Setting and SMASHING GOALS

While achieving your dreams can feel like a fantasy, it’s actually more doable than you might think

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A major life event whether it's a big birthday milestone or marriage, job loss or death of a loved one-often prompts us to reflect and set goals we vow to keep. And so we resolve to change. In ancient Rome, this involved making sacrifices to a two-faced god and promising to behave.

Fast-forward 2000 years and our goals have become more nuanced. Mostly, they tend to fall into one of a few different buckets: body (drop a dress size), mood (meditate daily), money (get a better job), and self-improvement (be a better daughter/wife/friend/mother). But often what is wrapped up in these goals is the belief that we are lacking or falling short in some way.

The trick to making new goals stick is how we frame what we want and motivate ourselves to get there. Sometimes, setting your sights on a specific goal is a bid for control, but of course, we can't control the future. However, the answer isn't to abandon all expectations or the hope that comes with them. Instead, another way is to let go of our attachment to particular outcomes and great expectations for our future self and soften resolutions into smaller goals or intentions. An intention is lighter - it's an aim, rather than an assumption. And ironically, it's more likely to get you where you want to go.

Short story