What was your new year's resolution? A post by coach Andrea Taylor

Set a Goal to Make It a Happy New Year

The New Year naturally invites you to start something new.  Don’t resist the urge to make a resolution. Having a goal is a powerful way to become happier. 

For the moment, don’t worry about being able to keep your resolution. Simply going after a goal will increase your happiness. And when you feel happier, that mood spreads to others.

Imagine your resolution as a way to make the world happier. That thought will help motivate you. And the research about happiness and goals is encouraging as well.

D. Niven in his book, 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life, reported that people who had a specific goal were 26 percent more likely to have high self esteem. And they were 19 percent more likely to be satisfied with life.

Your happiness increases because goals give you purpose and optimism. Your positive mood will attract good things into your life. A study in Psychological Science by Seligman and colleagues found that optimistic people had more success than pessimistic people.

The power of your goal goes beyond you. Our biology helps us spread happiness to others. Scientists who study the brain say that we’re hardwired to exchange emotions. Our mirror neurons pick up on Goleman. When you’re happy, this built-in feedback loop helps other people feel happy too.

the social cues and emotions of others and mimic them, according to

This means that your New Year’s resolution for 2015 can create a ripple effect. You can even design your goal to specifically boost happiness.

For example one of the goals on the Happiness Goals Countdown at Life Coach Hub is to compliment someone every day. You gain happiness by making another person’s day better. And the feeling builds as you stick with it day after day.

You can learn the research about happiness goals by joining the Countdown. You’ll get 10 suggestions for happiness goals. With these insights you’ll choose resolutions for 2015 you can really feel enthusiastic about.    

Post written by life coach Andrea Taylor.