Almost everyone I chat to has either set goals or is busy setting goals for the year. Big, vision- driven intentions and key performance indicators for the business and game-changing plans for personal life.

It’s something we do every year, isn’t it? Yet if we look back, there are years of great success and others where the intentions fizzle out and results are disappointing.

Knowing this and wanting to explore the reasons why, I asked myself what makes the difference between the good years and the not so great ones; The goals we exceed and those we fail at or give up on? 

In my search for answers, I was surprised by the roles that love plays. The not so surprising roles were the importance of cultivating love for our work, love for the dream and love for the people we serve.

But the one that caught me by surprise was the power that self-love. Self-love plays a huge role in our ability to live life fully and reach those dreams, yet we often lack awareness of it and seldom stop to acknowledge it’s importance.  One way to uncover how self-love influences your life is ask yourself the following question, “If I truly loved myself, what would I do differently in my life?”.

The answers that came up for me gave me insight into the gaps in my life. They included taking greater care of my personal money, greater care for my health and to make more time for inspiring friends and activities that feed my soul. More than that, I would allow myself the occasional failure and the less than perfect fitness routine, praise my efforts more and criticise myself less.

These answers showed me in a tangible way where I have a gap in self-love and provided practical solutions for bridging this. They also made me conscious how self-love expands and extends energetically into the world and the more we love ourselves the more we inspire and expand love in the people we meet and work with.

Back to goal setting…. when we sit with a full bucket of self-love, we can more clearly see what is important and possible. This lens helps us to refine our expectations and smooth our journey to success in a way that is healthy and sustainable.

So, this week you might want to join me with a review of your own levels of self-love and refinement of your work and personal goals, because I’m betting that we will all improve our ability to reach or exceed our intentions when we start by making room for self-love.