How to set goals in your Bullet journal
A few tips on goal setting using your Bullet journal as your canvas
Goal setting has always been a passion of mine.
When I started using my first Bullet journal back in 2015, I knew I had to incorporate goal setting in my journal, one way or another. With the end of the year approaching, it is the perfect moment to reflect on this year’s goals, and start mapping your best year for 2024.
In today’s newsletter, we’ll explore several ways you can set goals in your Bullet journal.
Quarterly goals
Following the 12-week year method, I like to set quarterly goals, because it’s easier to keep the momentum going when you only have 90 days to accomplish a goal.
Yearly resolutions tend to fail come February because we quickly lose steam, and knowing we have a full year to accomplish a goal doesn’t provide a sense of urgency.
Aiming for quarterly goals feels like a sprint, which keeps you motivated all the way through.
Start by looking back
Before I set new goals, I like to reflect on what I have accomplished during the year.
One tool that I love to reflect on my accomplishments is the Level 10 Life exercise popularized by Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning.
I evaluate each area of my life; finances, career, relationships and so on on a scale of 1 to 10 and assess my current level of satisfaction. This paints a portrait of my current situation and lets me find areas of improvement.
If you’d like to try it, just draw columns for each area, 10 dots high, and colour in the area corresponding with how you feel. You can see mine as an example below :
Choose 3 goals
3 is a magic number. So aim to set 3 goals across all areas previously assessed.
I feel that more than 3 goals can quickly become overwhelming. Reviewing my Level 10 Life spread, I select the 3 areas of my life that need improvement the most and select my goals accordingly.
I do not necessarily select the three lowest-ranking areas, but the ones I feel would benefit the most from improving.
Thinking of each area, I come up with a specific action, habit or outcome that would improve my quality of life if I achieved it. That is my simple method to set new goals.
Add your new habits and goals to your lists
If your new goals imply new habits to implement, add these to your habit tracker.
You can create a new spread with your goals list and add any actions you need to take to achieve them. A goal without a plan is just a wish!
If you need to take action on a specific date, add that to your future log, your monthly spread or your weekly schedule. Detail each next action you need to take and make sure to schedule them.
Review your goals each week
Part of my weekly review is to review my goals.
Each Friday afternoon, I track my progress for each one of my current goals. At the moment, I plan on reading 100 books in 2023. I know that I have to read 25 books every quarter to reach my goal. Each week, I write down the number of books I’ve read during the week and assess if I’m on track. That helps me focus my efforts for the next week.
Reviewing my goals list every week allows me to keep them top of mind and maintain my momentum. Choose a day for your weekly review and make sure to put it on the calendar so that you don’t skip it.
Celebrate your accomplishments
One problem that I used to have was setting new goals as soon as I achieved them, but never taking the time to appreciate my successes. I was frenetically moving from one goal to the next, but feeling empty.
I realized that I needed to take time to celebrate the little successes along the way. One way that I do that is by immortalizing the moment in my Bullet journal.
I have a signifier, a little flag, that I include in my dailies along with a quick note about the goal I just met. When relevant, I print a photo with my Canon Selphy and include it in my spread.
Here’s my entry for the last goal I met, hosting a metal concert with nearly 200 attendees:
As a goal-setting junkie, I cannot wait for my planning session each quarter to set new goals! I like to do so during the last weekend of each season and I create a mini ritual each time. It really is thrilling!
What is your goal-setting process? What tools do you use to keep track of your goals Let me know in the comments below!
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Oh, this is right up my street. Thank you. I love the process of goal setting. Goal 'doing' a bit less so. Breaking it down into achievable chunks is a really helpful idea though and I'm definitely going to try the 3 goals/3 months thing.