Are you curious about using mindfulness to set goals and achieve them?
When people set goals, a lot of them do so without considering the hard work, persistence, and motivation those goals truly take. Accomplishing your goals, especially in a specific time period, is challenging and requires consistent effort. So sometimes, it isn’t enough to simply set a goal for you to follow through.
That’s where mindfulness comes in.
Mindfulness is a type of meditation that focuses on being present in the moment and freely feeling every thought and emotion. Through mindfulness techniques, you can learn to build successful relationships, boost your creativity, and accomplish your goals to live a more meaningful life.
If you want to use mindfulness to reach your goals, here are 3 simple ways to get started.
Set Clear Expectations
When a lot of people set their goals, they aren’t specific. They know they want to lose weight or read more books, but don’t know how much weight or what type of books. It’s challenging to accomplish a goal if you don’t specify exactly what you want to achieve.
So, when creating goals, don’t be afraid to get as specific as you want. The more you can narrow down what you want to do, the better. It gives you extra motivation to complete your tasks because you have ways to measure and monitor your progress.
Observe Your Thoughts
Our thoughts affect every part of our lives, yet many of us aren’t aware of them. Part of practicing self-awareness is knowing how we communicate with ourselves because it translates into every interaction we have with the outside world.
Observing your thoughts without passing judgment allows you to accept them for what they are and make the necessary changes. You can ask meaningful questions about your thought patterns, such as what causes them and why they keep recurring.
Being able to observe your thoughts without giving them weight helps you understand that you are not your thoughts or feelings. No matter how unpleasant and uncomfortable they may get, they are fleeting and will eventually pass, just as all feelings do. This frees you from feeling chained down by your emotions so you can accept them for what they are and even appreciate them for teaching you about yourself.
Accept What You Can’t Change
No matter what, there are some things about yourself or the world or others you simply can’t change, and that’s okay. If you stress yourself out over the things you have no control over, you set yourself up to feel disappointed and miserable.
If you set goals for yourself knowing that the outcome is unlikely, you’re unknowingly setting yourself up for failure. For example, if one of your goals is to mend a relationship with a friend, there’s no guarantee that you’ll reach that goal. It depends on how that person feels and if they want to continue a relationship with you. But by creating this goal, you set yourself up for heartache and disappointment if the results don’t go your way.
While setting goals, remember to accept the things you can’t change. Use this mantra as a cheat sheet when you want to change things that aren’t in your control. After all, life isn’t about having control over others; you can only control yourself. So it’s important to maintain goals that are good for you and serve you well.
Over to You
Knowing how to set better goals that you can realistically reach is a game-changer for kickstarting your life. If you know where you want to be but don’t know how to get there, using mindfulness techniques can help you clear your mind so you can connect to the present moment and understand what you need.