Do you believe goals can make you happy?

Are you thinking about changing something in your life?

โ€œHappiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.โ€

William Butler Yeats

Research has shown that personal goals that are congruent with your interests increase your emotional well-being. This means that working on your goals makes you happy.

Well, most of us have something we would like to change in order to become happier. 

With that said, setting goals and making progress on them can make us happier and more satisfied in life.

Well-defined goals can make you happy because they help you to:

  • Focus on what you want
  • Take charge of the life you want to live
  • Spend time in meaningful ways 
  • Enhance confidence
  • Feel enthusiasm
  • Increase self-development
  • Discover more about yourself
  • Explore new situations
  • Meet new people
  • Find new strengths
  • Work around your weaknesses 
  • Move closer to your ideal life
  • Learn and develop new skills
  • Increase your confidence to tackle bigger and more difficult goals
  • Feel proud of your accomplishments

How Our Goals Impact Our Emotions

Starting with short term, realistic, easy to achieve goals, will keep our emotions positive.  

Regardless of the goal we are working on, how far we perceive we are from our goal can lead to positive or negative emotions.

Furthermore, setting achievable goals and pursuing them will produce a sense of well-being. Accomplishing a goal youโ€™ve been working on tends to increase contentment, pride, and happiness.

On the other hand, if you do not succeed in an attractive goal, you are more likely to feel sad. Depression may occur when the progress is too slow or the tasks too difficult. 

Whatโ€™s more, dopamine levels tend to increase whenever you set goals, big or small, and accomplish them. Also, crossing off your to do list tends to trigger dopamine release. It encourages you to keep going and making progress toward your desired outcome.

In other words, reaching a goal youโ€™ve been working hard towards makes you feel good about yourself. It helps you develop positive self-regard, which tends to improve your mood and self-esteem.

In addition, realistic goals enable you to reach milestones in your life. As a result, you are more likely to feel inspired and confident. Both long term and short-term goals help to ensure that you have something to look forward to and enjoy. 

Moreover, knowing what you want to do, where you want to be, or what you want to do differently is critical. It helps to ensure that you do not feel lost or stagnant.

โ€œIf you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.โ€

Albert Einstein

Steps to be Happy by Working on Your Goals

1 – Make a Decision About Your Goal

The first step is to get started. Figure out what you would like to work towards.

You can decide to start with a small or big goal. However, starting with a small goal can be motivating as you will notice progress and accomplish it faster.

In addition, achieving a small goal will build your confidence to pursue bigger goals. If you find it difficult to decide on one goal you will find some help here on how to make difficult decisions.

Also, consider what activities make you feel excited and joyful. What do you look forward to do during the weekends? You will feel happy if you work on a goal that you love.

2 – Put it in Writing

Writing down your goal will provide clarity of purpose and you will feel committed to work on it.

Make sure to put your written goal in a visible place so that you remind yourself many times per day of what you are trying to accomplish. 

3 – Be Specific

Ambiguity is often referred to as the enemy of change. Therefore, if you want to accomplish your goal, be specific.

  • What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
  • How long do you think it will take you?
  • What is a reasonable deadline?
  • How will you know that you achieved your goal?  

4 – Have an Implementation Plan

Having a mini action plan is critical. It helps you follow through on your goals. What first step can you take right now?

5 – Break Your Goal Down

If you are working on a big goal, break it into small pieces.

Working with several smaller goals makes reaching your goal easier.

6 – Minimize Multi-tasking

Paying attention to two or more things slows you down.

Whatโ€™s more, it increases your probability of making mistakes and getting distracted.

Therefore, reduce distractions by blocking time.

Make time in your schedule to attend to your goal.

You need to have a specific start and end time when you fully dedicate your attention to working on your goal. 

7 – Have an Accountability Partner

Sharing your goals with someone helps to ensure that you follow through on them or stick to your commitments.

Make sure that the other person is encouraging and supportive, especially during difficult times.

8 – Be Optimistic

It is important that you hope for the best.

You need to believe that things will go according to your plan.

Optimism makes you consistent and resilient. It helps you bounce back from setbacks.

If you need extra confidence about your future, try reading some personal development, self-help, or autobiography books.

In these books you will learn how others overcame difficult circumstances and successfully achieved their goals or learned important life lesson.

Learning about all the obstacles that others had to overcome to achieve their goals will give you new ideas and a positive attitude to achieve your own goals.

9 – Listen to Music

Whenever you feel down or discouraged, listen to music.

Upbeat songs can put you in the right mindset and help you push through with your goals.

Find out how music can make you happy.

10 – Celebrate

Take time to celebrate when you accomplish your goal. Whatโ€™s more, show gratitude to your accountability partners.

Do not lose sight of what you learned and what you loved most about working on your goal.

What goal do you think will make you happy?

What goals are you working on?

Is there any specific strategy that you find helpful to achieve your goals?

Let me know in the comments below.

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