I know a lot of people love to set goals and admittedly, it does help us achieve things we feel we need to. But be aware there is a downside to goal setting.
Goals not achieved become failures and many people consider stress to represent the things not done. The other thing with goal setting is we get tunnel vision. Suddenly, all we're after is this goal and everything else takes an insignificant priority. We know around us is opportunity everywhere for those available to see it. Goal setters aren't going to notice the little things because they have something else in mind. They wake with it they go to sleep with it and they often do achieve it but often at the expense of a variety of other things not achieved.
Don’t get me wrong, goals are fantastic and by achieving things we often get to step up to bigger and better things. Also be aware that planning to have a good life is better than leaving it to chance. We plan work, we sometimes plan what we eat and we sometimes plan what we wear but we rarely put effort into planning to have a good relationship or planning to have fun or planning time out on a daily basis.
But there is one thing we can plan every day that still leaves us open to opportunities to live better. Planning how we behave! On a daily basis pick a word and put your energy into it as to how you behave. One day it might be speed and for that day try to do things quicker than normal. Try to get a bit of a step to your walk and try to accomplish more. Then the next day pick a new behavior. It might be a simple word like energy. For that day think about the energy you get from everything you eat and make healthy choices. Think about the energy you put in at work or when you're with people. Make it an energetic day.
Your challenge today! Write a list of words such as focus or attitude and for every day during next week put one of those words into the forefront of how you behave and watch at the choices you make to represent that word and how alive you suddenly feel. Two words that really affect us are integrity and authenticity. Know who you are and know what you stand for and never allow that to be forgotten.