New year is traditionally a time for making resolutions for the year ahead, and we begin to look forward and set goals. There's no escaping the New Year, New You articles at this time of year but it's equally important to look back over the last year so I made a list of all the successful things that happened in 2013 and reviewed it to consider what actions I'd like to take in 2014.
Recently though I've been reading about mindfulness and living in the present and the idea that if you live in the present, the future will take care of itself. So I felt conflicted, is it possible to be present while setting goals for the future?
In my search for an answer, I came across an article by Steve Pavlina who says "You can only achieve anything in the present moment and you can only enjoy those achievements in the present moment. You can't achieve anything or enjoy anything in the past or future because you're never there." The point he makes is that the only value in goal setting is that it improves the quality of your present reality, not a future imagined reality.
In a previous post I talked about the benefits of letting go which is also important in goal setting. Instead of continuously thinking about the desired future state, plan then let go and as it unfolds step back to see how things are going and make shifts where necessary. Sometimes things just take time, but if the goal is one that improves your present reality in some way, then you know it's the right one.
It's possible to live in the present and help shape the future
Happy goal setting
Further Reading
http://stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/08/how-to-set-goals-you-will-actually-achieve/
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