can’t duplicate it. R esults Oriented: A goal must have a powerful “why” behind it; the true result I am seeking. If the why is not strong enough, I will not have the motivation to continue on the hard days. The reason I want to lose 25 pounds is not to be lighter. The real reason is to be able to play soccer in the yard with my kids. The true result I am after is not the weight loss itself; it is how losing 25 pounds will improve my life. T imed: Every goal must have a target date or a finish line. Without a deadline, it is not really a goal, it is just a dream. At one pound a week, what date will my goal be achieved? The goal now becomes, by September 1st, I will have lost 25 pounds. E very day: In order to make this goal a reality, I must put something on my to-do list every day that will get me one step closer to achieving my goal. Some examples are; weight lift for 30 minutes, buy a pair of running shoes, set up a weekly exercise chart, ride my bike for an hour, purchase some exercise clothes, or order a heart rate monitor. If I do something every day to move closer to the goal, success will be waiting just around the corner. R ewarded: Achieving a goal needs to be rewarded. A celebration is in order for all the time and effort used to reach a goal. I need a great carrot to keep me going on the hard days; the ones when I don’t feel like working toward my goal. The reward must be something that is truly motivating, something I really want. A carrot, for instance, won’t motivate a lion the same as it would a horse. So the goal becomes: I will work every day to lose 25 pounds before September 1st so I can play soccer with my kids. When I achieve this, I will reward myself with a family weekend at the beach. Now what goals do you have in mind for you and your family? Make them SMARTER goals and write them down. Look back on your list of priorities and make sure that none of your goals will conflict with your priorities. Then go achieve them! SECTION II: T MINUS TWO YEARS CAREER AND LIFE PLANNING GUIDEBOOK FOR MEDICAL RESIDENTS 146