Goals for the Heart

January’s Heart Spotlight

J. DIEKER

When I sat down to write the article for January’s Heart Spotlight, I was at a total loss. I stared at my bookshelf and decided to flip through some of the books, searching for inspiration. Turns out, Aristotle has some great advice for how to aim our goals in 2026. 

Goal setting can be tricky. It is difficult to formulate an exact plan for accomplishing something over 365 days, especially when we never know what the future will actually bring.  The question then becomes how can one find effective ways to consistently grow? I began to wonder if the problem lies in how we formulate our goals and what we focus on. Regardless of what the goal is, the point of all goals is to help us be happy. We often focus on ways of bettering ourselves in order to achieve happiness, but how do we do this and what kind of happiness are we searching for?

Do we focus on:

• How we appear to others?

• Constantly nitpicking ourselves at things that are rather irrelevant?

• A flawed definition of perfection or what getting better looks like?

Taking an even further step back will help us understand the problem better; what is happiness? This is where Aristotle shares his two cents:

“Happiness then is the best, noblest, and most pleasant thing in the world… Most noble is that which is justest, and best is health; but pleasantest is it to win what we love. For all these properties belong to the best activities; and these, or one - of the best - of these, we identify with happiness.”

(Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Bk I: Ch. 8 1099 a 24-30)

The word happiness in this text is translated from the Greek word, eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is not a superficial, light hearted, emotion that we typically ascribe to happiness. Instead, it is a state of human flourishing. Man living as he ought to and thus thriving. This includes the proper functioning and flourishing of our physical, mental, and spiritual health. We all know that taking the steps to achieve flourishing is not easy. It is not a pretty process, but it is what will make us truly happy in the end. 

This year, when making goals, instead of asking “how can I fix myself?”, try on a different lens. In what areas can I flourish this year? Where are the areas that I am not truly thriving?

In 2026, let’s continue to MOVE UP together, closer to flourishing!