Happy New Year friends! Today I’m beginning a brand new series called A Bowl Full of Lemons “Planner Tips”. The goal of this blog series is to help you get the most out of your planner. If you don’t use a planner, now’s a great time to start. My goal is to share a tip every week. (I’ll see if that’s achievable soon enough). If you have any planner tip requests, please leave a comment below. I think it’ll be a fun series! If you are new to planners, check out my planner set up and choosing a ring bound planner posts which will help get you started.
2016 Goal Planning
Have you began setting goals for 2016? It’s January 1st and it’s time to make plans, goals, and resolutions. Many people will make some sort of list in hopes to accomplish personal goals over the next twelve months. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. This year, I decided to make a goal list and place it in the front of my planner so I could see it every time I opened it up.
I typed and printed out ten achievable goals. Then I created a dashboard to protect them in my planner, by cutting down a 12×12 plastic scrapbook sheet to 5.5 x 8.5 inches & hole punched it.
Not only did I make a list of goals, but I took a huge step further and dissected each one. I broke them down into small steps that will help me realistically achieve each goal. I transferred them onto a separate goal planning sheet (from Franklin Covey). If you’re participating, you don’t need to purchase this. A simple pen and sheet of paper (for each goal) will suffice. Once I wrote down the goals, I quickly made a list of how I would accomplish each goal. It’s important to set measurable goals. When will I complete each step? How will I measure it? Etc. Once I wrote down my goals and practical steps, I placed them in the front of my planner. When goal planning, it’s important to re-visit your goals daily, weekly, and monthly. Make sure to schedule in the steps you are taking to achieve these goals, as you plan.
If you need a visual reminder, keep your planner near you during the day. I keep mine out on the kitchen island or with me at my desk. Open it up to the goals page and make it a point to review them every day.
*The planner pictured above is from Franklin Covey. It’s called the “space maker” and it’s no longer available.
Happy Planning!
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Tags: goal planning, goals, planner, planning
Blog, goals, January 2016, Organize, Planners & Binders, Planning Posted in
11 comments
11 comments on “Goal planning”
Hi Toni, what kind of hole puncher do you use? I have a personal planner and need something that works and easy to use. Looking forward to the planner tips. Happy New Year.
Franklin Covey sells a hole punch specific to each of their planner sizes. I’m not sure if it works with any other brand of planner because I’ve not used another brand.
I am so excited about this series of blogs, Thank You.
Perfect!!! i decided this year to use a paper planner and can use all the tips!!!
Love this! Just bought my 8 year old daughter and I matching Kikki K planners so I’m going to do this!!!!
Hi Toni,
Thank you so much for this blog filled with great organizational advice. I’m interested in including the total bundle that you have in printable but do not see a 2016 version. I also have the FC Classic planner. What size printables do you recommend to put in this planner?
Thank you,
Donna
I am not big on goals each year,as well. However, this year I already made a list of realistic goals 🙂 Thank you for the reminder to keep my goals visual. I need to print and place each goal in various spots in my house. Happy 2016!!
This is a great idea. Your deep clean and getting things organized helped me so much when I retired from teaching. I had a rough last year with planning my daughter’s wedding and navigating my stepdad’s cancer and death. I tried to plan the perfect wedding while navigating the rough times. My house fell apart, but the plans helped me tackle and take control a little at a time. On the less perfectionism, that is so true. Sandra Stanley has a new Bible study out and it is really good. Amazon was out of it, but it is available at Northpoint Church.
I am looking forward to the planner tips. I live by mine. I guess it goes back to the teaching days. I needed it to stay sane. I love the breaking the goals down with steps.
Can you do a YouTube of your planner? Just asking. I read your planning system. But I’d like to see and hear it, I’m so visual, sorry. I do understand if you prefer not to. Have a great New Year!
Thanks for listening
I love the idea of putting goals for the year in the front of the planner! I used the Franklin Covey system for a while, though not to it’s fullest. So I am familiar with setting the measurable goals along with when to have them completed. I’m starting with writing them down as neatly as I can, and then putting them in the front of my planner. I think I will put them on scrapbooking cardstock, it will hold up better for the year. Thanks for the great idea!!!
I love the idea of creating a series focused around the planner. The process of learning how to use a planner wisely can be so daunting, and it is helpful to have examples. I also admire the ability to use hard copy materials for organization in the digital age. Is a planner more beneficial than an electronic calendar?