The Feelings Behind the Goals

Happy New Year! Did you spend yesterday setting SMART specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound goals?

For example:

“I will lose ten pounds in 2 months.”

“I will give up sugar for 30 days.”

“I will save $100 a week for 8 weeks.”

While I think SMART goals can be powerful, I believe that a key piece of missing: the WHY.

When most people set goals, whether they realize it or not, they are hoping to achieve certain feelings. In the examples above, the feelings could be confidence, freedom, and abundance. The emotions are the WHY behind the goals.

When you use SMART goal setting minus the WHY, the process is all about the end result: one instant in time when the goal is achieved.

In this case, the journey to achieving the goal is often about suffering, sacrifice, restriction, discomfort (i.e. “no pain, no gain!”).

That doesn’t sound like very much fun to me.

When we focus on the WHY and the feelings behind certain goals we can choose to discover ways to enjoy those feelings right now. We can practice the emotions while we are on the journey to the goal. We can become the person we want to be in the future right now.

If this resonates with you, perhaps it’s time to update your SMART goals, or join me in losing them altogether.

Take some time to get quiet: in meditation, in nature, in bed as you awaken.

Visualize who you would like to be in 2019 and what you would like to experience. What are the top three emotions that align with your future self?

There are so many fun ideas to consider: free, creative, confident, abundant, love, inspired, valued, joyful, healthy, patient, connected.

As you enter 2019, take note when you feel your chosen emotions. Pause and say, “How wonderful, I am living as my future self right now!”

Choose to complete activities that give you the feelings of your future self in the present.

What a more powerful way to achieve the vision of your future self, rather than suffering your way through a chunk of time to achieve a SMART goal!

What are your top three emotions for 2019? I’d love to know. Email me at katie@awakenyourglow.com .

P.S.: If you’ve made a goal for 2019 to reclaim your health, I have a four part series on my blog just for you! It starts here.