Happy 2012 everyone!
In case you haven’t heard, this is your year to shine and be awesome and create amazing awesomeness (at least that’s what my Facebook and Twitter feeds are telling me…)
This year I’m doing something a bit different from my previous years (check out my posts for 2010 and 2011 here and here) and focus more on organizing my goal follow through. I’ve done really well at following through with my goals for each year but I have a lot of specific things I want to get done by specific times this year so I thought a more organized approach might be helpful.
Goal Binder
This year instead of a shiny new planner or a fancy task list app, I created a Goal Binder from scratch with paper and markers!
What you’ll need:
Binder - I used a half sized binder but you could use a full sized one too
Paper - lined or blank, whichever you like writing on best
Colored paper or Colorful dividers – I used colorful cardstock that i had laying around but you could always just buy some pre-made dividers
Hole punch
Markers, colored pencils or crayons – Color and/or write with them to liven up your pages! (I have no idea why I have markers with my maiden name writen on them but they make me feel nostolgic everytime I use them.)
I started off by creating tabs for each month with the colored cardstock. For my half sized binder that meant cutting the cardstock in half and then punching holes.
Then I added some sheets of paper with each month that will track my Goal Focus for the month, Important Dates Blog Post ideas and Money/Mileage Tracking. You can chose to track whatever you want here or you could create a traditional daily planner type setup. Whatever will keep you motivated and keep you on track.
Then I created some additional cards for my main focus or Vision cards. I chose to just draw and write out my intentions/goals for the year but you could cut out magazine images or draw pictures of your goals too! Whatever gets you excited, do that!
I created 4 cards for my main focuses this year; Me Time, Spirit, Business and Family. You might end up with just one main focus card or you might create more than four! Again, just remember this is for YOU to follow so make something that YOU like and don’t think about the right way to do it, because there isn’t a right way to create you own goals!
I realized at the end of creating my cards that I had a distinct theme for each of my main focuses so I created one final card that listed my themes all together that I could glance at and remember what was really important for me this year. I ended up putting this card on the back sleeve of the binder!
That’s it! Nothing super extraordinary but I’m really hoping it will have the right combination of structure and creative freedom to keep me motivated to stick with it for 2012. I may end up changing things around but that’s the beauty of using a binder because you can always take pages out and add pages in!
- What are you goal plans for this year?
- How are you planning on tracking your progress on your resolutions/goals for 2012?
PS: Don’t forget to check out the new Chocolate Banana website and sign up to get on the VIP list for updates and discounts on all the planning goodness!
PPS:Don’t know what a Chocolate Banana is? Click HERE for all the delicious information!
Fun idea! I always mix up my goal tracking. Sometimes it’s concrete like this and sometimes it’s electronic. It depends on how I’m feeling, creative or logical!
I like this idea. I start out the year with a theme one personal and one for business. I write the intention or goal for the month in my calendar. This year I will be reviewing each month and recording my progress on the computer. I think that I will add a drawing for my 2 goals each month and print out my list each month.
I find that it always help me to use visuals like my vision board. This would me my visual focus for the month.