How Setting Personal Goals Helps You Live A Meaningful Life
By: Ashlee Waters
Tags: Goal Setting, Mental Health, Goals, Happiness, Life

How Setting Personal Goals Helps You Live A Meaningful Life

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

It’s a conversation I’ve had many times. In fact, it’s a conversation I had the other night with my sister.

“I feel like I’m in a rut,” she stated, “I need a hobby or something else to do besides eat, work, and sleep. I don’t know, I just feel blah.”

All I could do was nod in agreement because I understood. It’s a huge fear of mine, and one that keeps me up at night.

What if I get to the end of my life and realize I only existed, and never actually lived?

The sad truth is, many of us get stuck: stuck in a routine, stuck in a job, stuck in a relationship, stuck in life.

While this may be comfortable, and easy, and helps you get from Monday to Friday, it’s also incredibly boring.

That’s because it does nothing for you. It raises no questions, gives you no challenges, sets you up for no achievements, and requires no ambition.

You are simply existing.

Setting personal goals whether it be career goals, life goals, relationship goals, etc. is an ABSOLUTE MUST if you want to live a meaningful life.

Why Do We Stop Setting Goals?

Most people have a hard time pin-pointing the root cause of their depression, but not me. I know the exact moment it happened, and I know the exact cause.

I had just finished the second week of my new “Big Girl” job, and I was already burned out. I couldn’t believe it. How could this be possible? I had done everything right. I went to a great school, studied a major I was passionate about, and landed a career straight out of college.

But I found myself thinking, This is it?

The problem? I thought I had “arrived” at the place you are “supposed to arrive at” as an adult.

You know what I’m talking about: You go to school, you get a degree, you get a job, and BOOM that’s your life. You’ve made it.

And maybe you have made it…but you’re unhappy.

People stop setting goals because there is a belief that at some point, you have achieved what are you meant to do.

From the moment you enter this world, you’re slapped with the idea that your sole purpose in this life is to get a career. You work towards that goal for the first 22 years of your life, and so your life has meaning. It has purpose.

But what happens after that? What happens after you have “arrived?”

You fall into a routine. You. Get. Stuck. Because you think you’re done.

Let me make this very clear: A career is NOT your sole purpose in this life. But it is up to YOU to keep your purpose alive by setting goals.

Why Do We HAVE to Set Goals?

Goals pull us out of existing and push us into living. It’s how we get our priorities in line and keep our ambitions fresh.

When you wake up each morning with a purpose, you have focus, and the days no longer feel like they blend into one.

What are your priorities? What do you believe in? How do you want to live your life? Do you even know?

If you don’t, you need to set goals. Goals guide us in every decision we make. If we don’t have goals, we are making decisions that amount to nothing.

You have to be working towards something. It truly is the key to happiness.

Plus, it’s fun to achieve things! It feels good. Remember when you were a kid, and you set out to do a cartwheel? Remember when you FINALLY did a cartwheel? You told everyone! You cartwheeled down the aisles of the grocery store. You pushed yourself to do more cartwheels, different cartwheels, and it was exciting!

You can have that same feeling again. That wasn’t limited to childhood.

Set a goal, and start working towards it.

Why Are We Scared To Set Goals?

Goals push us out of our comfort zone. They’re uncomfortable to think about, and even more uncomfortable to talk about.

Why? Because it is out of the routine. Goals are overwhelming, and they take a lot of work.

Have you ever told someone a goal you had? Watch how they react. You’ll get a lot of uncomfortable laughs, and sarcastic “Good Luck!’s”

How did we get like this? How did we get to the point where we automatically discredit goals?

Because we live in a world of excuses:

1) There’s not enough time

2) I’m too late in my life to start

3) It’s too much work

4) What’s the point?

These excuses are shit, and it’s your job to overcome them.

How To Set Goals?

If you struggle with this, you’re not alone. The problem is, a lot of people don’t know where to start, and it can feel extremely overwhelming.

You may have a goal to lose weight…well, that’s great…in theory. But what are you going to do to get to that goal?

You can’t just say you are going to lose weight, and you lose weight — you need actionable steps. That’s where S.M.A.R.T. Goals come in.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals are a way to break down big goals into a working plan.

S.M.A.R.T. stands for: