How to Set the Right Goals in Life

Most of us know that we should set goals, but there is a lot of confusion about why they matter and how to choose them well.

In this episode of Office Hours, I reflect on the difference between meaning and purpose, and on how the goals we pursue quietly shape the direction of our lives. I talk about why some goals leave us feeling empty even when we achieve them, and what it means to aim our lives toward something that truly matters.

My hope is that this episode invites you to pause, think about your goals in life, and consider whether the path you are on is leading you where you want to go.

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Brought to you by:

David Protein—The most effective portable protein on the planet http://www.davidprotein.com/arthur

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Referenced:

• The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness

• The Happiness Scale

• The Three Macronutrients of Happiness, and How to Measure Yours

• The why to bear any how: Goal self-concordance, meaning, and depressive and anxious symptomatology

• Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions

• Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation

• Evaluation of the Happiness Through Goal-Setting Training

• Compared to whom? Inequality, social comparison, and happiness in the United States

• The Confessions of St. Augustine

• Monkey see, monkey do: Model behavior in early childhood