Habits > Goals
This month is so pressurized to define and deliver on GOALS.
These little arbitrary rules we create in our minds that tell us a better, higher, newer, healthier US awaits when we cross an imaginary finish line of goal completion aren't necessarily living up to their promise.
For anyone who has set and failed a goal, which is honestly all of us, you'll perhaps resonate with the hard earned truth that big life changes are rarely catalyzed by running that 1 marathon or reducing alcohol that 1 month.
Instead, lifetime course corrections tend to take root through small, incremental, and wildly inconsistent habits that stick around. Maybe not everyday, but reliably most days.
So, if your curious how you might re-envision this month of planning, consider moving away from goals and moving in to habits.
Goals are what you do, habits are who you are and how you move about your days, generally speaking.
What does this look like in practice?
Well, instead of losing 10 lbs, consider walking to work most days.
In place of a sober January, try just having a glass of wine on those special nights where it takes 2 hours to cook a meal.
Throw out reading 2 books a month and pick up reading before you fall asleep.
Are you someone who can read 2 books a month or are you A READER, A WALKER, A COOK?
Habits, rituals, traditions, routines with lots of space in the middle for stops, starts, and all out forgets, creates room for progress without all the arbitrary baggage.
In the end, the habits will outpace any completed goal well after 2024 passes.
However you choose to shape your year, the fact you are even considering who you want to BE is what makes BEING ALIVE so special to begin with.
So congrats, because joy always had more to do with being than doing anyhow.
Thanks @jo_savagephotography for BEING a photographer.