What comes next will be a three part series (maybe four) on working on your goals. It’s the end of the year. You’re going to work on goals, so here are some thoughts before you dig right in.
Want a really simple way to start getting your goals in alignment? Make boxes and then fill them. Once you have a sense of what your goals are, I’ve found that the best way to work towards them is to keep them front and center all the time. Here’s my trick for that: a goalbox.
The graphic to the left is a mock-up. It’s not my real goalbox, but I wanted to give you a visual to work with. It’s really simple. I set up calendar months from left to right. I then set up a block for every goal I intend to complete in the coming year.
So, in this example, I’ve put in writing projects, speaking gigs, consulting, and a few other things.
Once I have the boxes filled, then I’ve accomplished my targeted goal for that month. I have a visual of how well I’m doing. I have measurement that I can view simply. It’s not the calendar. It’s not anything but a visual goalbox of how my goals are aligning to my reality.
In my goalbox, I’ve got revenue amounts for each of the boxes where that matters. In yours, you might have your health and fitness goals. You might have your number of blog posts, your number of proposals sent to clients, plus a goal on wins. A quick note: do your best to make the goals something you can manage/alter. If it’s something not in your control, then how will you impact it?
You might do goals by week. If so, that’s okay, too. If it’s to eat 5 fewer take-out meals a week, then make a visual by week. Month is probably easier to visualize, but some of our goals work week to week, so don’t be stuck by what I’ve put here. Experiment.
I used Google Docs to make this, so I can view it anywhere. I can print it. I can view it on my phone. Another part of keeping a goalbox is having access to it everywhere. Keep the goals in front of you as often as you can.
What say you?
The next part of the series, I’ll talk about the question method for staying on track.
