If we want to be happy, our actual selves need to largely overlap with our ideal selves. A significant gap between who we want to be in life and who we are is a reliable recipe for misery. It is in this gap that a host of undesirable emotional states dwell, such as anxiety, depression, disillusionment, regret, and bitterness.
When it comes to closing that agonizing gap between our actual and ideal selves, we have an invaluable tool in our hands: goals. Decades of research reveal that having goals and making progress on our goals is linked with greater well-being. One study found that merely having personally important goals was as strongly associated with positive emotions as actually attaining those goals.
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