Keeping a journal can help you achieve your goals. If you’re wondering how to use journaling to define, plan, and track your goals, you’re at the right place.
In this post, we’ll go over goal setting, planning, and tracking so you can achieve your goals with journaling. You’ll find goal journal ideas and templates too.
Without further ado, let’s get started and explore how journaling to achieve goals can help you succeed.
What are goals and why do you need them?
A goal is an idea or desired outcome for the future. It’s a vision you have and that you’re planning on achieving.
Setting goals is an important step so you can plan and commit to it. Think of it as a vision you have for the future and a way to get there. It’s harder to be disciplined if you don’t know in which direction you want to go.
Writing SMART goals is a terrific way to clarify your goals and the ways to get there. If you’ve been setting goals in your life, you may have heard of this concept – SMART goals. Keep reading to learn more.
What are SMART goals and how to write them?
Each letter of SMART stands for something.
S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Achievable
R: Relevant
T: Time-bound
Let’s talk a bit more about their meaning.
Specific
Your goal should be specific and clear.
Example: I want to start an online business.
Measurable
Your goal should be easy to measure. It could be by setting milestones. That said, you should be using numbers or ways to calculate your progress.
Example: I will launch an online business.
Note: Here the launch is a milestone to reach.
Achievable
Your goal should be reachable. Although, you may need to handle more steps before you can achieve it in a realistic way.
Example: I will create a business plan so I can launch an online business.
Note: In order to launch an online business, the first step is to create a business plan.
Relevant
Your goal should suit your values and priorities. You must think about the “why” behind the goal to understand why it’s so important to you.
Example: To achieve my goal of working for myself, I will create a business plan so I can launch an online business.
Note: The main vision here is to get more freedom by working for yourself which fits with your main values and priorities.
Time-Bound
Your goal should include a time-frame or some sorts of deadlines to help you gain motivation and to know what to prioritize. Note that your time-frame should also be realistic.
Example: To achieve my goal of working for myself, I will create a business plan so I can launch an online business by the end of the year.
Note: The timeframe is realistic and achievable.
How to identify your goals
Now that you know what SMART goals are, it’s time to define and identify your goals. A great way to do so is by journaling. Yes, journaling helps you brainstorm and gain clarity.
To identify what matters to you and which direction to take, you can use the following journal prompts.
- This time next year…
- How do you imagine the perfect life?
- How do you imagine your life in 5 years?
- What needs to change today in order to reach that dream life?
- Wouldn’t it be nice if…
These journal prompts for goal setting are meant to help you realize what your dream life looks like. Once you know more about what you want out of your life, it’s going to be easier to set goals and ways to reach them.
How to set goals with journaling
Looking at your visions for the future, ask yourself how you can get there. For example, if you’d like to pay off your debts so you can be financially free, you must come up with a plan to pay off these debts. Using the SMART goal framework, you can come up with goals.
There are several ways to set goals. You can set goals for the year, quarter, month, week, or day. It’s up to you. At the end of the day, what matters here is to set realistic and achievable goals.
In order to achieve your goals, you should be able to measure them.
Let’s see examples of goal journal ideas.
Want to download these goal journal templates? Click here and I’ll send them over.
If you aren’t feeling that creative, it works too. Simply follow the steps below to set up your journaling goals.
Step 1 – Write down your goals
Once you finished brainstorming about your goals, you can list the goals you want to set.
Step 2 – Make them SMART
Once you have your list, make sure you write them in a SMART way. You can go up to the top of this page and follow the examples to make sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Step 3 – Decide on how you will evaluate your goals
This step is the simplest one. You can add a checkbox, or just strike them once your goals are accomplished.
How to prioritize your goals
Now that you have set goals for yourself, you may need to prioritize tasks or goals. All your goals should come with a time-bound which means you should be able to see where to focus.
To help you stay motivated with your goals, you can evaluate the progress of your goals on a weekly or monthly basis. This way, you’ll be able to treat yourself, set more goals, and gain confidence that you have all you need to achieve your wildest dreams.
Final thoughts on goal setting journal
Using a goal planning journal/goal tracking journal is a practical tool to achieve goals. Not only will you gain more motivation, but you’ll be able to crush your goals as it’s a form of accountability.
Journaling requires any sorts of bullet journals or “normal journals”. You can browse journals on Amazon here.
Love efficiency and goal setting? You’re going to enjoy our list of journal prompts for success.