Why Achieving Your Goals Won't Make You Consistently Happy

Remember that time you worked hard, pushed through doubt, and finally achieved something amazing – despite the odds and the naysayers? Got the memory? Great! Now, how long did that euphoric “I’m so HAPPYYY!!!” feeling last?

😅  Minutes, hours, days?
🧐  Maybe a month?
🫣  But probably not a year, right?

Why do joyful moments, even the ones you work hard for, fade so quickly? Most likely, your sneaky mind starts downplaying the achievement with thoughts like, “That was no biggie,” or “I could’ve done better.” 😤

Want to know the secret to achieving your goals AND staying consistently happy?

CELEBRATION! 🎉

Think about it: the moment of achieving a goal – finally getting that promotion, finishing a big project, or crossing an important finish line – lasts just a few seconds. In the land of goals, most of your time is spent working toward that achievement, not enjoying it.

But why not make the journey as ✨ joyfull ✨ as the destination?

Celebrating achievements, no matter how small, activates your brain's reward system. Specifically, it releases dopamine, a feel-good neurochemical that plays a key role in pleasure and motivation.

When you celebrate even small wins, the dopamine boost makes you feel good AND increases your motivation to repeat the behaviors that led to those triumphs.

This positive feedback loop transforms the journey of getting to your goal to be as joyful as having it! 😃

Appreciating your efforts along the way to a goal adds joy and sparkle to what might otherwise be a string of dull, tedious, or difficult tasks. By acknowledging yourself, each step toward your goal becomes a celebration rather than a chore. And that means...

You win lasting, sustainable happiness Mama! 💛💫

So, be honest, have you been too focused on the finish line to acknowledge how incredible you are along the way?

Did you…
❥  Listen with compassion? Celebrate that gentleness. 😌
❥  Find a way to make a tedious task fun? Cheers to conquering dull moments. 🎉
❥  Prioritize your own desires for once? Praise yourself for putting you first! 🥰
❥  Let the dishes sit till morning? Enjoy your evening! 😇

You deserve credit for your effort. For dreaming up a goal in the first place! For showing up. For sticking to it. For listening to your instincts along the way. For course-correcting, learning, and caring enough about your life to make it what you want it to be.

When you hyper-focus on an outcome, blazing past all there is to acknowledge, love, and celebrate about yourself during the journey of getting, you leave yourself wide open to feeling drained, depleted, and ultimately way less motivated for your next soul-worthy challenge.

Instead of focusing on the low-vibe spinout of what you haven’t achieved yet, ✨ focus on who you are now — absolutely incredible. ✨

Yes, YOU! Right now. Today. No further accomplishments required, Mama!

A New Type of List You Might Just LOVE Making 💛✨

I challenge you, just for today, to scrap your to-do list. (😱 I know, I know – stick with me; sanity returns in, like, two sentences!)

➳ Take five minutes to list all the things for which you deserve heaps of credit. 🥰 You can do this on paper, on your phone, or even in your head with your eyes closed.

When your pen runs out of ink, your old to-do list will still be there. And it’ll look a lot more doable, too. 😌

Ready? 5 4 3 2 1 🎬 Go make that list!

You got this, Mama. All you need is already within you. Soulfull Medicine is here to help you know where to look.

xo,