Setting and Meeting Goals Leads to Happiness
People stuck on a downward spiral of unhappiness may be able to alter their course by simply doing "what you believe in, what interests you, or both.
Setting goals that fit with your personality -- self-concordant goals -- and resisting the temptation to do something you feel you ought to, is key in the pursuit of happiness.
The idea that people can make themselves permanently happier is controversial, but this new data suggests that this is so. People can make themselves happier, by doing very well at self-concordant goals.
Investigators found that students who set self-concordant goals were more likely to achieve their goals and in doing so, heighten their sense of well-being (i.e., happiness).
Goals listed by the undergraduate students included getting good grades, getting involved in campus organizations, and not gaining weight.
So, one can't 'spiral upwards' indefinitely, but one can get oneself to a higher level of happiness, and then keep oneself there, if one selects appropriate goals and then continues to do well at them.
Yet, the researcher acknowledged the challenges involved in setting self-concordant goals. We assume that it is a difficult skill to perceive yourself well enough to know what is best for you to do -- there are a lot of things that get in the way of that.
The researchers offered the following advice: Stand back and take stock and figure out what's really most important to you and start going after that. Stop wasting time doing what you think you're supposed to -- that can start this whole positive process.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
After you identify and set your goals, writing effective goal statements can help you to actually achieve them. The way that your word your goal statement is extremely important, and small changes can drastically affect the goal’s outcome.
For instance, simply writing down your goal will make it 80 percent more likely to come true. Other factors are also important in writing effective goals, such as phrasing your goal in the present tense, making a positive, realistic statement, and making it concise and precise. Wording your goal correctly can impact whether or not you actually achieve it.
Setting goals is one of the keys to success. It has been always an experience that most people are relatively clueless as to the specific requirements that are necessary for a goal to be effective and achievable. The most common mistake to see people make is to put the goal into a future tense. The goal needs to be personalized, present tense and imagined with as much precise detail as possible in order to be effective.
Effective goal setting can change your life when it comes to health and the ability to maximally enjoy life. There are a number of "right" answers to this inquiry, but one of the most significant things allowing to accomplish so much is compiling and working off of a very good "To Do" list. To had a good handle on this like recommend a book that is truly one of the most useful books . It’s called "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen.
David Allen's approach to managing yourself and your world may be amongst the best advice you ever receive, too. It is profoundly practical, realistic, hands-on, and superbly focused with hundreds of tips, tools, and techniques for improving your personal productivity. Interestingly that the $11.20 book-version of "Getting Things Done" had far more worthwhile details than even the $79.95 audiotapes.
Allen’s insights are not just motivation but real methods to achieve higher levels of goal fulfillment, mental reassurance and honest-to-goodness organization. You would easily pay $10,000 for this information. That may sound extreme, but you’ll see what it mean when you read "Getting Things Done" and start applying its principles in your life.
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