New year resolutions and goal setting are big topics in January. We receive countless messages in various feeds about goals, goal setting and making plans for the year.

Goals are important. It’s important to work on and toward things that feel important and meaningful, and which support growth and development. Many of the doctors in our coaching and PD Programs share goals they are aspiring toward and working on, such as:

• Spending more quality time with a partner or with the family
• Applying to a short course or program to deepen expertise/specialisation.

One thing we need to consider is making sure they are SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely: Important considerations for crafting and designing a goal so that it is possible to achieve in your current situation and given current resources. To take an example from above, to achieve spending more quality time with family it is important to consider:

• What does quality family time mean to me? Is it sharing meals together, playing a board game or watching a movie once a week? Or perhaps time on weekends doing something fun or having better conversations? This deeper reflection is the work involved in framing this goal as a SMART goal: Moving from the abstract and aspirational idea to something that can be actioned.

The next step is then crucial: How am I going to work toward that goal and realise it? This is about SMART actions and SMART plans to work out the steps to realising the goal. If I want to spend more quality time with my family, I might:

• Talk to my family about dinner time and choosing a day(s) of the week we commit to rating together.
• Talk to my colleagues / check the calendar and roster to work out what day(s) could work. 
• Start to schedule this dinner as an appointment in your calendar. 

It is when we engage in this specific action planning process that we really face the challenge of changing behaviours. Self-compassion is important here! It’s hard. Hard to move from the big, aspirational ideas of the goals to the specific behaviours involved in changing existing routines. The self-compassion is for the deep sigh you make when you reconcile with yourself what’s possible each day and each week – to add to the workload you already have.

We must be realistic about what we can really work on and be compassionate to ourselves and the resources we manage.  Time is precious. Burnout is real. Existing workload and demands are already a lot, if not too much. So, to add something more to the to do list is something we must do mindfully and respectfully.

• Choose one goal to focus on at a time.
• Make a realistic action plan – fo actions that are possible and sustainable.
• One or two new things per week is enough.

For example, more family time could have an action plan such as:

This week:

1. Think of a day in the week that I can be home over dinner time.
2. Talk with family about whether that day would work for them.

Next week:

1. Think about how to schedule this in your personal and work calendars.
2. Tell any colleagues/staff about the change you want to make.

Week after:

1. Try the new change i.e. be home for dinner with family on the night you committed to.
2. Assess and review – tweak if necessary.

True, this starts to sound a bit mundane and boring, but it is how we can achieve behaviour change that is sustainable. Big goals, broken down into small, actionable plans and behaviours, executed one at a time. Many goals will take many weeks and months to realise. But it is in this way that they are more likely to be achieved, and more likely to stick.

Dr Anna Clark is AMAVs Leadership consultant, coach and educator, currently offering individual coaching for doctors and directing the AMA’s professional development programs in leadership, the Emerging Leader Program and Middle Leader Program.