How to Set and Achieve Goals, According to Holistic Psychology
Are you longing for genuine, lasting change in your life? Setting goals might be your jam, or you might find yourself closing your eyes, fingers crossed, hoping the things you want will somehow manifest in the upcoming days, months or years even though you have no idea how... (don't worry we've all been there)!
As a holistic psychotherapist who loves setting goals, intentions, and manifesting the heck out of my life dreams, I feel like I finally discovered the key to setting goals that actually work (and not just add more things to my to-do list that don't get done)! Are you ready for the secret?
Start with the feeling.
What is the feeling you want to experience once you achieve your goal? Joy? Peace? Bliss? Confidence? Abundance? When we pair a desired feeling with life goals, magic happens!
If you're ready to learn how to set goals that will lift you up and support your life purpose, let's dive in!
What Does Psychology Tell Us About Goal Setting?
Setting goals and intentions is a popular practice for a reason: It helps us align with our life purpose, contribute to the world in a meaningful way and bolsters our self-esteem. Research, such as this NCBI article, highlights the significant impact of clear goal-setting on our mental health. Most of us want to set and achieve goals because it feels good, increases our self-worth and helps us align with our life purpose.
As a licensed psychotherapist specializing in holistic and integrative mental health, I personally and professionally understand the challenges that come with goal setting: Analysis paralysis, fear of self-sabotage and battling a harsh inner-critic are real (just to name a few).
I'm here to guide you through the process in a way that will help you soothe your sabotaging parts, align with your intuition and take small steps that lead to big outcomes.
How Do I Set and Achieve My Goals?
Goal setting is so much more than checking things off a to-do list!
We have to bring in our feelings and get clear on the emotions we are cultivating in order to make change happen in our life.
Why? Because our mind and our body are connected.
If we feel unworthy of a goal but keep trying to 'manifest' it, we'll fail, simply because our body-mind system won't believe it and therefore won't accept it.
Neuroscience shows that our brain pathways can be rewired through emotional experiences, allowing us to train our body-mind to embrace new feelings. When we actively create and cultivate the emotions we wish to experience, we supercharge our body-mind connection, creating a pathway to achieving our goals!
The reason feelings are the secret sauce in goal setting because they helps us co-create a new reality.
Think of setting and achieving goals as a magical manifesting party where you and the universe co-create the life you not only desire but the life you need to thrive.
4 Steps to Set + Achieve Your Goals:
Define Your Desired Feelings: How do you want to feel? Can you taste it? Smell it? Touch it? Spend time with the feeling until you start to actually experience it here and now.
Set Actionable + Achievable Goals: Ensure your goals are specific and measurable. You should be able to check it off your list on a specific day and consider it 'done'.
Create a Daily Practice: Find a way to chip away at your goal with a daily practice.
Monitor Your Progress: Regularly check in on your goals and feelings; spend some time journaling on the process and celebrate when you accomplish a goal!
Journal Prompt:
Feelings first! Take a few moments to write about how you want to feel in the coming days, weeks, months or year. Write them all down and then pick one or two feelings. Then take a few moments to journal about what goals will help you achieve those feelings?
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How to Set and Achieve Your Goals: A Goal Setting Worksheet from a Holistic Psychotherapist
What are the Mental Health Benefits of Setting Goals?
In addition to helping you manifest your desires and evolving as a human, setting and achieving goals also has profound effects on your mental health. Research shows that goal-setting can significantly enhance self-esteem and purpose while alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression.
As a holistic psychotherapist, I embrace the profound connection between mind, body, and spirit, recognizing how our thoughts, emotions, and soul purpose influence one another.
When you commit to goal setting and honor the mind-body connection, you set yourself up for success!
Mental Health Benefits of Setting + Achieving Goal:
Increased Self-Esteem: Slaying your goals can boost your confidence and self-worth.
Sense of Purpose: Having direction in your life helps you feel valuable and purposeful in the world.
Reduced Anxiety and Depression: By focusing on steps you can take to create the life you want, many symptoms can be relieved.
Stress Reduction: Working towards goals reduces stress and provides a sense of control and motivation to strive for growth.
Enhanced Resilience: Working towards goals helps build resilience in the face of life's endless challenges.
Improved Focus and Concentration: Setting specific goals enhances your ability to concentrate.
Better Time Management: Goals help prioritize tasks, leading to more effective use of time.
Stronger Motivation: Clear goals increase motivation and drive to succeed.
Greater Life Satisfaction: Achieving goals can help you feel like you're living a purposeful life.
Journal Prompt:
I'm setting goals this year in order to feel....(fill in the blank).
Navigating the Goal-Setting Journey with Holistic Mental Health Support
Thoughts, feelings, purpose, goals....We're diving into a lot here. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed or excited, I invite you to pause and reflect. Navigating your life path can be intense.
If you're here, you are probably deeply committed to your healing journey and longing to find more purpose, peace and joy in your life.
Here at The Holistic Counseling Center, we specialize in integrative psychotherapy that honors the mind-body-spirit connection. If you’re interested in holistic mental health therapy to support your healing journey, please reach out!
Our therapists can help you align goals with your life purpose, and address the root cause of your mental health challenges that might be getting in the way of living your best life.
We take traditional talk therapy and infuse it with mindfulness, spiritual wisdom, and tools for change and transformation rooted in the latest research from neuroscience and Western psychology to support you on your healing journey.
We offer a variety of modalities and types of therapy including: CBT, IFS, Somatic Therapy, Mindfulness, Solution-Focused, Psychodynamic and Transpersonal Psychotherapy.
We are currently accepting new clients for psychotherapy both online and in-person (San Francisco and El Dorado Hills), with evening and weekend appointments available.
You can learn more about working together by booking a free consultation call below.
References
Burris, K. (2024). Goal Setting That Works (from a Holistic Psychotherapist). www.theholisticcounseling.center/goal-setting-guide
Moskowitz, G. B., & Grant, H. (Eds.). (2009). The Psychology of Goals. Guilford Press.
LaPorte, D. (2014). The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul. Sounds True.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2012). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. Atria Books.
About the Author
Kim Burris, LMFT is a licensed holistic psychotherapist, founder of The Holistic Counseling Center, and author of ‘The First 90 Days After Birth.’
She honors the mind, body, spirit connection and offers evidence-based psychotherapy with a heart centered approach that helps people find relief from anxiety and self-sabotage so they can live life with more joy, freedom and ease.
Kim and her team currently offer holistic counseling to individuals in California. Click HERE to book a no-cost consultation call.
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