The What/Why Method for Setting Goals

An easy-peasy shortcut for anyone who's ever thought "I don't even know where to begin."

Today we’re talking #GOALS. A hot topic in January the world over! But even if you’re not a New Year’s Resolution-er (Resolutionary?), you may one day find yourself in the mood to make some goddamn changes around here—and you also may have no idea where to begin.

(Moods are funny like that; they can get you all fired up, but they can also be frustratingly low on helpful adds like “clarity” and “direction.” It’s okay though, we can work with this.)

Last week I showed you how to take a quick spin through your mental lair to determine what you could simply “redecorate” vs. what potential wholesale renovations you may want (or need) to make for 2024.

Today, I present you with a blueprint for translating your resultant change-making mood into clear, actionable goals.

I call it The What/Why Method.

This nifty diagnostic arose from a conversation I had with my editor when he was reviewing an early draft of my book Get Your Shit Together. I was several paragraphs deep into a section on “GYST Theory” (three simple tools that help you achieve any goal you set for yourself) when he wrote in the margin:

“OK, but how do you set a goal in the first place?”

To which I responded, “Duh, you just…you know…set one!” and he replied, “As someone who has their shit well and truly together, you may be overestimating how easy that is for the rest of us.”

And so, The What/Why Method was born. It’s just two steps:

1. Ask yourself What’s wrong with my life?

2. Ask yourself Why?

The answers will lead you to your goal.

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If you’re someone who gets overwhelmed just trying to figure out what kinds of goddamn changes you may want/need to make around here, the WWM is your secret weapon.

For example, let’s say your answer to that first question is “I’m way behind at work and it’s stressing me out.”

Cool, cool. We’ve all been there. And some people don’t give a you-know-what about constantly running behind on deadlines, god bless ‘em, but if this is something that’s causing YOU a lot of anxiety and you want to change it, the key to doing so will lie in your answer to question number two:

Why? (Be honest.)

Is it because your boss is so unreasonably demanding/disorganized that you legit have no hope of ever getting out from under the pile of tasks they dump on you day in and day out?

Yowza. Sounds like your goal is going to have to be “become at peace with being behind at work” or “get a new job.” Both of those are biggies in their own way, but that’s where my aforementioned “three simple tools that help you achieve any goal you set for yourself” come in.

(Related: Can you guess the topic of next week’s post?)

In any event, now you have some clarity in terms of the changes you want/need to make, to take whatever’s wrong with your life and make it right. That’s what a goal is: clarity of purpose.

Think of it as mini-mission statement by you, for you.

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In addition to comprising just two simple steps, the WWM is fully customizable. YOUR answers = YOUR goals.