Three Steps to Planning Your Goals
The Goal Planner was one of the first notepad planners that I created when I started designing the planning notepads. I wanted something that could help me sketch out my goals but in a way that also held me accountable. As James Clear puts it, “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.” I needed something that helped me outline better systems, so I created the Goal Planner notepad to help me achieve just that. Here are some steps that I followed to map out my goals this year with the Goal Planner:
Determine Your Focus: Goals for the Year
It might seem obvious, but determining your focus, or your goal, is the first step. For me, I chose five business goals that I wanted to map out this year. Seems simple, but I really honed in on the areas that I wanted to improve and focused on goals that targeted: finances, outreach and accountability. Take a look at the areas of your life that you want to set goals for and determine some focus areas that make sense to you. DO NOT focus on the goals that someone else has set - your journey is different and your goals should be, too. The Goal Planner notepad is designed that you re-write your goals every.single.week. This is important so that you do not lose focus on what you are aiming to achieve. Make it a habit to sit down every week, re-write each goal and determine your course of action.
Make A Measurement System & Track Your Progress
You’ve heard it before, but setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based) is the best way to make sure you are focusing on setting goals that will actually achieve results. For example, my goals have things like financial figures and date “deadlines” to help me stay the course and figure out a measurement of where I am with the goal achievement. For example, if I just said, “I want to make more money,” there is not a system for measuring where I am on that scale of achieving it. However, if I said, “I want to increase profits by 5% by December 2022,” then I can map that increase or decrease over time and make any course corrections needed. Our Goal Planner notepad includes a place to provide a mini Progress Report each week. You can check off your progress, fill in the progress bar or make notes in the space below your goal.
Make a Plan, Create a System
Once you have your goals mapped out with a good system for tracking and marking off your progress each week, it’s time to make a plan, create a system, and get to work. It’s easy to say, “I want to lose 10lbs,” but until you make a list of the things you need to do each day or week to achieve that, it likely will not happen. On the Goal Planner notepad, you have space to write out three Action Items that you need to do for the week to get you one step closer to achieving your goal. These could be the same tasks every week, or you may need to create new Action Items every week - find what works best for you and your goal!
What are some goals that you are working toward this year? Have you started making progress? What are some ways that you are holding yourself accountable?
