What is your contextual purpose?

 

All over the world beds are being made every morning, gyms are full with people ready to "start the new year off right", "Dry January" is a thing, and diet facilities are bursting at the seams. All because of those New Year's Resolutions! We start off the new year so strong! Our bed is made every morning and we head to the gym in our new workout clothes, and then January 31 hits and we are right back to where we were on December 31. Why don't those resolutions stick? Why do we even bother to make them? Something inside of us gives us hope that "this time it will be different". But it isn't different is it? It's the same old thing, month after month, year after year. 

I started January off reading "Be Your Future Self Now" by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. This is a

FANTASTIC book and one I highly recommend. Towards the end of the book he talks about how critical it is to "define for yourself a contextual purpose that you believe to be the absolute most important thing you could do right now." He goes on to lay out steps to do exactly this. He says that without clarifying your contextual purpose there is really no point in goal setting. Knowing who you plan to be, not want to be, PLAN to be in 1 year, 5 year, 10 years is critical not just to achieving goals, but also for making every day decisions that could either sabotage your purpose or help accomplish that purpose. 

I am working to apply this concept to all aspects of my life. Professionally, physically, as a wife, as a mother, as a grandmother, as a friend, as a writer. But, all of that can become very overwhelming and it also, according to Dr. Hardy, will work to muddy the waters and cause paralysis by analysis; which is a common issue for me! So then, what are the TOP THREE places I need to focus in order to BE WHO I PLAN TO BE in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years. Understanding the concept of "Focused and Deliberate Purpose" puts a whole new spin on those New Year's Goals. 

For example, if my goal is to weigh 50 pounds less than I do today, every single thing I do to achieve that goal must be FOCUSED and DELIBERATE. Making the choice to get up and get on the Peloton instead of watching one more episode is DELIBERATE. Meal planning.....FOCUSED. If my goal is to write one blog post every month, then I must make a DELIBERATE decision to sit and write and to be FOCUSED as I do it. Now what does that look like?  That's the next step. "Set massive 12-month targets based on your priorities." If my goal is to spend quality time with my adult children, what are the targets I must hit in order to get to the end of 2023 and KNOW that I accomplished that goal? 

I am still working through it all in my head. I do not want to be at exactly this same place next year. I do not want to be that person who had great goals and then lost my focus and stopped making deliberate choices to accomplish those goals. So making my bed every morning may not be part of those resolutions because ultimately it does not check off the box of what I KNOW my contextual purpose to be. What else do I need to let go of? What do I need to add? 

What is YOUR contextual purpose?