I’ve talked about this in my last couple of Plan With Me videos (like here, here and here). It’s my current favorite Bullet Journal collection – the monthly goals page!
Now, before I get started I want to give credit where credit is due. My goals page is definitely inspired by @honeyrozes. After a few rounds of using her brilliant layout, I changed it up a bit to better suit my needs. Hopefully you’ll find this inspirational and might even change it up further so it’ll suit your needs.
Ok, here we go…
The page is divided into four columns. The first three columns look the same and this is where you’ll get super clear on your goals and how to reach them. Each column consists of these sections:
1. THE PROGRESS BAR
At the top of each column there are three arrows to fill out as you continuously make progress on the goal. It’s a rough estimate and it’s you who decide how much you get to fill out for each progress you make.
2. THE GOAL
Just below the progress bar is where you’ll specify the goal. Try to keep it short and sweet.
3. WHY
Research shows that by knowing why you’re doing something makes it more likely that you’ll actually get it done.
Try to get to the core of your why. This is easiest done by keep asking why for each answer you give. Try to do that at least five times. It’s harder than it sounds!
My aim is always to fill this small section with my why’s. I figure that if I can’t even fill this box with reasons why I want to reach that goal, then it’s probably not that important to me.
In my 2018 Goal Planner I actually had a whole page that should be filled out with why’s. That could be quite tough sometimes but I (and the researchers) found that knowing your why greatly stacked the odds in your favor of actually reaching your goal.
4. ACTION STEPS
Oh but wait! What happened now?!? Wasn’t there a section in between the ”Why” and the ”Action steps”.
Well, yes you’re right!
I’m sharing the exact order in which I use this spread. Which isn’t linear. Just keep reading and it’ll all make sense. Or so I hope…
My next step in setting my goals is to make sure I have an idea of what actions I need to take in order to reach the goal. I would say that this section is the most important of it all!
Sometimes you have a pretty good understanding of what actions you’ll need to take to reach the goal. In those cases you’ll write down those steps here.
In other cases you have a hard time knowing what you actually need to do. Maybe the first step is to do some research to have a better understanding of what needs to get done. Or maybe it is a tricky path and you’ll need to take it one step at a time.
Either way, in those instances you should start off by writing down that first step and then let it be for now.
This part is not to be used as a to-do list or checklist, but rather a way to make it easier for you to start taking the first actions. Once you’re going you’ll most likely automatically know what the next step will be as you’ve gained momentum.
Should you somewhere along the way feel stuck, or start to procrastinate, simply have a look at this list again and chose what task to tackle next. Often we procrastinate because we’re not sure what to do next, and having this list can help you immensely to keep on going and not lose momentum.
5. WORKED ON IT, PART #1
This section is the one with the dates of the month. It’s called ”Worked On It” because I wanted to keep track of when I actually worked towards the goal. This was to (in some way) keep myself accountable for taking action.
Being the striving person that I am I sooo wanted to be able to mark each and every day, although I knew that wasn’t realistic!
So, then I came up with the second way to use this section…
6. WORKED ON IT, PART #2
Since I knew it wasn’t realistic for me to work on my goals each and every day, I came up with this clever solution ;)
And this is the fun part! At least for a #plannernerd like me LOL
1) First I’d go through my calendar to see what days, and how many hours, I would be able to put time into working on these goals.
2) I would then have a look at the steps I’d mapped out as the action steps to reach each of the goals.
3) Then I would map out which days would be best suited for which tasks/goals. And I would make a mark on those days so that I’d easily see right there which days I’d planned to work on which goal.
So now, instead of aiming to mark all days as ”I’ve worked on it” I now only felt a need to mark the selected days as ”I’ve worked on it”. Making it easier to reach that feeling of ”Oh yeah, I’m pretty awesome” haha.
To be honest, it was pretty difficult to reach that too. But at least it felt more feasible :)
* GOAL SETTING TIP
As I started to use this goal spread, and especially the ”Worked On It” section, it became clearly apparent why I’ve had issues reaching my goals!
Mapping out how much time you have to do something + adding that filter to the tasks you need to do to reach your goal = INSIGHTS!!
It was clear that I wanted to get way more stuff done than I actually had time to!
What a bummer!!
How to fix that? Well, the only solutions I’ve come up with are
1) divide your goal into smaller sub-goals. Then work on one sub-goal at a time.
2) set and work towards fewer goals.
If you have any other solution I’d love to know! Leave a comment below, or why not over on Instagram? Seriously, I’d love to know!
THE FOURTH COLUMN
When I first started using this layout I used all four columns for goals as you’ve seen in one of the photos.
But as I realized it’s tough enough to manage to complete three goals, I decided to use the fourth column for something different.
It differs from month to month, but it’s usually things I want to work on or improve. It can be a habit I want to build, my theme for the month, a skill I want to hone in on, a mantra for the month or an inspirational quote.
I would love to hear your thoughts and insight on setting (and achieving) goals! And have you used this or a similar goal layout? What are your thoughts? What’s your favorite goal planning tactic? Let me know in the comments below!
OMG I love this idea! I’ve been needing something visual and also insightful to help me with goal tracking! Thank you!