asking why.

I set a lot of goals for this year. It's contrary to what most people would say you should do, but this is what works for me. My goals are small, easily measurable, carefully written with plenty of opportunity to try again (see why here), and sometimes frivolous. I was originally content to leave the list as it is, then I read this post from Michael Hyatt:

"So, I went back and took another look at my goal. I had a Goal Statement. I had a detailed Action Plan. Only problem was, that wasn’t enough.

 That’s when I reviewed my Internal Motivations for this goal. This is a section I write out for every goal. I list why this goal is important and what’s at stake. It is the component that most people never think to include."

I decided to try it, just to see if I found value in the exercise. Honestly, I wondered if this might be the kind of thing that really helps later, when I review my goals, rather than now. But I opened a document, wrote out each of my goals from my list, and then answered the following question for each: why will I accomplish this goal?

I found the entire thing extremely helpful now. I had to think carefully about why I chose what I did. I started to see patterns in the values behind the goals I've chosen. And I think that, taken together, these goals and values really do represent the things that are important to me.

If you've set goals - whether they are resolutions, highly detailed action plans, or just dreams - I'd encourage you to try this.