Motivation ~ connecting your feelings to your goals

One study on goal setting found that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Fall is here and so is our busiest time of the year just around the next corner. But even with the season of a new school year, kids' schedules, present buying and party hopping, we still have time to achieve big goals by the end of the year. Writing down and articulating our goals not only reminds us of their importance, but also helps us to see how clearly they can be achieved. I recently read an article about how our feelings about our goals are vital to our achieving them. Yoga is all about connecting to our feels...I'm in. :)

Rather than just writing down your goals, write a paragraph on how it feels to achieve your goal. "Acting like you have already achieved your goal will start you to connect the dots between where you are now and the steps you need to take to achieve your goals."

How do I feel about my goal right now? Research shows being grateful can help you succeed at your goals by being more future oriented and practicing a bit of self control. Additionally, awareness of your feelings may prevent unexpected emotions from derailing you.

How do I feel about doing the work to accomplish it? Dig into your feelings about the process. Being scared, you can prepare in advance, practicing or asking for help. If you already feel overwhelmed before really even starting (oh how I relate to this!), is there a way you can process with little action steps? 
How will I feel once I accomplish this goal? This emotion you'll feel at accomplishment is part of your "why" and another really important question to ask yourself. Your "why" will be your motivation when you feel it slipping. 

After you think about how you feel and process your emotions over the thing, you are more prepared and ready for achieving your goals.

One of my main goals as a yoga teacher is to build our sweet community. I believe it is in community we become our best version of ourselves. We are encouraged and supported as we encourage and support. We find focus and strength on the mat in a room where we bring our breath, our focus, our energy and our individuality and we become so much more cooperatively. We leave our mats feeling better and walk out into a world we are making better too.