For most of us, the act of actually understanding, writing down and actively working towards our goals has little place in our daily schedule. At the same time, many of us will often feel stuck feeling like we can’t get to that next job, that next achievement or relationship, that next phase in life that we believe we should move into to feel happier. Yet, we do not seem to act on what we want. What qualities generate the willpower and the motivation to successfully move towards your goals? If you can muster these three strengths, maintain them in your repertoire and effectively use them in achieving your goals, you could be very happy.
1) Resilience
The ability to know when to adjust, fine tune or even completely change a goal and to not be discouraged when that happens is very important. For example, if you feel unsuccessful in finding a new job that you desire, you can try to pause for a couple of weeks or months and learn more about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses in the process. Then, after some time, rather than idly applying for random jobs that are not in your sweet spot, you will be applying with greater motivation to jobs that you are more qualified for. This also requires that ability to know your professional strengths and weaknesses, which brings me to the second strength you need.
2) Introspectiveness
The ability to gage what you are good at, what your passions are, and ultimately what can make you even happier (while hopefully remaining grateful and satisfied in the present) is a very strong trait to have. Some of us have this innate ability. Others could learn to be more introspective. The value of being successfully introspective can help in many ways. For example, if you want to build a positive attitude, you can begin by learning what you like about your personal traits. Learning to self-value your best traits is critical to projecting confidence and maintaining a positive attitude. A positive attitude also comes from doing things that make you happy—hobbies such as art, music, sports or cooking. When engaged in doing uplifting activities that we enjoy, we can often gain self-esteem and strengthen our positive attitude. However, we may not always feel uplifted or positive every single moment, which brings me to the third strength you need.
3) Perseverance
The ability to keep actively working on goals that you set and reset in spite of feeling down at times will keep you successful in the long term, no doubt. When in the pursuit of things that are very important to us, such as a job we love, a life partner we love, or continued health, we must be willing to be patient. As the proverbial phrase goes, “The best things in life come to those who wait.” Of course, there must be effort invested in the waiting process. Patience expected during the journey. Ultimately, the bigger goals with respect to our careers, spouses, and securing our health and happiness may seem to come slowly often, but hopefully are the most rewarding of them all.
With these three strengths—resilience, introspectiveness and perseverance—you can make significant gains while working towards your goals. Meanwhile, as a goal-oriented individual, you can begin to feel like you’re charting your own path and helping yourself realize your desires.