Bullet Journal: Goals for Goal Setting

Remember that Bullet Journal I raved about at the beginning of the year?

Reader, I abandoned it.

In the midst of stress and trying to balance my life, I stopped using the one tool that would actually have helped. Which, while daft, is actually pretty human. In my experience, we tend to abandon the things that really help us in favour of the easy option (crisps and hummus on the sofa - amiright?). But that is getting too philosophical and I'm here to talk goals.

More precisely - goals about goals.

I had a great workshop at work last week about goal setting. Seriously, it was one of the best goal-setting sessions I've ever attended, with a variety of content, lots of interaction and worksheets and lots of concrete things to try. Plus a rendition of Queen's One Vision - what's not to love?

This inspired me to Get Serious. It was time to get all the stuff down on paper again, where it belongs, not stuffed in my head making me anxious. It was time to set goals, steps and to-dos because you can't move any closer to what you want if you don't actively head in that direction.

While I'm not quite ready to share a full goal-setting blog (I'm working on it!) I like showing the messy workings of stuff instead of just the polished final product. So here's what I'm aiming for in September...

Nightly check ins

It literally takes five minutes to check my bullet journal when I get in, tick off what has been done and make a start on anything outstanding. Then I fill in my tracker, tick off that day and make my list for the next day.

It either reminds me of what I achieved that day, which is a positive way to end the day, or makes me feel like I'm back in control if I didn't manage to tick a lot off. Both are good.

Monthly goals

This is something I've never done before. But I'm now keeping a list of monthly goals with a list of what I need to do to achieve each one. 

I am in love with this one already because I don't have to remember to work towards a goal and then figure out what step I'm at. I can refer to this list and use it to inform my daily to-dos. I'm already thinking that I might extend this into quarterly goals, which will filter down in my monthly lists. 

The intention here is not to tick off all the goals - although that would be great! - but to remind myself of what I want to do and to look back at the end of the month and see progress.

Write it all down
There are some things I never used to put on my to-do list, like my gym classes. But now I'm putting that down on my list as well as on my tracker because if it's on the list, it gives me that extra nudge to go and there is one more thing I get to tick off!

The key for me right now is to keep my goals at the front of my mind at all times, to be accountable to myself and to swap anxiety and lack of direction for a sense of control and forward movement.

Really looking forward to sharing how this worked for me at the end of the month.