90 Days to a Happier You – Live Happy Magazine

6-Step Goal-Setting Challenge

January/February 2016

By Shelley Levitt

Make 2016 a year of bigger dreams, better sleep, stronger relationships and less stress!

We could have resolved to eat more leafy greens or to add another spin class to our weekly workout schedule. But when a team of us at Live Happy made it our mission to become happier in 2016, we dug deeper to identify the behaviors, interactions and attitudes that were sapping our energy, productivity and joy. Our issues, it turns out, are pretty universal: anxiety, troubled communications with a loved one, an inability to unplug from work, poor sleep, a lack of long-term goals. To help us tackle these challenges we’ve enlisted a squad of top experts who have agreed to coach each of us. And because we know that the most effective way to implement new habits is with deadlines and accountability, we’re putting both in motion.
We’ve decided to bare our souls and write about our goals, struggles, setbacks and—we hope!—triumphs in frequent blog posts over the next 90 days. All of the experts agree that in three months, each of us should be able to achieve a significant happiness reset. We’d like to invite you to take this journey along with Susan, Kim, Chris, Donna and me (I’m the cranky, sleep-deprived member of the group). We’ve assembled everything you’ll need on at livehappy.com/90days.Along with our own blogs, which we will continue to publish as the 90 days progress, you’ll find regular posts from our coaches detailing the programs and strategies they’ve put together for us. They’ll be writing about what we can expect each step of the way, including how to get around roadblocks, bounce back from setbacks and maintain the new happier-you habits for a lifetime.You’ll also find podcasts with the coaches, links to resources and other helpful tools. Check the web page frequently for updates, and add Live Happy to your Facebook and Twitter feeds. We’ll have ongoing news for you, including the scoop on great giveaways and information on how to connect with our coaches through Twitter chats and more. And, in the June print issue of the magazine, I’ll be writing about what each of us achieved in our 90-day happiness makeover. We expect the changes will be transformative, for us and for you!

3RD CHALLENGE: SETTING LONG-TERM GOALS

Subject: Chris Libby, Live Happy section editor 

Expert: Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP, author of Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide

What Chris says

I sometimes think I walk through life like Forrest Gump. I don’t really plan things; I just kind of let them happen. I’ve always believed that if you work hard, good things will come your way, and, in my life, they have. I spent 15 years at a local newspaper and a couple of months after it folded I got a call about a new magazine that was starting up. That magazine was Live Happy. As well as things have turned out, I do have a nagging sense that if I want to continue to nourish in my career and life, I need to be more proactive and begin thinking about where I want to be in, say, five or 10 years and what steps I might start taking in that direction.

What Caroline says

I get an incredible amount of pleasure out of helping people come up with goals that are closely aligned with meaning and purpose for them. Often they’ve never articulated these goals to anybody else or even to themselves. So it takes what I call “forensic coaching” we walk through their strengths and their values and explore their appetite for risk-taking.

People like Chris, who are already happy and thriving in their careers, have a head start on setting and pursuing goals. Success flows from being happy first, not the other way around. If your job is bringing you joy, as Chris’ is, it’s the ideal time to aspire to be the best you can be by identifying some big dreams.

Take your emotional temperature:

If you’re feeling blue and pessimistic, you’ll want to do a mood intervention, with daily habits of gratitude, mindfulness and savoring, before your work on long-term goals. Life is transformed when people set hard goals. Yes, it can be uncomfortable. Nobody changes and grows by playing inside their comfort zone. But if 2016 is the year that you want to explore risk-taking and you’re up for some hard work.

Far from being selfish, setting bold goals for yourself is a mitzvah, Hebrew for a good deed or an act of kindness that you put out into the world.”

I’d encourage you to step outside your comfort zone to pursue a goal that’s big and intrinsic, meaning it comes from your own genuine desires, values and interests. Playing bigger and bolder is what happiness, purpose and fulfillment is all about. When you set these long-term goals, you move into an expansive way of thinking. Your eyes aren’t on your feet, they’re on the horizon. Audacious goals are energizing and inspiring, and they’re contagious. The people around you will “catch” that vibrant energy, too.

Get ready to set some long-term goals along with Chris

Identify your signature strengths by taking the VIA Character Strengths Survey. A key tool in the field of positive psychology, the free survey assesses 24 different positive traits, such as persistence, open-mindedness, leadership, vitality and social intelligence. Research shows you’ll make more progress on your goals, and be happier pursuing them, if they’re aligned with your signature strengths.

What’s more, as you move along on your three-month goal-setting program, you’ll find new ways to apply your unique strengths to whatever goals you do set.


First published on livehappy.com – Full article is here.

Caroline Adams Miller

Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP is a pioneer with her ground-breaking work in the areas of goal-setting/accomplishment, grit, happiness and success. Caroline is the author of eight books, including Positively CarolineMy Name is Caroline,  Creating Your Best Life and Getting Grit. Live Happy Magazine named Creating Your Best Life one of the top ten goal-setting books ever published and Getting Grit one of the ten books that will change your life in 2017.  Her new book, Big Goals, is anticipated for release in the fall of 2024.  Caroline has been featured in BBC World NewsThe New York TimesThe Washington Post, USA Today, U.S. News &World Report, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR and CNN.  She is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a Master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

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