“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” — Mahatma Gandhi
What does it mean to you to live your life to the fullest?
What do you want your legacy to be?
How have you made a positive impact on the people, places, and world around you?
This week, as part of our four-part series to help you end the year and start the new year on a high note, we are going to look at your biggest goals for your life. We believe in thinking big and that this is the biggest way to set goals that will make you truly successful.
Your personal definition of success depends on what an amazing life is to you.
For some people, it might be changing the lives of as many people as possible. For others, it would be living a life with freedom and flexibility from a 9-5 schedule.
What does it mean to you to be truly successful? What will make you feel like you are living the best possible life you can live?
How to zero in on your biggest goals
These are big questions to answer. And it’s not bad if you don’t already know the answers. That is what we’re here for! To help you get closer to these important answers. 
First, start by making a list of the people in your life who matter most.
Look at the list. Why are these people important? Some of them may be obvious, like family members. But really think: why are family members among the most important to you?
Who else is there? Don’t feel like you have to make the obvious choice — think about who the people are who really mean the most to you, how have made the biggest impact on you, and whose presence makes the biggest difference to your days.
Imagine a movie about your life
Imagine your life–in movie form. This is an effective exercise to begin thinking about your future, and the big picture.
For all the people you listed above, think about what role they play in this “movie.” What do you think they would say are the most important things you did in your life? How do you hope they’ll remember you? Why are they important?
How can you improve your relationships?
The older I get, the more I realize the importance of the relationships in my life. There is not much that makes a bigger difference in my life — both day-to-day and long-term — than the people who I am surrounded by.
The way you interact with the people around you will reverberate back to you over and over.
What changes can you make right now, and in the year ahead, to make your relationships even better?
Look at the list of names that you made above, and think about each person individually. How could your relationship with each one be better? What is already going well? How can you increase the good and decrease the bad?
With relationships, they say it takes two to tango. But if you want better relationships, you cannot just hope the other person will change or read your mind about how you wish the relationship would improve.
It is up to you to improve the relationships in your life. How can you communicate better? How can you help the other person to understand what you value about them?
Think about how you can make progress on improving your relationships, and in turn, your life in the new year.
How do you want to be remembered?
At the end of the day, what matters the most is how you affect the people around you. This is what your legacy will be. This is how you will be remembered.
Download the Yearly Planning Part 2 Worksheet Here!
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
Next week, we will start zooming in on next year and the specific plans that you will make in order to keep moving towards the life you want to live. When you know where you want to end up, you can make the best possible plans to get there little by little.
