Welcome to 2022! As a new year unfolds, people often use this time of year to set goals and intentions. And while forecasting and planning keep us grounded, it is often a place where we can sabotage ourselves by setting goals that are too lofty or will take time to be accomplished. I want to give you permission to be realistic and and also to give yourself the space to be successful.

In my many years of helping runners achieve their objectives, one of my key messages was always: something is better than nothing. This tenet definitely applies to progressing towards personal and professional purpose. Because what is the point of a goal without purpose? 

Movement towards a goal IS success.

To emphasize this point even further, I thought I would share an adapted excerpt from a blog post I wrote geared towards runners. The post is titled Training Wisdom: Understand What Makes You Tick and has applications to setting personal and professional intentions--which leads to movement.

Knowing Your Why

In goal setting, as in other things, we need to locate the inner meaning and enjoyment of a task. While considering our place in work and life, we should ask: “What kind of person am I? What makes me go to produce good work? What motivates me? How do I measure a success?” Psychological research has shown distinct patterns of human thought and personality traits. These can be broadly described as internal and external.

Once we look at the external and internal motivations—we can form an understand that unlocks purpose and provides movement.

Inherently, neither is good or bad, but helps to understand what drives us to perform better. We each fall somewhere between the two extremes in our motivation. Use this insight to align goals, pick your benchmarks and decide on your strategies for success and unlock your personal best now and in the future.

I hope this can help you to set yourself up for success in 2022 and beyond--but remember even one step in the right direction can be a victory.