Goals with Soul By Mollie Busby - Photos by Haley Sierra Photography
Scratch the New Year resolutions; instead, focus on how you want to feel in 2019
Raise your hand if you cringe when I say: “New Year’s Resolution.” Yeah, me too.
Last year at this time, I was ready to give it my last try. It was the end of December, and I was feeling the same familiar desire to create yet-another new version of myself. As a human being exposed to mass media, how could I not? We’re told constantly: New year, new you. So I made lists of all my desires; material things to acquire, health-related goals, and career benchmarks, mixed in with high-level goals like “get pregnant,” “meditate more,” and “launch my essential oil business.” I was told early on in my life that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, each time expecting different results. Sure enough, I was falling into that same trap.
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With scattered attention, lack of strategic planning, and lack of accountability, a few weeks into January, I lost my resolve and sunk back into the same patterns 112 406
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of self-defeat. Sure, there were small wins, but overall I was missing a pathway to achieving what I truly desired. Honestly, I don’t think I even knew what I wanted.
Enter: The Desire Map. I’ll never forget how reading Danielle Laporte’s book, “The Desire Map” made me feel. It was as if she was speaking directly to me — her irreverent tone was exactly what I needed. I devoured the material and began to create a new version of myself I could stick to, and that felt good. Less meaningless material goals, and more authenticity and focus. “The Desire Map” helped me create goals with soul. The crux of the book (which is combined with an attached workbook of inquiry questions) boils
down to focusing on how you want to feel in your life — what Danielle calls your three “Core Desired Feelings,” or CDFs — and then seeking to feel those feelings within everything you do. With a background in business, I can’t help but draw a parallel between CDFs and a three-word mission statement for your life. Whenever you approach a new project or opportunity, if it’s in alignment with your CDFs and you want to go for it, you do! It’s the same way I operate my yoga studios and new projects on the horizon.
And CDFs aren’t just chosen at random. We specifically arrive at these words by clarifying what we’re grateful for (or “what’s working”) and conversely writing out “what’s not working,” each in five core areas of life:
● Body and Wellness ● Relationships and Society ● Essence and Spirituality ● Livelihood and Lifestyle ● Creativity and Learning