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Rethinking New Year Goals: Silence and a Cocktail of Joy and Fear

Craig Stanland
2 min readDec 31, 2023

With the New Year approaching, I’m putting together my goals/dreams for 2024.

I won’t share them because I know something about myself.

When I share goals and dreams too early in my process, it feels like I’ve let air out of a balloon.

They lose the spark and energy I thrive off of.

There’s some science around this phenomenon related to the release of dopamine we experience when we share goals that excite us; it’s as though we’ve already accomplished the goal, and we lose steam to actually do the work.

I invite you to look at your goals/dreams and see if this has ever happened to you; if so, it’s time to stop sharing.

There is one component of my goals and dreams I’ll share, though:

They must be a cocktail of these emotions and feelings:

Joy
Curiosity
Creativity
Excitement
Awe and Wonder

Fear
Self-Doubt
Overwhelm
Impostor Syndrome
Triggering my imprisoning beliefs (self-worth/inadequate/not capable)

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Craig Stanland
Craig Stanland

Written by Craig Stanland

From corporate success to federal prison, I share my journey to rediscover joy, meaning, and purpose. Join me in reinventing your extraordinary second act!

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