If you’ve scrolled through my Instagram any time in the last few years, you’ll see me squawking about ‘New Week, New Goals’, or ‘Smashing Goals’. This is all fancy speak for ‘Getting Shit Done’. I know as well as anyone how hard it can be to get things done, and how mental health issues can impact when things are already tough. Setting goals can help you through this in the following ways:
- To give direction to life
- To make sure we are the one choosing the direction of our life — not others, not fate, not the media, etc.
- To motivate
- To make sure we get what we want from life
- To save time
- To reduce stress
- To give a sense of accomplishment
While it can be fun to live without direction in the short-term (how rad are naps?), in the long-term human beings are wired to need a purpose and direction. Goals give a sense of direction and purpose to life.
It is often easy to let others set our direction for us. We take a job because family or friends point us in that direction and then we follow the dictates of our bosses. We move in other directions because popular culture or the media tells us to do so. The simple truth is that if we do not set our own goals then we will find it too easy to follow a path set by others. This can lead to stress and unhappiness, trust me on this.
Simply, you have a greater chance of happiness and fulfilment following your own path and pursuing your own goals.
Goals also provide the motivation to get us through difficult times and choices. Perhaps learning online while working full-time may make life busy for a while, but in the long run being able to pursue the professional goals we desire will make it worthwhile.
Goals also serve as the destination for what we really want out of life. For some people, goals are measured in money or material goods, while for others goals are measured in time or freedom. I know that mine have certainly changed in the last few years. But, if we don’t have goals outlined that suit our unique perspective on life it is easy to become sidetracked by life and others.
Goals can also help save time. When your “To Do” list becomes too long and your calendar too full, then you can simply compare your goals to the list. What items help you achieve your goal? What items are necessary to your goal? Scratch off the rest as unimportant. More on the “To Do” list in a later post – promise.
Just as goals save time they also reduce stress because using your goals to focus your life and choices makes it easier to make those choices. Should you take that new position at work? How does it match your goals?
Finally, goals give you a measurable sense of accomplishment. Every goal you achieve, in fact every step you make toward that goal, can give you a boost of energy and momentum to keep going. Each success powers you toward the next level of success.
Now go out and set your goals and tick off that list!
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