How to Set Heart Goals that Matter - 5 Practical Steps

Setting goals for the year ahead, knowing what this past year has been like, could perhaps feel overwhelming. But we’re here to encourage you to look inwards, and to set goals that resonate with your heart. What are you passionate about and would like to develop, bit by bit, in the next year? Keep reading to learn more about 5 useful steps to finding your heart reason.

#Planning #Inspiration

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Right! You want to set some goals to kick that bad eating habit to the curb or get back in shape with a new exercise regime?

Goal-setting can be a fantastic skill to develop and practice, as author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, famously said: “A life best lived is a life by design - not by accident.”

Designing your life involves setting goals and strategies that will build the landscape you want to live in. We live in a world where goal-setting is the norm and improvement is considered necessary; it’s almost enforced on the individual in order to succeed in life.

Sure, you’ll ask yourself how you’re going to achieve your goals. But perhaps it’s also important to ask why you want to achieve these goals in the first place.

1. Does your goal resonate with your heart?

If you’ve ever watched the classic movie The Wizard of Oz, you’ll be familiar with the universal themes that permeate the story. When Dorothy left the Emerald City to ‘off’ the Wicked Witch of the West, she had to think hard about why she wanted to do it. Getting the Witch’s broomstick would give her a ticket back to Kansas, back home with her loved ones.

Dorothy is a young girl who feels no one understands her, and who dreams of somewhere over the rainbow, where she imagines she’ll feel more at ‘home’, more understood. Her passion to find a better place leads her to set goals that confront her fears, and that ultimately lead her right back to her heart - her home and loving family, where she’s always felt best.

When you’re passionate about something, it’s your heart-mind speaking and finding a way to sync up with what your brain is telling you. In this way, a passion has no real value unless it comes from the heart.

The heart reasons will vary for everyone. You may want to feel empowered again when you climb those stairs without the huff and puff. Or maybe you want to model a more wholesome relationship to food for your kids. Whatever the reason, it must be true for you.

If the reason doesn’t empower you, you’re at risk of losing motivation before reaching your goal.

2. Believe in yourself

To keep fuelling the fire, you need to have patience and keep a positive outlook so you can follow through. Your mindset is crucial to maintaining interest in the goal.

The Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion were all good friends to Dorothy and helped her believe that she could get back home. They were her brains, her heart, and her courage.

Real goals might bring up thoughts in your head that make you feel unworthy, like “I'm too old” or “I'm not good enough.” But by switching it up, you could hear a more positive voice instead, telling you “I’m experienced” and “I am enough”.

Think about what you want your goal to make you feel. Remember, the core feeling behind the goal will inspire you to achieve it!

3. Break down the goal into manageable steps

Setting any goal can be overwhelming and, if you’re like most of us, you may have more than five goals you’d like to achieve... and yesterday!

To avoid freaking out before you’ve even started, it’s helpful to break down the goal into three or more simple and achievable steps.


Our back pages Monthly Goals are a great tool for this.

Start by writing down one or more goals for that month. If you decide on more than one, make sure you prioritize among your goals so that you have a clear picture of what you’ll start with.

Next, set mini-milestones, starting with a list of your first steps. And mini means small, like “answer Stella’s email” or “follow up on the plumbing quote”. Write down as many of these as you need.

Dorothy’s first steps in Munchkinland were “follow the yellow brick road”!

By breaking down the goal into manageable decisions we can feel more engaged, which in the end it makes us happier - fuelling our productivity - as we tick off the easy tasks from the list. This can also take care of risks along the way and reduce any fear around failure.

Focus on doing a few things well by prioritising what you truly want to achieve. Quality over quantity!

CREATE YOUR PERSONAL PLANNER HERE

4. Set a realistic timeframe

Succeeding in your goals comes down to good planning and dedication. Be realistic about the time it will take to complete - a week may not be enough.

By using our 30-day challenge you can give yourself a good length of time to keep track of your progress daily.


Start by writing down the habit you want to change or start developing. Next, write down why this is important to you - in other words, your heart reason.


But before throwing yourself into your challenge, take a moment to reflect over what your weaknesses may be in this area. Could having a challenge buddy to cheer you on help you complete what you set out to do?


You want to keep focused on the goal by remaining positive and acknowledging the small wins. Adding a sticker or coloring in the circles as you go helps you get a great overview of your progression!

You may not see immediate results but don't forget that every step counts. If you’re quick to give up, you may need to remember the core feeling behind the goal to keep you motivated to push on.

You can find these pages, aptly named Goals & Mind, in step 6 when creating your own planner. But you could also fill a whole Notebook with them; here, you’ll find them all in step 2.

START CREATING YOUR NOTEBOOK HERE!

5. What’s in it for you?

Before you begin your own journey to Oz, try to work out what’s in it for you - not your partner or children or colleagues, but you! It may not be monetary. It might be better self-image, a true connection with your kids or putting a creative idea into action. Check in with your heart. By doing this, you begin to see what you stand to lose.

Imagine how lost Dorothy would truly be in Oz without her family in Kansas...

Imagine a world that sets real goals that matter. Instead of seeing success in monetary terms, you would feel rewarded for following your passion. In the wise words of Maya Angelou: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

Have you been wanting to kick that bad habit? Start that creative project? Why does it matter to you? And how will it make you feel? Once you find what you need to make it happen, you’re only steps away from achieving that goal!

Go for it!
/Kat at Personal Planner™