Be Your Own Hero
Are you the hero in your life? Are you the main character in your story?
It turns out that your understanding of your own self may be the best
indicator for your ability to create the habits in your life that will lead to meeting your personal and professional goals. If your beginning-of-the-year-goals are starting to flag, consider diving not into your task list or your goal sheet, but into your interests and passions.
Take a look at the goal on your list that is eluding you. You’ve attempted it. You broke it down into smaller more achievable steps. You added dates to each step. You added measurements and reviews. And still, you just can’t seem to move forward on the issue. It may be that you are not asking the right question. Rather than ask yourself — why can’t I tackle this issue? Try this question – why do I want to tackle this issue?
Gretchen Rubin is the author of two well-known books, The Happiness Project and her latest Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of our Everyday Lives. In this latest book, Rubin dives deeply into how we develop and change our habits, and how those habits can affect our happiness. The biggest revelation in Better Than Before is that our ability to change a habit is not our lack of willpower; it is that we can only change when we know ourselves. Identifying our likes and dislikes, what comes easily to us, and what we can actually control is the step to ensuring success to specific goals.
We fail because we try to succeed at a goal that either doesn’t suit us or that has an outcome that we can’t control. If you are trying to get a promotion from your boss – you can’t control your boss. A better goal is to discover what forward motion would satisfy you and what is in your control. The likelihood that your boss will notice your forward motion and reward you with promotion is higher than trying to achieve a goal that isn’t within your reach.
Finally, discover what suits you. If you were writing a book, what would the heroine do? What would they pursue? What interests them? Now turn that story to yourself. When you create a goal that is based on your own particular idiosyncrasies and enjoyments, you increase the possibility that you will succeed.
