At the end of each year, most people like to begin thinking about their goals and desires for the coming year. However, the holiday season can be stressful for many people, not to mention full of last-minute projects and plans. Whether you fall into the stressed out category or the just-way-too-busy category, it’s vital to set your goals mindfully so that you can also achieve them mindfully. Read on to learn how.
Setting and achieving goals is an important way to feel fulfilled, as long as the goals you’re setting are in alignment with your vision, core values, and ultimate dreams. In the chaos of the holidays, how do you ensure that you’re thinking about and setting your goals mindfully?
One of the simplest and most effective ways to do this is by meditating first so that you’re completely in tune with yourself and present in the moment. The reason why this is important is because your instincts and first impressions have a pretty big impact when it comes to goal setting, so you should pay attention to what your innermost self is trying to tell you while you think of which goals to pursue in the coming year.
Your Step-By-Step Guide to Mindfully Setting & Achieving Goals
1. External and Practical Preparations: Prepare and set aside some time for yourself.
Your first step is to prepare and set some time aside to focus on your goals and dreams for the next year. Gather any materials you may need so you have them; if you plan to create a vision board, get the materials for that. If you plan to write your goals down in a journal or on a sheet of paper, gather what you need for that. Everyone’s process is a little different, but preparing is important so that you aren’t in the middle of a brainstorming session with no way to document your ideas. Setting some time aside for yourself and this process will ensure that it goes at least somewhat as planned, no matter how hectic your lifestyle.
2. Internal Preparations: Meditate.
Your ability to connect with your hopes, dreams, and desires runs parallel to your ability to connect with your goals. Because this is such a personal process, meditating on what your true desires are will allow you to set your goals mindfully and tap into that feeling of deep desire when you work toward your goals all year long, especially if you meditate regularly.
· Find a comfortable place to sit or lay down and steady your breathing. Breathe in through your nose for a count of five, pause for a count of five, breathe out through your mouth for a count of five, and then pause again. Focus on your breathing and allow yourself to relax.
· Racing thoughts are very common for many of us, especially during the holidays when there’s so much to be done! Stay seated and keep focusing on your breath. Then choose one word or feeling you’d like to experience throughout the coming year. Words that work well are things like love, peace, success, or happiness. Then choose one word to represent a negative emotion you’d like to expel throughout the following year. Things like negativity, anxiety, fear, or insecurity work well here. Every time you breathe in, imagine you’re taking in the essence and energy of the positive word you chose; every time you breathe out, focus on dispelling the essence and energy of the negative word you chose from your body, mind, and spirit. Do this for ten minutes.
· Once you’ve cleared your mind and are in a relaxed place, put your hand over your heart (or both hands; whatever feels comfortable) and begin thinking about what you’d like to accomplish. Run through your possible goals in your mind and pay attention to which ones make you feel good and which ones don’t. If certain goals seem to have more energy surrounding them, positive or negative, stay focused on those for a little longer to see what surfaces without judging. Then choose three goals that make you feel excited and joyful.
· Once you have your three goals chosen, visualize what your life looks like once you’ve achieved those goals one at a time. Visualize everything in detail, right down to what you’re wearing. Imagine that you’ve achieved each of these goals with complete success.
3. Seal the deal by writing down your goals.
You can choose to begin by writing down a list of your top three goals and describing in detail what achieving those goals may require. It helps to be as detailed as possible here so that you can create daily, weekly, and monthly action steps toward accomplishing those goals later in your planning phase. Include the positive emotions that you feel surrounding those goals so that you have a constant reminder throughout the year of what achieving your goals will look and feel like.
Finally, you may choose to create a vision board as a visual guide and inspiration to serve you throughout your year. This can be created with a corkboard, magnetic white erase board, or even poster board and simple supplies like paper, markers, pens, tape or glue, and pictures you find that accurately represent each of your three main goals.
Remember above all that this process is meant to serve you, and the journey to achieving your goals will help you grow as a person, whether things go as planned or not. If you make it a point to stay mindful and focused throughout the year, one day at a time, you’re much more likely to achieve what you set out to achieve.
As always, continue leading and learning mindfully as this year comes to a close and the door to next year’s opportunities opens.
For more mindfulness techniques, training, coaching, and executive insights, please visit www.ExecutiveCoachingUniversity.com.
Mindful goal-setting meditation by Melissa Eisler
https://mindfulminutes.com/mindful-goal-setting/
