Goals

Transformation and achievement is all about nurturing good habits. They keystone habit to modifying all your habits and to jumpstart your goals is journaling 20-60 minutes per day.

Journaling: Creating A Plan To Achieve Your Goals

Journalist and author of the Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote, “A goal without a plan is just a wish”. Committing to your goals by mapping them in your journal transforms ideas into an action plan, a starting point, steps to take, and a finish line. So much about journaling has to do with taking an idea that is bouncing around in your head and turning it into something tangible, a solid action plan. The most prolific motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and organizational guru Benjamin Hardy are huge advocates of using journals to develop an action plan to realize your goals. It’s all about project management really. The digital age has produced tremendous software platforms for companies with large cross-functional teams to manage projects efficiently. However, because your personal goals consists mainly of a team of one, it’s not rocket science. Practicing the basics of organic project management will help you in a myriad of ways throughout your life. The elements to creating a plan to achieve your goals into a plan are simple:

Naming the Goal with some level of clarity as to the scope
A Start Date
Breaking down the project into Tasks or mini-goals, like bite sized chunks
Assign a time frame to each task
Add the timing of the individual tasks together to arrive at a targeted completion date

I recommend not randomly forecasting a completion date until you have added up all the tasks. Setting an overly aggressive or unrealistic completion date is setting yourself up for failure. For Example; Goal: Learn To Play Guitar: understand the basics, notes, 8 scales, 16 chords, be able to play 9 songs well. Starting today: 1/1/2019 Tasks:

Order a Journal book to designate as my project and progress workbook (1 week)
Online research a good acoustic guitar for beginners for under $200 (1 week)
Online research for instructional software or websites with excellent reviews (1 week)
Reach out to people for a local friend, mentor or potential instructor (1 week)
Go over plan with mentor and make adjustments (4 days)
Learn to properly tune (3 days + ongoing refinement)
Learn to play the G scale at 3 different positions on the fretboard (1 week)
Learn to play the A scale at 3 different positions on the fretboard (1 week)
Learn to play the C scale at 3 different positions on the fretboard (1 week)
Learn to play the B flat scale at 3 different positions on the fretboard (1 week)
Learn all open chords (4 weeks)
Learn major bar chords (4 weeks)
Continue practicing all the above while learning my first complete song (4 weeks)
Continue practicing all the above while learning one song per month x 8 (32 weeks)

Total: 53 weeks Estimated practice/time required: 1 hr per day 5 days per week Competition date: 1/7/2020 So, if I take these reasonable, manageable steps, in one year I will be able to play 9 songs well? This feels doable. I’m excited to get started! For shorter 90 day goal plans and fun formatting I really like Kimberly Job’s ideas at sublimerefections.com