3 Great Reasons to Set New Year’s Resolutions!
It’s the end of December. It is a time filled with colors, lights, relatives, celebrations. It is a time of big emotions. It is a time of transitions. This season can be very exciting and hope-filled, but it can also be very overwhelming and a t times very challenging. The end of the year especially is a bit of a mixed bag. We look back – sometimes in mourning, sometimes in regret, and yes, sometimes in a big sigh of relief. We look forward with a sense of eager anticipation as we await what surprises the new year holds. The prospect of starting something new, however, can also feel a little scary. Maybe even A LOT scary.
One way people manage their thoughts and feelings this time of year is to create a list of goals for the coming year. Goals can help us make sense of our feelings about the choices we made in the past twelve months and try to learn from them as we anticipate making changes for the year to come. But for some, even the prospect of setting goals can be overwhelming.
These days there are so many resources available to help set goals. Goals seem to be a consistently popular topic as the idea of self-help and self-motivation continue to permeate nearly every facet of our current culture. But for every article we read about how to set and achieve goals, it seems there is another one right behind it revealing how few people manage to achieve their desired goals. In setting goals, are we just setting ourselves up for a negative cycle? If we’re just going to fail anyway, why should I even have goals in the first place?
While these questions are fair, the truth is there is ample research to suggest that even the mere practice of setting and pursuing goals can provide numerous benefits. While some of us may be tired of hearing about goals, the truth is there are good reasons why they have become so popular, especially around this time of year. There is a deep well of research out there that suggest that just the practice of having goals, in and of itself, can have numerous benefits for our mental and emotional wellbeing. I’ve done my best to try to distill some of that information here to help provide a thoroughly researched case for goal setting. Here we go!
1. Goals can help us stay focused in a very noisy and busy world
I don’t know about you, but there are days when it feels like the whole world is shouting. You walk into a store and it feels like every item on the shelf is trying to win your attention. You open up your phone and you are bombarded with messages, notifications, images, colors, apps. You turn on your television and you see columns upon columns of programs and content. Everyone seems to be constantly demanding your attention. It can feel at times that at any moment you could be swept up into the current. It can be challenging to stay oriented in the midst of all that noise. One way we can help make sense of all this noise is by having goals. When we have goals, we give ourselves something to constantly anchor our focus as everything around us shifts.
When the blizzard kicks up, we can keep our sense of direction because we know where we are trying to go. If one road gets blocked, no worries, we can look for another path because we have a destination in mind. Goals are, by their nature, a process of discernment and discrepancy. We can block out the noise and focus on what is truly important to us. Furthermore, we can more easily understand what to say no to because we have already determined the things to which we want to say Yes! In a 2017 article for Forbes Magazine, writer Jeff Boss said, ““Having a clear, compelling goal mobilizes your focus toward actionable behavior.”
2. Goals can help relieve stress and anxiety by giving us a sense of order
Similar to the first point, when we know what we want to prioritize, it gives us a sense of control. Sure, things will occur that are beyond our control, but having a road map can help us feel like we are not just a boat drifting with the tide. We get to choose our goals. We get to define them. Then, we get to pursue them not matter what may happen around us. Furthermore, goals can help take something big and seemingly unmanageable and break ti down into smaller, more easily digestible parts. Psychologist and learning specialist Dr. Chris Willard of Tufts University, suggests that goal setting is a great way to reduce. In one article, Willard states, “Planning, goal setting and time management are the external things that will manage some of our stress. When we have a plan for a big assignment and have broken it into parts—even as small as “go to the library and get books on day one” to “edit final draft on day twelve”—the less overwhelming and stress-inducing it becomes, because it is familiar and doable.” When things seem overwhelming, having smaller, directed, achievable goals can help us to keep going.
Recently, I wrote a book with a photographer named Andrew Burns o the PCT People Project about thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail called To Try the Mountain Passes. For those who don’t know, the Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, is a trail that covers over 2,600 miles from Mexico to Canada and crosses through California, Oregon, and Washington. The project involved interviewing hundreds of hikers, all of whom were in the midst of thru-hiking, or hiking the trail in its entirety. One common refrain among all the hikers was this idea that if one were to think about the trail, it would simply seem too overwhelming. Instead, the most successful hikers are the ones who simply look at the steps they need to take each day, moment by moment. The hikers have a massive goal, but they only achieve it by breaking it down into smaller, more achievable parts.
3. Goals can improve our mood!
Dopamine is one of several chemicals our brain releases in order to motivate us to do things. After all, our bodies are designed to help us survive. We get large amounts of dopamine when we do something really great and essential for our bodies – like eat a terrific meal. But, in order to encourage our bodies to do the things it needs, our brain will release little bits of dopamine in between setting and realizing our goal in order to help us stay motivated. In this way, we can build momentum. Our brain rewards us for small goals, which lead us to bigger goals, which give us BIG doses of dopamine which then make us want to do more things that are good for our bodies!
Dr. Ralph Ryback, a psychology instructor from Harvard Medical School and psychiatrist with Sovereign Health Group, wrote an article about this very concept in Psychology Today back in 2016. In that article, Rayback suggests that our brains favor routine and will actually reward us the more we stick to a sense of order. As we build habits, our brains reward us for maintaining them. Unfortunately, this is also why it can be so difficult to break unhealthy habits. But, when we start to establish goals, then create routines to achieve those goals, our brain literally starts to rewire itself, Rayback says. If we’re trying to break out of old habits, again, trying to think too broadly may not be the most helpful thing to do. Instead, Rayback suggests using dopamine to our advantage. We can manipulate our dopamine levels by setting small, easily achievable goals to help us build up that momentum. This can be especially helpful on those days when getting out of bed seems like an impossible task.
On days like those, try setting mini-goals. 1. Get out of bed. 2. Make breakfast. 3. Make today’s to-do list. As you check off each of those mini-goals, your brain will give you little boosts, Before long, you’ll begin to wire your brain towards success!
Foresight is 2020!
As you reflect this year on habits and behaviors you want to get rid of and new ones you want to adopt, remember that even the act of creating goals to begin with can be a great help! They can help you stay focused, calm, stress free, and generally happier. When something feels too big, break it down into smaller, bite-sized chunks.
Here’s to having a happy, healthy, goal-oriented 2020!