Ditch the Goal Digging and Try This On In 2019…
By Katie Kurtz
It’s that time of a year again: the time where you think about what you want to resolve and the goals you want to achieve in order to #liveyourbestlife. By now, you probably have a list of all the things you hope to accomplish in the next year. Perhaps it’s to lose weight, learn a new skill, read more, focus on self care or get back on the dating apps.
You’ve got the lists all made, perhaps even color coded ready to check the boxes off with sweet satisfaction. Before you hit the gas and fly into 2019 ready to smash those goals, let me offer you two questions to consider before you jet off:
What’s the {why} behind each of those goals?
How do you want to feel?
Let’s be real, I am all too familiar with the list making and goal digging. Every time the calendar recalibrated on January 1, I would be ready at the gate with my lists of all the things I wanted to achieve. Lists riddled with high hopes and even higher expectations for myself.
The items on my list ranged from nailing a handstand in yoga, to reading a new book every month to getting a new job. Most of the times I would be energetic and begin to achieve some of these goals in the first 3 months, but then analysis paralysis would set in or I would quickly avoid with the next shiny object in my life. I was most notorious for starting something and if I felt like I was failing, I would just quit because obviously the only way to do it was perfect, right?
To be honest, there were a lot of goals I was able to cross off my list with pride. But that shimmer quickly wore off and I was left feeling unsettled. I had accomplished some big goals: started a yoga practice, ran a marathon, got the new job, read a bunch of books. Things I am really proud of experiencing, establishing and completing.
But the truth of the matter is that the feeling of pride, satisfaction and accomplishment quickly went away and I was left feeling disappointed. I had hoped to feel a big shift or change and instead I was left feeling the same way I felt before. Why?
It was when I finally got real with myself and started to dig beyond the surface, that I found that those two questions were what I was missing. I realized every year I was so focused on the goal, I had totally lost sight of why I was doing it in the first place and how I wanted to feel. It was through working with a coach and committing to my own heart work where I began to shift my lens to looking at how I want to feel as the goal not doing the thing.
Don’t start the new year should’ing all over yourself – get clear on how you want to feel and why, then go do the things that generate those feelings.
Whatever it is you are hoping to create, lose, or adopt in 2019, start by giving yourself permission to dig beyond the surface of your list so that you can truly create space to get possible to not only accomplish your goals, but design a life you love. Now is your chance to start forging a path of possibility. You don’t need to be ready, you just have to start. Cheers to a new perspective on a new year!
About the Author
Katie Kurtz is an Internationally Certified Life Coach, yoga teacher and real talk speaker who guides women to connect with their authentic selves + courageously live life on their own terms. She is the founder of Soul Connect, a coaching + connection movement that is redefining how women connect to themselves and each other. Through her coaching programs, in person gatherings + retreats, Katie's authentic spirit and gift as a connector allows her to create a unique space for women to be themselves, embrace their humanness, and reclaim what's real.
