Monique Bradley shares insights into goal setting and it's effects on happiness.

If you're looking for ways to gain more happiness in your life, have you considered setting yourself some goals? Sometimes something as simple as setting a day to day, short term or long term goal can help with your focus, determination and increase the excitement and passion in your life, having a spill over effect into your work, your private life and everthing else!

In this video, Monique Bradley, creator of upcoming online series 'FINDING HAPPY' will discuss the value of goal setting and it's effects on happiness.

Here's the transcript:

Happiness and goals

Hi I’m Monique and welcome to my VLOG on Happiness and Goal Setting.

I have a deck of amazing self care cards and the card I drew today says:

Set a goal, write it down and release the outcome.

Small steps make a big difference.

Research shows that people who are optimistic tend to be happier, healthier and cope better in tough times.

Although our genes influence about 50% of our natural personal happiness levels, our circumstances (like income, environment and relationships) affect only about 10%.

40% of our happiness is based upon our daily activities and the conscious choices we make.

So the good news is what we do, our actions and our choices really can make a difference.

Goals are the way we can turn our values and dreams into reality. Happiness doesn't just happen - it comes from thinking, planning and pursuing things that are important to us.

Scientific research shows that setting and working towards goals can contribute to happiness in various ways, including:

• Being a source of interest, engagement, excitement, passion or pleasure

• They give us a sense of meaning and purpose

• Bring a sense of accomplishment when we achieve what we set out to do

• They also build our confidence and belief in what we can achieve in the future

• Goals help focus our attention. Actively working towards them appears to be as important for our well-being as achieving the end results we are aiming for.

Goals can be long-term, short-term or even day-to-day.

A long-term goal might be a big career change, buying a house, losing 50 kilos or spending time in education to achieve that doctorate you’ve always wanted.

A short-term goal might be a plan for the coming weeks or months - organising a party or event, or doing that fun run!

A day-to-day goal might be just to cook something different or contacting an old friend.

Smaller goals may seem unimportant. But having personal projects that matter to us - and are manageable - has been consistently shown to boost well-being, especially when they're supported by others around us. And it's even better if we can link our smaller goals back to our bigger aims and priorities in life.

So, set your big goal and utilise lots of short term and day to day ones to turn that big goal into a reality and watch your happiness accelerate!

Hope this message is finding you happy, healthy and amazing!

See you next time