Want to Actually Achieve the Goals You Set? Know Your Why

It's time for fresh starts, resolutions and goal setting. If your social media feed is anything like mine, it’s filled with ads for planners, productivity hacks and how-to’s for meeting your goals.

I chuckle when these pop up because I’ve realized that the “how” is the easy part. It’s the “why” that’s hard.

I’ve made New Year’s resolutions before. I’ve bought fancy planners and tried my best to set smart goals. And I always fail. I never keep up with my resolutions of losing weight, eating less junk food or not biting my fingernails. The planner goes unused around mid-February, and I never really implement my measurable plan for achieving my goal.

[Related: How to Achieve New Year's Resolutions — Not Just Make Them]

This is because my heart wasn’t ever really in it, and I couldn’t really remember why I had started it in the first place. A lot of us start the year with the best of intentions but forget why we wanted to do it in the first place. Perhaps it's because we believe we should. We see others who do, and we don't want to be left behind.

My advice to anyone who wants to achieve their goals this year? Know your why. If you’re going to put anything down on paper, make it that.

• Why do you want to do this?
• Is it something you truly want, or is it something you just think you should want?
• Why is it worth your time and energy?
• Why do this one thing and not something else?

Have solid, unshakeable answers to these questions, because your why is your motivation. It’s the thing that keeps you going when the going gets tough. It’s what will get you out of bed in the morning. Once you know your why then you can make plans on how to achieve it.

[Related: Beyond "To-Do": 5 Lists That Can Change Your Life]

What makes it hard is that only you can answer the question. You won’t get that from a planner or a blog post. Only you will know your why.

A version of this post was originally published on She In The CLE.

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Katelyn Stiver is a strategic marketer at a non-profit venture development organization who is passionate about telling brand stories through compelling content. She has a passion for learning, especially through reading biographies, watching documentaries and listening to podcasts. A proud introvert, she tends to be a homebody, but will never turn down the opportunity for a good conversation (except if it’s on the phone).