Start the New Year with a Personal Goal Management System

It’s a new year and new goals are expected to be accomplished. Whether it’s pertaining to a new career, new home, new relationship, or new lifestyle change. Although these new things are expected to happen, there’s something we must do on our part to make it happen.

Whatever your goals are for this year, you need to have a plan on how you’re going to accomplish your goals. It’s easy to have the outcome of goals in your mind, but it’s not always easy to stay focused on the process.

The best way to accomplish goals is to develop a strategy of how you’re going to conquer the challenge. Listed below are a few ways you can begin planning or finish goals you may have already started.

Identify Your Goals

If you haven’t identified what changes you want to make, ask yourself what situations occurred last year, or what situations have you dealt with over the past few years you do not want to continue experiencing? If you’ve been dealing with a lack of or low income, ask yourself what can you do to increase your income such as seeking a higher paying job, get a second job, or start your own business?

If you’re in a relationship that needs significant improvement, ask yourself if you want to stay in the relationship or exit the relationship. If you prefer to stay, ask yourself how can you change your approach to addressing conflicting matters?

It’s easy to focus on what a partner is doing wrong rather than thoroughly evaluating our own behavior. However, if you’re involved in an abusive relationship, I recommend seeking professional help for conflict resolution.

You shouldn’t compromise your life or values for the sake of staying with someone who will continue to hurt you physically, mentally, and emotionally.

If you have other goals in mind that you’ve pushed back to take care of other obligations, start thinking about what the goals are to stir up inspiration within yourself.

Write Your Goals Down

When you write out your goals, you’re more likely to start working on them as opposed to idly thinking about them. Even if you don’t know what to write down, just start brainstorming, and as you write what comes to your mind, you can always go back and change words to increase clarity of thought. Some ideas may sound a little foolish to you, but if you write it down, you’re likely to come across resources that will add relevancy to your ideas.

Research Resources for Assistance

The identification and brainstorming process of how to accomplish goals is quite easy, but sometimes you need assistance to bring ideas to life. I have created a Personal Goal Atlas Journal to help you keep track of everything you’ve done, and the things you want to do before your life ends.

Throughout my life, I have always jotted down goals for the week, month, and year. While it seemed advantageous at the time, I would often lose those pieces of paper.

So, I would start the process over again until I completed my goals. There’s something about writing down your goals that makes the process realistic, and I think your written goals become sort of a motivator for you especially when you don’t have others cheering for you.

My Personal Goal Atlas Journal takes you on somewhat of a journey by providing a mental description of what you may encounter while traveling. Each section has templates for entries and tips on what kind of entries you may want to write down to give you some assistance. After the introduction, the journal begins with these sections:

• High School

• College

• Graduate School

• Career

• Finances

• Entrepreneurship

• Health

• Relationships

• Family

• Home

• Hobby

• Travel

• Legacy

• Goal Achievement Records

There’s also a listing of resources you can refer to for guidance on how to obtain funding for college and business startups. Additional references are also listed for other sections of the journal. This journal is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle editions. It can be a keepsake that you can use throughout your life, or you can give it to a loved one or a friend.

Another benefit to using a journal like this is, it can serve as proof of your accomplishments. last year may not have been a great year for you, but you have another chance to begin creating the life you want and deserve.