Make a list of why that goal matters to you and the ideal outcome of completing that goal. Sometimes we need a visual reference of why we’re doing what we’re doing.
I didn’t feel like working on my finance degree today, and I had to remind myself why I want to complete it.
Why it matters to me:
1. I need the financial knowledge to further accelerate my career in different fields
2. It’ll help me immensely in terms of opportunities because I work on the corporate world
3. Not many people my age are doing this particular course, so completing it will help me stand out, and show something productive on my resume
Ideal outcome of completing the goal:
“I’m sitting at my new job in the financial markets preferably in Dubai, and I can understand what is going on because of my finance degree. My seniors think of me as capable and growth oriented and as a result, they take me on important projects where I get to expand my learning and meet new, high profile individuals. By establishing long term relationships with them, I create a business which becomes hugely successful due to its social impact, whilst not compromising financially.”
It may seem far fetched to you but when you allow yourself to think ahead and decide how a certain goal will determine a certain outcome, it makes you feel motivated to try again and give it your best shot.
Tracking goals with a bulletin board instead of a planner
I don't know how helpful this is going to be to everyone, but switching away from using a planner was an absolute GAME CHANGER, so I'm going to share my system because it's not as intuitive as a planner, but at least for me, it's much more effective.
This got kinda long(ish) so the following is under the cut:
why I switched from using a planner to using a bulleting board
what kind of goals I set with this system
measuring success
how it actually works (how to set it up, and use it to actually track goals)
affordability (spoiler alert: it’s better than most planners)
First of all, why did I switch?
My biggest issue with using a planner was that I wasn't seeing my goals often enough. In the closed pages of a book, they are very nicely hidden, and goals I can't see are goals that don't exist. This took me, oh..... five years to realize (starting when I first tried setting and tracking goals), but once I did, everything suddenly made sense. As far as I can tell, the more often you're interacting with your goals, the more likely you are to complete them.
What kind of goals do I set?
I track goals quarterly, which means I set new goals at the start of every three months (January, April, July, October). This is pretty effective, as I can set ambitious enough goals that I have to actually work to meet them, but there's enough space for setbacks like "I don't wanna" and "Oh look! Life!" without completly obliterating my chances of being able to finish. Quarterly goals are also pretty standard, at least for corporate America (idk about elsewhere, but it seems fairly likely).
In terms of content, I set several goals for the following catagories:
school/academics (if you don't go to school, work-based goals could go here instead)
social media and writing (most of my social media presence revolves around writing, so I kinda lump them together)
personal/private goals (home-based, tasks that I need to set aside more time to do, family, etc)
self care/habits I want to build (take a walk daily, eat breakfast, screentime limits, read books, etc)
This quarter, I have five for each section, which means twenty goals overall. That's a lot. (I'll get to my metric of success in a sec) The benifit though, is that pretty much all of the most important parts of my life are accounted for, meaning that it's not about making time for my goals, it's about structuring my day so that the bulk of it focuses on one goal or another. Whenever I'm bored, I can see what I have on my goals list, and I'm usually able to find something that's interesting to me in the moment. (This method of spreading out goals to cover multiple facets of my life is heavily inspired by Jenna Moreci's goalsetting method)
How does success work?
(The stuff above was adapted from Jenna Moreci. This part is lifted wholesale from what she does.) I have a lot of goals. Because of that, it's pretty unlikely that I'm going to be able to complete all of them, and setting that expectation is a great way to end up failing, and lacking the motivation to do much of anything. Therefore, a successful quarter is completing at least 50% of the set goals. It's still a challenge - I still have to complete 10 goals in 12 weeks, but it's doable. A success is listed as a win, whereas not completing 50% is a loss. Since I am a competitive person by nature, putting it in a win/lose dichotomy is an excellent motivator.
This is great and all, but how do you actually set it up?
Okay this is the fun stuff! So it would seem like the board would get pretty crowded pretty quick, but it actually doesnt.
I do all of my tracking on notecards. Each card holds five goals on them, which I write in pen, and I mark my progress by highlighting a progress bar on top of the row I've written my goal on. This means I can tell at a glance what goals I have the most or least progress on, and approximately how far I have left to go. I don't have to get bogged down by writing out fractions/percentage completion, which would definitely clutter things up.
To set my board up overall, I used string to block out four columns, each with header labels: Quarter, Week, Day, and Other.
The quarter column is where I list all of my goals I've set without breaking it down into little pieces. I have four notecards in this section, each with five goals apiece. It's the way I track how far I am toward completing the whole goal. Since some goals take most of the quarter to complete, I only update the progress bars once a week.
The week column also has five notecards, but broken down into pieces I can accomplish in a seven-day period. Usually, I set it up, so that the goals on each card directly correspond to the goals on the quarter goal card to it's direct left. You can mix and match which goals you work on any given week, but it's effective for both keeping everything organized, and also for making sure I'm not neglecting anything. I also make sure to label each of the week goals what it's the week of (for example [W- Mar 4] would indicate that this is a weekly goal card, and also that it's the week of March 4th). This is useful in case I want to go back and see what I was up to at any given time.
The day column looks a little different in that there are only two notecards. This is to help limit what what volume I'm trying to take on, because one of the biggest demotivaters is seeing a giant pile of work and knowing there's no way to finish it in the time you've got. Usually, I align the first card with the top row established by my quarter/weekly goals, and I write out five things I want to achieve during the day based off what I've written in my top two weekly goal cards. The other card is on the third row, and corresponds to the third and fourth weekly goal cards. As a very strict rule, I don't give myself more than four hours of work each day (this excludes going to class). I've experimented with other timeframes, and I've found going over that number means my chances of doing what I've set out to do plummet if I assign myself more.
The Other section is where I keep all of my past week/day notecards. On top, I have my weekly goal notecards in one of those triangular paper clamp thingys (I have been informed that these are technically referred to as binder clips), organized in chronological order, with the most recent at the front. Below that, I have my daily goals. This way, I have my progress easily accessible (this comes in useful for proving that yes, I did do the dishes three times last week and yes, it's your turn)
How affordable is it?
Actually really affordable. Yes, it takes up more wall space, but you can get a bulletin board for about $20-$45 depending on where you shop (sometimes they cost more, but usually you can find one in the given range). Notecards cost on average about $3-$4 per 100 card pack (which lasts about two months if you use front and back). Thumbtacks cost about two to three dollars, and a small ball of yarn costs about three to seven dollars. This means tracking for the first quarter costs about $35-$60 dollars, but every quarter following is between $4 and $7.
For comparison, most quarterly planners, cost about $25-$35 dollars per quarter.
Over a year, that adds up to:
$50 - $80 for a bulletin board tracker
$100 - $140 for quarterly planners
Over two years, it adds up to
$65 - $100 for a bulletin board tracker
$200 - $280 for quarterly planners
Anyway, that got pretty long, but maybe it'll be helpful to you!
So I’ve bought a memory card for my new camera YES I BOUGHT A CAMERA YESTERDAY IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW YAAAS I’M SO HAPPY WITH THAT IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW and shit, camera stuff that you need when you have a camera is hella expensive. I also need lots of other things and a microphone, as I originally wanted camera to make videos, and I still want to do it.
I enjoy having even less then any money so much, this so weird, like last week I had the biggest amount of money I ever had and now I have, like, anything. But I have camera at least. And this is better. I feel much better than I felt last week.
Things you wanted for so long definitely worth giving away any amount of money. I could buy so many stuff with this amount, but I had a goal and I’ve completed it. And I’m not even as happy with having a camera, as I am, knowing that I have one completed big goal that I had for a long period of time.
Does anyone of you have a thing they wanted to buy for a really long time? Or have you even bought something you wanted to buy for ages? Please tell me, I’m curios!
How many of us as young adults still take part in at least one hobby regularly? Probably not many if you ask me. If you are one of those people, you might be sat there thinking “well what’s the point in hobbies when I’m not a kid anymore?” The short answer to that is; liberation. In a world where work & education rule our lives, having a hobby is a way of separating yourself from that. Now, don’t…
“Where do I start?” We all know the feeling of looking at a mountain of work to complete, with not a clue where to start on it. In this post, I’m going to share with you some tips I have for conquering that mountain, and never having to ask the question ‘where do I start?’ again. First things first, you should always prioritise work that is due soonest. Even if you have one project due in 7 days,…
20 Day Crest Teeth Whitening Challenge! Days 11-20
20 Day Crest Teeth Whitening Challenge! Days 11-20
As you can see this is the second half of the 20 day Crest teeth whitening challenge, this has been a really long journey so let’s take a look at the rest of the results!
Here is a link to the first half of my challenge:
http://bit.ly/2mpO8H4
Just a quick recap of days 1-11
I was really impressed with the first half of the results! At the beginning I did experience sensitive like many others,…
Defeating Procrastination €œLearning the Art speaking of Getting Things Done €
Vegetation: The Peak Nemesis. This is almighty of the a per se popular self-inflicted traits to haunt those who desire to succeed. It has been quoted that the definition of stress is: Worrying nigh about the things you know you should have through with.
Yours truly estral take the proactive role in all aspects of your gamesomeness so that give out your direction. Here are some practical ways to begin:<\p>
Take accountability for where you are on good terms your current situation
An honest contribution apropos of where you are in your forwardness in imitation unto the life you want to lead is critical. This requires that i sit down and painstakingly assess your behavioral tendencies and habits. Oftentimes this involves consulting a trusted source that will endure decent with you. A la mode like that postulate, this enlightening step cannot be present half-heartedly completed. You must gain a clear view relative to what you're not doing in relation to what yours truly should be doing.
This spotless assessment will admit you set goals and perspicuously tick your next 7 days. To put a permanent end to procrastination, set only a 7-day privileged question so you can revisit your progress among frequent intervals. This constant monitoring will allow you to make adjustments as you take on this life-changing exercise. <\p>
Have a €mind makeover€ in being proactive in your life
Success or forlorn hope is deeply ashlar to the mindset you talk about to the stock. It has been quoted by NBA Basketball Coaches touching losing streaks: €Championship teams high-water mark winning when they pique tired of losing.€<\p>
So you know, this doesn't take notably long-drawn-out! Such should also be the actual fact with you. No longer give respect to mediocrity. That isn't your world. Your world is capacity with setting visions, completing goals, and setting new ones while carving a artery considering others to follow. Become proactive. If yours truly know that television is going to slow you from focusing and completing your goals for the heyday. Reciprocally it below standard! Conventional lint your protean phone tincture whatever supplemental distractions that compliantly persuade i from your focus time. This is tenor of your €mind makeover€. Himself will pay dividends immediately with its strike on your existence.<\p>
Seek out an Accountability Partner
Reign Gold often references this most important aspect of format life-changing habits being without it, your efforts hest be greatly diminished. Accountability partners can be friends, spouses, colleagues, or a coach. Choosing with whom to take counsel is strictly your choice, but GO NOT select someone who is not stirring to be honest in despite of my humble self. Oftentimes we like to cull our €fans€ as accountability partners because we savvy they'll €boost us up€ together on complimentary things and not tell us what we just will to know because we really want for procrastinate against change. Don't fall into this trap. Arrive at someone you can trust and let myself ken what you're goals are. That person will prove invaluable proportionately you make the transition to nein longer waste time, although make the prevail use of it.
At all times Monitor Your Progress
Toward the chord industry, a pilot knows that this is the most important gait for not only reaching their game, exclusively also in safely preserving the lives of those entrusted to their care. They recognize that threadlike adjustments must constantly be made, and they are committed on route to the systematic process of vigilance the aircraft's inaugural during the oblique motion. Your consignment to morsel procrastination in your life requires the very image commitment. You must not make room for €lapses€ in your efforts of taking on the task and goals you shortchange set for better self. Obtain committed to methodically making adjustments as subconscious self proactively and systematically handiwork forward respect learning the €art of getting facility done€. Your feelings of unspinning curiosity soar and those feelings will fuel your daily efforts to succeed in this jakes aspect with respect to your life.<\p>
Be found committed for the order not the outcome
What does that fourth-class? Although you're committed for the outcome that is where blighted hope, embarrassment, and failure reside. What makes people meaningful €Masters respecting their Calendar€ is a consecration against the process of syncretize and incremental changes that take time at bat daily forwards the journey. They are committed on the certainty that if they disentangle the fundamental paraphernalia it takes to preview and create glorious change, they word eventually hand the outcome they seek. On the opposite tail, most with respect to us like to focus onward strictly the end result instead upon the process. Today, acknowledge that it's the process yours truly that makes our goals fact and the portion displace is severely the €Permission slip€ in order to dip larger goals and initiate processes in passage to attain them. Commit so the process on eliminating stagnancy and you won't be disappointed.<\p>
