New Year, New Story!
Goals motivate. But stories inspire and transform. So why are we not using stories instead of goals when it comes to New Year’s planning?
New year, new me!
It’s a phrase we hear a lot at the start of a new calendar year. What it means: we’re ready to summon the newest and best version of ourselves to begin the year ahead. The funny thing is, the ‘new me’ that we think of, aka, the evolved self, is usually revealed at the end of a journey, not at the start of one.
So, I think the more fitting proclamation would be: New year, new story!
Your story is the process of transformation, aka, the journey, that brings about the new you.
Goals motivate us. Goals give us something to strive for. An accomplishment to go after. But stories inspire us. Stories give us something to live by. Stories transform us and provide meaning.
So, why are we not writing stories at the start of a new year instead of goals?
The good news is: When it comes to planning your year, or your life, you can write pretty much whatever story you like...
... as long as you know how.
Ready to Write your Story?
Want a peek at how I use stories for New Year’s goal-setting? Click below to learn more about my 4-step process.
How I Use Stories for Personal Goal-Setting and Life Planning
How I Use Stories for Personal Goal-Setting and Life Planning
Has your goal-setting approach failed you? Do you find yourself losing sight of your goals as life seems to have its own plans? You might want to try this story-based approach instead.
I don’t know about you, but goals haven’t been working for me lately.
To be honest, goals haven’t been working for me… ever.
In the past, my personal goal-setting pattern has looked something like:
set a goal that’s ‘SMART’
Start down the path of pursuing the goal
Get some early wins and feel extremely motivated by my own commitment and initial action,
Then… life starts happening. Work gets crazy, or I have trouble in one of my primary relationships. Or, maybe my ‘shiny object syndrome’ kicks in and a new more exciting or more urgent goal pops up. I start losing momentum, promising myself that I’m going to get back on track. But weeks pass, maybe months, and I may completely forget about the original goal or decide that it wasn’t really that important to begin with.
So, this year, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of starting with goals (aka, the trees), I decided to start with a story (aka, the forest).
I’m a big picture thinker, so context and the larger story are always important to me. When solving problems at work, I usually start by getting an understanding of the systems, people, and structures surrounding the problem or challenge, because that’s… what a good consultant does.
So why not take the same approach for my personal life?
