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AAI 105: Achieve Beautiful Skin: Mastering SMART Goals in 2025

January 07, 2025

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In this episode, Dr. Teri Fisher unpacks the keys to making New Year’s resolutions that truly stick, especially when it comes to beauty, health, and wellness. Alarming statistics reveal that by mid-February, 80% of resolutions typically fail due to unrealistic expectations and an all-or-nothing mindset. However, Dr. Fisher discusses how adopting the SMART goals framework—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—can transform vague aspirations into attainable achievements.

For those new to non-surgical aesthetics or skincare, Dr. Fisher highlights the importance of setting specific skincare goals like improving skin hydration or reducing fine lines. He emphasizes the significance of consistency in skincare routines, including the daily application of sunscreen, the use of retinol or vitamin C, and incorporating treatments such as neuromodulators or chemical peels.

Moreover, Dr. Fisher introduces technology-based options like radiofrequency skin tightening, urging listeners to remain patient and consistent with sessions for lasting results. Sleep, hydration, and exercise also make the list of no-cost, high-impact resolutions that support long-term wellness and anti-aging.

To maintain motivation, Dr. Fisher suggests creating vision boards, tracking progress with skincare photos, and leaning on accountability partners for support. Celebrating small victories and focusing on consistent progress, rather than perfection, can lead to significant improvements over time.

Lastly, Dr. Fisher invites listeners to an exciting event, the Canadian Board of Aesthetic Medicine Congress in Vancouver, from February 28 to March 2, 2025. With an exclusive discount code, attendees will gain insights from global aesthetics experts and have opportunities for both learning and leisure, including optional skiing in Whistler. Dr. Fisher wraps up with a teaser for next week’s episode featuring Dr. Lonny Green, promising insightful discussion on periorbital rejuvenation.

Key Insights

  • Dr. Teri Fisher emphasizes the importance of setting effective New Year’s resolutions, specifically in beauty, health, confidence, and wellness, using the SMART goals framework that focuses on being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
  • Failures in New Year’s resolutions often stem from unrealistic goals and an “all or nothing” mindset; small, consistent steps are advocated as more achievable for long-term success in skin care and wellness.
  • Non-surgical aesthetic goals can be made practical with habits like consistent skincare routines, including sunscreen, hydration, and the use of retinol, while minimally invasive treatments should be planned as SMART goals.
  • Simple health goals such as improving sleep, maintaining hydration, and incorporating enjoyable exercise routines are highlighted as key anti-aging strategies that are easy to implement.
  • The episode introduces upcoming events, including the Canadian Board of Aesthetic Medicine Congress in Vancouver, offering listeners a discount code and enabling them to learn from globally recognized aesthetic practitioners.

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: All right, let’s be honest. How many New Year’s resolutions have you made this year? And more importantly, perhaps, how many have you already broken? Because you certainly are not alone. I’ve been there too. But here’s the thing. The problem isn’t us. It’s the way we set those resolutions. And so, today, we are diving into the science of successful resolutions, and particularly with respect to beauty, health, confidence, and wellness goals, and we’ll talk about how to get those to stick, especially when it comes to non surgical aesthetics and feeling our best inside and out.

So by the end of this episode, you’re going to know exactly how to stop setting yourself up for failure and start creating goals that you can actually achieve.

So let’s talk about why New Year’s resolutions fail. Any idea how many New Year’s resolutions fail by mid February? It’s actually 80%. And this is human nature at play. We over promise ourselves. We set unrealistic goals and that ultimately tanks our motivation. But when it comes to beauty, health, aesthetics, confidence, one of the issues is that we want dramatic results fast. We want to wake up with glowy, smooth skin overnight. And if only it worked that way.

The problem is that this is an all or nothing mindset. One slip up and then we tend to give up entirely. So here’s the good news. You don’t need to trade that ideal version of yourself for a lifetime of frustration. You just need to approach the goals differently. And this is where goal setting comes in. And regardless of what we’re talking about, whether we’re talking about losing weight, or whether we’re talking about goals to help our skin look more youthful, have that glow, the goals have to be made in an effective way. And there’s something called the SMART goals framework. You may be familiar with this. It is backed by science and it’s perfect for getting real results in confidence, in health and wellness. And I’ll just break it down for you simply. And then I’ll tie that in to how that relates to different things that you can do for your skin.

So SMART stands for a number of different things. The S is specific. So you don’t want to be coming up with a goal like I want better skin. That is not specific enough and it’s really hard to achieve. But something like I want to improve my skin’s hydration or I want to reduce the fine lines on my face. Now you’re talking because that is something that you can actually quantify and see the results. And we’ll get to that in the next part.

So the M in SMART stands for measurable. How will you know that you’ve achieved it? Well, one of the ways that we can do that in the case of skincare is progress photos, or you can measure steps like how much water you are taking in. Or if it’s reducing the fine lines, what is your schedule for going about and getting neuromodulator treatments? These are things that you can actually measure.

Now the A in SMART is for achievable. Now you have to be realistic with this. If you are 50 years old, the chances that you’re going to look 25 again in a month, I hate to break it to you, are not that realistic, but you can target specific improvements. Again, like the hydration or lifting. These are achievable things.

The R in SMART is for relevant. It has to matter to you. If you don’t care about something, then you’re not going to follow through on it. And that may be obvious, but it’s really important to remember. Do you want a healthier, fresher appearance? Yes. Do you want to look exactly like an Instagram filter? That might not be quite as realistic or achievable or relevant.

And the T in SMART, the fifth letter, T, stands for time bound. You want to create timelines that keep you on track. It’s harder to think of things in terms of a year, but it’s much more efficient and it’s actually easier on us to think about things in terms of weeks or a month or maybe even 12 weeks. But even that I think is pushing it a little bit. This is really important to think about something that’s realistic, not too long, but also not too short where you feel that your skin changes are going to be an overnight success, because that’s not realistic either.

So as you’re going through this podcast episode or you’re going through this YouTube video, you might want to grab a notebook or type into an app right now. Start writing out your own SMART goals and I can walk you through what can really work for this year.

So let’s talk about realistic non surgical goals for 2025.

Let’s get specific on different ways that we can achieve those wellness goals without going under the knife, because as you may know, I’m not a surgeon. I do non-surgical aesthetics, and there are lots of things that one can do with regards to that.

So when it comes to the goals, what are things that you can achieve?

Well, let’s talk about skin care, because I think skin care is a really nice way to ease into this world of wellness and confidence, particularly if you’re new to it. So skincare, commit to consistent routines. This can include exfoliation. This can include hydration, and this can include sunscreen as well. We all know this, but are we really doing this? Are you actually putting sunscreen on every single day? Because that has a huge impact on the way your skin ages. Making a smart goal to put on sunscreen every day, I think is a very, very realistic goal. And you could start with, let’s say two weeks and you keep track and you see, did you put on sunscreen 14 days out of 14 days? And this is something that you can jot down, you can measure it. It’s got all those aspects of a smart goal and I think that’s really, really important. So skincare, that’s really great.

Another thing that you can think about is how often are you using retinol or vitamin C? Antioxidants? And think about this again in a realistic timeframe. Think about a few weeks, maybe a month, but don’t think of it in terms of days, because also you’re not going to see the results from something like that in just a day or two.

Now, when it comes to minimally invasive treatments, small tweaks can have big payoffs. And I’ll give you some examples as well for this. So as you may know, we can use neuromodulator, things like Botox for fine lines. Chemical peels or microneedling are great for texture of the skin. Fillers are great for volume. These things need to be budgeted for, there is a cost to these, and you need to space the treatments out appropriately.

Here is where consulting with a well experienced professional can be very helpful, but it’s also up to you to again turn that into a SMART goal where you can do all the things that I spoke about previously in terms of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound goals. And you can decide when you want to do each of these treatments.

There are other things that you can consider in terms of your goals and these would be technology based options. Things like radio frequency skin tightening. These sorts of things or laser treatments. You can commit to multiple sessions, but again, instant gratification isn’t the goal here. You’re not going to see changes overnight.

You will have the effects of it working in your skin, but your skin is not going to change from one day to the next. You’re gonna see it over time. You can see here, there definitely a theme here in terms of being realistic and not expecting too much too soon, but also not having a goal that is drawn out too long where you start to lose that motivation.

Here’s another really simple wellness goal, which costs you absolutely nothing. And this is focused on sleep. It is the ultimate anti aging tool and it’s free. So come up with a smart goal, come up with a schedule, keep track of how your sleep is going, how many hours you get, et cetera. And this can be a really, really great way to affect your overall health and anti aging tools that you have in your toolbox.

Hydration is another great one. Get yourself a reusable water bottle. Aim for daily intake goals. Think about how much you want to get on a regular basis. Keep track of it.

What’s another very simple anti aging technique? Of course, exercise for long term confidence, for beauty, circulation, glow is improved and make it fun. Have fun walking, have fun doing your yoga, have fun dancing around your kitchen, whatever you enjoy doing, do that. And stop following the crash diets. Instead, focus on nutrition that supports overall health and wellness, supports collagen, skin repair, and the anti inflammatory lifestyle.

Remember, it’s all about consistent small actions that accumulate over time and your future self will thank you.

How can you keep your motivation up for these goals? There are a number of different ways that you can do this and lots of people have different ways that work for them. But some ideas to think about, you could actually have vision boards or skin care progress trackers and keep track of what you are doing on this journey. Seeing your progress motivates us to keep going. And so again, save your before photos and then take photos on perhaps a weekly basis. Again, daily photos aren’t going to show a whole lot, but from week to week to week to week, and after a month, you should be able to see some changes that really do make a difference.

Another way to ensure that you are staying active and staying committed to your wellness goals is accountability. Having a buddy to check in with you, to perhaps go through this together with you, is an extremely motivating factor because not only are you accountable to yourself, but you’re now accountable to your friend or to your relative or whoever it is that’s your resolution buddy, if you will. And book appointments together. Make it a fun thing. Make it a social outing. Get your regular facials, get your regular touch ups, and prevent procrastination by doing it together and scheduling it in advance.

And finally, let’s break it down into tiny wins. Celebrate those small victories. You know, if you completed one week of your skin care routine, fantastic. Treat yourself. Maybe you get a spa night. Shift the focus on instead of focusing on the not yet results, appreciate that you are investing in you. And this ultimately is going to have significant impact, a significant positive impact in your overall wellbeing.

And so I hope that has given you an idea of how to approach your new year’s resolutions for 2025.

Let’s just recap. You’ve got the tools to set smart goals for your beauty, health, and wellness and confidence. Instead of striving for perfection, focus on progress. And remember every little step does add up over time.

And so I ask you, think about it, what’s one small actionable resolution that you can start on today. I’d love to hear that. Get in touch with me on Instagram. Dr. Teri Fisher, D R T E R I F I S H E R. It’s not just about looking good. It’s about feeling confident, happy, healthy. And I look forward to hearing all about your successes in 2025.

I do want to remind you that if you are in Vancouver, or even if you’re not in Vancouver, we have a very, very special event that is going to be happening at the end of February. In fact, February 28th to March 2nd, 2025, the Canadian Board of Aesthetic Medicine, CBAM, is hosting its first Congress in Vancouver. And it’s been a pleasure to host some of their speakers on my podcast. I have a special invitation discount code for you as well. If you use the code DrFisher-CBAM, that’s D R F I S H E R – C B A M, this will give you a discount of $375 off the registration fee. There are going to be master sessions where we get to observe some of the thought leaders and aesthetic injectors from around the world coming to teach us about all different aspects. I’m super excited to learn from them as well. There are optional hands on sessions and there is a virtual day as well on the Sunday, and if you would like to go skiing in Whistler, there’s even offering included transportation up to Whistler on the Sunday for some skiing. So, I hope you will join me there. I will definitely be at this congress. I look forward to being there and learning along with you.

Thanks for tuning in again this week. Next week, I do have a featured speaker who will be at the CBAM Congress, Dr. Lonny Green, Ninja Injector. I’m looking forward to introducing you to him on this podcast and you’ll hear all about the periorbital and tear trough rejuvenation.

Thanks for tuning in again this week. Happy New Year. I wish you all the best and take care. Talk to you soon.

Anti-Aging Insights Podcast Cover

Anti-Aging Insights Podcast

with Dr. Teri Fisher

Weekly interviews, insights, and inspiration to navigate the world of anti-aging and aesthetic medicine.