With only a few days left in 2019, many of us begin to look at goals for the new year, we talk of “resolutions”.

Any day is a good day to set a new goal, to look to achieve something, to grow beyond what we once were.  But the beginning of a new year seems to add motivation to some goals.

What are your goals for the 2020 – what do you want to achieve next year?  As I often like to ask in my office, how do you want live to be different one year from now?

There is the tradition “cognitive-behavioral” way to go about setting goals, “SMART” goals for next year.  This can be helpful advice – be sure your goals are:

S – specific – direct, detailed, and meaningful

M – measurable – quantifiable and able to track progress

A – achievable – realistic and you have the tools/resources to accomplish

R – relevant – it aligns with who you are, it is truly YOUR goal

T – time oriented – it has a deadline

Of course, I would also recommend a Logotherapeutic way of setting goals.  In Logotherapy, we talk of The Meaning Triangle, those three inter-related ideas that are known to offer opportunities for meaning:

Creativity – those things I give to life through work, innate gifts, skills, deeds done and goals achieved

Experiences – that which I have received from life in encountering nature, culture, or relationships

Attitudes – attitudinal values I have realized by taking a stance toward a situation or circumstance that is courageous or self-transcending

There are many ways to set goals – the point is that we choose to set them – we choose to seek opportunities to grow.  Frankl refers to this as noö-dynamics – the internal conflict between that which we are, and that which we know we are to become.

So enjoy the closing of this year – and I look forward to working with you in the next.  I hope you set meaningful and SMART goal, and, as always, I am happy to help you achieve them.

If you are looking to go deeper into the ideas behind The Meaning Manifesto, or discuss concepts like your “noö-dynamics” in the new year, check out my course on The Psychology of Meaning here.  https://drdan.teachable.com/p/logotherapy-the-psychology-of-meaning