Making new year’s resolutions or setting new goals is easy – the real challenge is sticking to them and achieving them. Finding your “why” – your reason behind making them is the key to long-term success. The mistake that most people make is not determining why they make them – the reason behind these resolutions and exactly why it is so important to them.
For example, you set yourself a goal of losing ten kilograms over the next six months. Why do you want to lose weight? Maybe you have certain health issues that are linked to being overweight. Or perhaps in six months’ time, it will be Summer and you want to look good in your bathing suit. If you don’t have a valid reason for making resolutions, you are lacking the motivation in order to succeed.
Determining your “why” is not just applicable to new year’s resolutions – it can be applied to all important aspects of your life, your spirituality, career, personal and family life, and so forth. Setting a new routine or goal for the new year, it’s important to establish the purpose or reason behind them to make it more achievable.
Finding Your Why Before Setting Personal Goals – How It Impacts Different Areas of Your Life
Finding Your Why – In Your Spiritual Life
Why do you want to work on your spiritual journey? Perhaps you seek a sense of inner peace, balance among your social, physical, and emotional aspects in your life, or a sense of belonging or wholeness. For many, their spiritual path is strengthened through suffering, hardships, or struggles they encounter. It helps them to stay grounded and have something to hold onto when they are going through painful or challenging times.
Finding Your Why – Health Wise
Being healthy emotionally, physically, and mentally is a vital component of overall wellness. Adopting a healthier lifestyle, for instance, can assist you in preventing long-term illness or chronic disease.
This is especially important when you’re a parent of a young child and you want to be there for him or her when they grow up and share special moments with them and perhaps be physically able to do physical activities with them that you would otherwise not feel up to. Being healthier can also go a long way in boosting your self-image and self-esteem – feeling good about yourself.
Finding Your Why – In Your Career or Professional Life
Are you feeling like you’re stuck in a rut, not moving forward in your professional life? Maybe you are not getting satisfaction from your current job. This is where you need to ask yourself why – what is the reason for staying in this role and not looking for new job opportunities? Or perhaps you feel more comfortable with what you have than making a change towards the unknown where you don’t know what you’ll be getting yourself into. Fear likes to take control and often keeps us back from exploring new options and possibly reaching success.
If you decide to stay – ask yourself why and maybe setting a goal for the new year could be deciding what you can do to improve your work situation. What can you do to better yourself and make yourself more valuable to the company you work for? Personal development is a key part of individual progression and growth. Not only does it impact your personal life but your professional life as well.
Reaching career success can help improve your financial health which means having more money towards losing weight and living healthier. Or you can start saving towards a new car that you’ve been wanting to buy for a long time because your current one is not reliable and often leaves you stranded or with high repair bills. Having a new car means you can apply the cash that you’ve been spending on the old one towards something else.
Finding Your Why – Home Life
Your personal life is one of the most important areas in your life. If things are amiss at home, it will inevitably impact other areas of your life. That is why it’s important to set goals for yourself and figure out the “why” behind them. Perhaps you’ve been putting off a proper spring clean for months. Decluttering your home and giving it a thorough spring clean can have far-reaching benefits.
It can relieve you from the stress and anxiety you’re feeling about the state your home is in and not being able to just get it done. It can also improve your health by getting rid of allergens and making your home neater and cleaner overall. You might even discover lost treasures that you’ve forgotten about. A useful way to get things in order at home is setting a new routine – using your time wisely to get things like household chores done more efficiently.
Finding Your Why – Personal Relationships
Are there a few things amiss in your personal life or relationships, whether it be friendships, romantic, or even family relationships? Perhaps you’re stuck in an unhappy marriage or relationship. Why are you still in the relationship and is it worth pursuing the relationship? Maybe things were going extremely well during the first few years but started deteriorating over the last few years. Why did it happen? How can you make things better or how can things be improved? What steps can be taken to make improvements for both parties?
Ask yourself why things got so bad – is it because trust has taken a hit, the intimacy is gone, or perhaps you’re not sharing the same values or interests anymore which was the glue that kept you together in the first place? Maybe consider making a few changes and see if things improve. Is it just the other person’s fault or can you work on improving yourself?
The same goes for family relations and friendships. Are some of these relationships toxic or breaking down your self-worth, getting in the way of you being the best version of yourself? What steps can be taken to limit the time that you spend with toxic people or is it even worth keeping them around? Think about how you can protect yourself from the toxicity that others emit.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post about finding your “why” behind setting goals or new year’s resolutions has helped you in some way and determining the purpose or reason behind these goals will help you achieve them more efficiently.
A good way to start is to write down your “why” and the reasons behind the goals that you’ve set for yourself. Do this for each area in your life and stick your list to the fridge door or on your bathroom mirror to keep yourself motivated for achieving long-term achievement. When you put it in a place where you can see it regularly, it will help to keep yourself accountable and encourage you to see it through.
Sending you much love, light, and inspiration.
Anthea