It’s January and every coach and trainer is talking about setting goals for the new year.
This is not going to be your standard post about how goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based).
Yawn.
Those things are good, but not very inspiring.
It’s also not about writing your goals down and sharing them with an accountability partner. Also good.
We’re going deeper today, much deeper.
The one thing your goal must include is a strong emotional purpose.
Your emotional purpose is your …
- Tug-at-the-heartstrings reason for doing what you do
- Intestinal fortitude to persevere when you’re ready to give up on your goal two months into the year and start over next year
- Infusion of purposeful passion
- Driving force that helps you overcome obstacles
- Big picture motivation that’s bigger than you and your personal gain
Your emotional purpose will have a significant impact not only on this particular goal, but on the rest of your life.
It will do more to help you achieve your goals than any other factor.
I guarantee it.
Lofty claims? Yes, and that’s the power of attaching an emotional purpose to your goal.
Every time I’ve achieved anything meaningful and significant, it was because I had a strong emotional purpose for doing so.
So what exactly is an emotional purpose?
Let me give you some examples to illustrate:
1. The middle-aged guy whose goal was to become a six-figure freelance writer, but not for the money. His main purpose (his emotional purpose) was to be able to take more than three weeks of vacation a year so he and his wife could travel abroad to see family for the first time in eleven years.
2. The college student whose goal was to make $20,000 in one summer. Not to pay for his last year of school, although that was part of it. His emotional purpose was simply to make his parents proud that he hadn’t borrowed a single dime over the four years.
3. The young guy who was once terrified of public speaking who joined Toastmasters, but not to do better at his job or in social situations. The emotional purpose for joining was so he could one day give a eulogy for a loved one in a church packed full of mourners.
4. The father of four kids closing in on college over a five-year period, who started a new business to help pay for it all. The goal was to make a lot of money. The purpose was to set an example for his kids, to inspire them to go after their own dreams, too.
Are you starting to see what an emotional purpose is? It has to be bigger than yourself, more than material or financial gain, and deeper than ordinary motivations.
By the way, all four of those scenarios above are about me at different stages of my life. And in all four I hit the goal I set for myself, in large part, I believe, because of having an emotional purpose attached.
When you try to establish what your emotional purpose will be, think of someone you love. Think about a cause you’re passionate about, how you can make a difference in this world, and how you want to be remembered after you’re gone (because, yes, the effects of you hitting your goal could have long-lasting implications).
Tie your emotional purpose to one or more of those four things, and you’ll succeed wildly.
I guarantee it.
What’s one of your goals for 2019, and your emotional purpose for hitting it? I’d love to hear from you.
