I don't usually do the whole New Year's Resolution routine. I know it works for many people and there is a great feeling about having a fresh start, but I know from experience that resolutions usually don't work that well for me. That doesn't mean I don't have goals. I do. On January 2nd I sat down to write out my goals for the year (mostly financial)...and realised something fundemental. There was no way I was going to reach them being the person that I am right now.

I think this realisation came from reading a journal called The Happiness Project. If you've never seen it, go over and have a look. Gretchen makes a lot of excellent points on happiness and what it means, really means. As part of her project she set herself 12 happiness commandments to strive for. They aren't meant to be set in stone, rather they are about attitude shift. So what has this got to do with goal setting? I realise that I have to change more than just my physical world. I needed more than goals, I needed a personal mission statement.

In order to reach a goal you need to first have a concrete thing to aim for, and then you can plan steps towards it. The thing is, that you are setting that goal as the person you are right now...but what if that person needs to change to achieve their goals? I'm not talking about physically here, but mentally. Isn't that what the Law of Attraction is all about? Become what you need to be to achieve your goal, and then it will happen. You need to align yourself first, and then the rest will follow.

Your Personal Mission Statement is about becoming the person you need to be. For example: Gretchen's first commandment is "Be Gretchen". Sounds pretty obvious doesn't it? That is until you realise that we spend a lot of time trying to be other people and working other people's agendas. What would happen if you were to be yourself and work on what you need to work on? It bears thinking about. I'm not talking about being selfish here, but rather self-aware.

I think you can be as specific as you need to be with a personal mission statement. Some questions to consider:

• Who do you want to be?

• What behaviours would you need to change or be more mindful of to get there?

• If you had no pressure on you from outside sources what would you be doing?

Have a look at your goals or resolutions after you've done this and then ask yourself if they are in sync with who you want to be. It might give you some clues on ways to tweak them to make the goals more in tune with who you want to be...which is just as important as where you want to be.

I haven't finished this statement as yet.It will more than likely take me a week to do so....but looking at where I want to be at the end of the year, I've realised I need to make some changes. These are my top three behaviours I need to change to attain my goals:

• Be Hovalis (insert real name here): Yes, stolen straight from Gretchen, but fundamental to getting where I need to be. I am admittedly a people pleaser and this needs to change, a bit at a time.
• Let Go: There's no need to keep regurgitating all those things and beliefs that have irritated me in the past. They only hold me back.
• Move Forward: My biggest behaviour I need to change is procrastination. I'm a master at it...and it holds me back.

I'll be adding this list to my profile for all to see. I have been wanting to attract better things into my life for a long time, but those top three things have been my main form of self sabotage. I need to change myself in order to be where I want to be. How about you?

If you were to write a personal mission statement, what would it be?