How Goal Setting Makes a Happier You

Every January, people all over the world work on goal setting for the year. By mid-January , though, many of them have thrown in the towel.

Even if you’ve given up on your 2021 resolutions, it’s not too late to restart and recommit to your goals.

“Early slips do not predict failure. In fact, many ultimately successful resolvers report—even as they experience them — that the early slips strengthen their resolutions,” says John Norcross, a professor of psychology at the University of Scranton.

So it’s not too late to restart your resolutions or even get started because goal setting is an essential ingredient for a happier life. Here’s how goal setting makes you happier.

It Supports Positive Mental Health

Research shows that setting and achieving goals improves mental health; it can boost your confidence and self-esteem . That’s because it feels good to know you wanted something, set a plan to achieve it, and then accomplished your goal.

Goal Setting Improves Your Life

Every time you set a goal for yourself, you’re making a plan to make your life better. It helps you kickstart new behaviors and gives you momentum for moving forward toward an improved future. It doesn’t matter whether your goal is long term, like finishing a degree, or short term, like improving your fitness. However far your goals extend, you’re making a plan for a better life.

It Provides Focus

Everyone’s different, but most people need a purpose in life to be happy. Setting goals gives you a vision of your future and a way to achieve it. Without goals and vision, you’re at risk of living an unfocused life and wasting time and resources.

Do you ever feel like you’re just coasting through life without anything changing or getting better? That’s because you’re not setting and achieving goals. When you have a goal, you give yourself a vision of the future and a direction to get there. If you’re not regularly setting and achieving goals, you could be wasting your time and resources, and you risk living an unfocused life.

It doesn’t matter if it’s January or June; if you want a happier life, start with goal setting. It supports positive mental health, improves your life, and provides focus. Providing everything you need to live happy is one of our goals at Solara . What are your goals for 2021?