Welcome to 2026! Optimum RTS is here to help you start your year off right. The beginning of a new year is the perfect time and opportunity to set new personal and professional goals, and within Optimum RTS, goal setting is something very important to us. Goals not only allow you to set benchmarks and metrics to track success, but they also allow for productive decision-making and personal fulfillment.
The new year means a fresh slate to achieve and accomplish things you couldn’t in the year prior. Setting resolutions is a task that many people take part in on New Year’s Eve, stating their intentions for the year and what they hope to accomplish. The downside is that most people only stick with their resolutions for January, and then completely forget about them, or adopt the mindset that they have the whole year to accomplish them and push them to the wayside. Setting realistic goals with measurable ways to view them is essential to making sure they are achievable. Through this article, we discuss tips and tricks for setting goals and sticking with them, and provide free tools to help you manage your goals for the year. Our success here at Optimum RTS is measured by the success of the companies we work with.
Common goal-setting mistakes to avoid:
The most common outcome for New Year’s resolutions is for them to be forgotten and not met. It’s easy to avoid goals, but the most common reason goals remain unmet is that we struggle with setting reachable and attainable benchmarks.
Setting goals that are too vague, for example, “get fitter” or “be happier”, are not reachable. What does “fitter” or “happier” actually mean? Does it mean losing weight and smiling more, or is it gaining muscle and feeling content? Vague goals are easy to set aside and feel unattainable as they are subjective. The subjectivity of goal outcomes also makes them hard to track. Not being able to track progress through goals doesn’t allow for any reflection on the steps being taken and what is working and not working.
Additionally, taking on too many goals at once causes confusion and can become overwhelming. By setting many goals at once, you can lose focus and not allow enough time and effort for the things you wish to achieve. Prioritizing specific goals rather than generalized desires allows you to pinpoint specific actions that you need to take to be successful.
When prioritizing goals, focus on forward progress and not perfection. Setting goals and believing that one must perfectly meet them is not possible. The chances that we perfectly meet and achieve our goals are not realistic. Focusing on forward progress instead of perfection allows you to succeed and be pleased with your achievements, increasing personal motivation.
How to set effective goals (the foundation):
To create the highest possibility for success in achieving goals, goals must have the proper foundation. There are many ways to set goals, although the easiest and most successful type of goal structure is the SMART structure. Why create harder goals when you can set SMARTer goals? The acronym SMART is the easiest way to set approachable and achievable goals, forcing you to think realistically. SMART stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. These are all conditions for a solid foundation for effective goals. For the sake of this article, the example goal will be to “Increase Optimum RTS Newsletter engagement (measured by open and click-through rates) by 20% within the next two business quarters.”
To start, let’s talk about being specific and measurable when choosing goals. Both of these conditions go hand in hand as you are choosing precisely what you want to achieve. The “Specific” criteria include what you would like to accomplish, the people involved, the actions needed, and the explanation for why it matters. From the goal above, the “Specific” part applies to “increasing Optimum RTS Newsletter engagement”. It also outlines how the progress will be measured, “measured by open and click-through rates”. To make goals measurable, you must set a benchmark. For example, the frequency something occurs, the percentage increase or decrease, or another measurable metric. In the goal above, the measurable aspect is “increase by 20%”.
Onto the ART, portions of the SMART structure goals: attainable, relevant, and timely. Whether a goal is attainable or not is very subjective to the person creating the goal. Essentially, it is asking, “Do you think this is actually possible?” With that, there needs to be support for why a goal is believed to be attainable. For the example goal, let’s say that Optimum RTS just purchased new marketing software that will track and monitor newsletter engagement. This software could be a reason to believe that the goal is more attainable. As for relevancy, you must decide how this goal pertains to your life or position. As the Director of Marketing for Optimum RTS, increasing newsletter engagement is relevant to the position. Lastly, the timely aspect is used to create a reasonable timeline for when goals should be achieved. Adding a deadline puts positive pressure on achieving the goal and not pushing it off. Deadlines force time management and ensure we are always working towards something. If there were no deadline for completing a goal, then it would most likely never be completed. For the sake of the example goal, the time in which the goal should be completed is “two business quarters”.
Break Big Goals Into Actionable Steps:
To be successful, it’s important to find a way to make big goals seem more manageable. If you are setting a high goal for yourself this year, the last thing you want is to be overwhelmed by the size. Find a way to break ambitious goals apart into smaller steps. As Desmond Tutu once said, “How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. By breaking goals apart into smaller steps and focusing on consistency rather than intensity, ambitious targets are more easily met. An easy way to consistently work towards a goal is to set up a routine. For example, the goal of “get healthier” is too vague and subjective. If the aim is to achieve a healthier lifestyle, actionable steps could be “work out 3x per week for an hour” or “cook a low-carb meal twice a week”. These are two steps that can now be consistently repeated and thus propel you towards your main goal.
Tips to Stick With Your Goals All Year Round:
Progress is rarely linear, especially when it comes to achieving ambitious tasks. You will often fail and have to restart, plateau, and struggle to build momentum, or take off fast with a running start. The idea is that no matter which path you journey towards success, remember to keep moving forward.
Starting small allows you to build momentum towards the long journey towards success. Taking actionable steps, as we discussed in the section prior, will allow you to absorb the ambition and achieve smaller victories, thus adding up to a big win.
It is important to track your progress, as this is truly the only way to view progress. Whether it’s through journaling, data entry, keeping a checklist, or a calendar, it is essential to document progress. Not only will this show progression, but it also creates a sense of accountability.
Expect that there will be setbacks, and plan for them. This doesn’t mean that being ambitious means you will inevitably fail, but you will encounter pushback, delays, or obstacles. Having a plan will keep setbacks from derailing progress. Additionally, understanding that goals can be changed saves room for grace when it inevitably happens.
Optimum RTS is committed not only to helping our clients and candidates with their hiring and training needs, but we are also here to promote success for everyone personally and professionally. It’s our job to help you and your company become the best they can be. With this, we have created a free-to-use Goal Tracking Sheet to help you stay on track and accomplish everything you hope for. Feel free to follow the link and follow the steps to download the Goal Tracking Sheet. Additionally, we encourage our readers to contact us for more information about how Optimum RTS can help you and your company accomplish all of your 2026 goals. We are here to help you every step of the way: hiring, training, and consulting.
The new year is not about perfection; it’s about consistency. With this, we hope that you take time to plan some intentions for the year and create a roadmap to accomplish them. Goals do not have to be dreams. With the proper setup, support, and strategy, they can become a reality. 2026 is your year to accomplish whatever you desire; you just have to set your mind to it.
Click the Button for the Optimum RTS Goal Tracking Sheet: Optimum RTS Goal Tracking Sheet
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