Below are the high level “tasks” I perform to carry out my goal planning and execution. In this post, I will explain, include pictures, and share some lessons learned about each step below. I’ll also include a “trouble-shooting” section for what I do when I find I’m not accomplishing the goals I committed to tackling.

One-time tasks

Track where I’m spending my time over the course of a week or two down to the hour

• I rely heavily on my “bullet journal” (for more of the planning & organization aspect of it but for some journaling and other types of spreads, too). I track, organize, and plan both work and personal things. I found I really need it all in one place and I function so much better in life. The work-related content is very high level tasks/goals but nothing with actual business value.

Annual tasks

• Create or refresh my “inner circle” bullet journal spread. I’m not including a picture, but the idea is simple. List the things most important to you in a small circle in the middle of the page, and keep drawing larger rings. Fill in the rest of the rings with other things important to you. An example could be close family members appear in the inner circles and friends, pets, travel, appear on the outer rings. Without meaning to, my inner circle spread only includes people and experiences. No physical items made it to even the outer rings.
• Create a brainstormed list of goals
  • I tend to get laser focused on a particular goal and let other aspects of life slide. The categorization of my goals, as you see on this example page, helps me to maintain balance. I put an “X” in the box when the task/goal/project is complete and shade the box when it is “in progress”.

Quarterly tasks

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Troubleshooting

If I find I’m not accomplishing the goals I set out to finish, it’s typically due to one of two reasons:

1. I’m floating through life and not planning goals in the first place or
2. I’m feeling unmotivated

For number one, I can tell by flipping through my bullet journal if I’m aimlessly spending my days when I only see my typically weekly spreads and no goal planning spreads. This means I’m letting life happen to me and letting other people set my priorities. I lack focus and do not accomplish the important things when this happens. Luckily, putting in a bit of effort to follow the system above gets me out of this “floating through life” rut.

For the times I’m feeling unmotivated, I’ll spend too much time on mindless activities (like watching TV) and as a result be very unproductive. Being unproductive is depressing, which further un-motivates me and it becomes a vicious cycle.

Over time, I’ve started to put together my own little hierarchy inspired by “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. When I fall into a rut of feeling unmotivated, it typically means I’m neglecting foundational things in my own hierarchy. I need to force the foundational things and then I’m able to find my motivation again. I’ll share my hierarchy in a future post. Two of the items may be things you have not considered before, but I consider them life-changing for me. Stay tuned!