I’ve been experimenting with using a journal to keep me on track . If you asked me about a journal ten years ago, I would have waved you off. Now I can see its benefit as life starts to move fast and its easy to get stuck working on the wrong stuff – e.g. anything not your goals. I quickly realized I needed a method for journaling though.
At first I was just doing something basic. Recording what I’m grateful for, a few notes about what I learned that day etc. As time went on, I realized that I wanted the journal to keep track of my goal progress and other random things. I also started to keep a separate journal for work and another for writing.
My journal was getting a little disorganized. I couldn’t find things that I had written down and I had no desire to go back and flip through pages of unintelligible handwriting. I looked up other methods like the bullet journal but it was too tedious and not focused on what I working on – tracking progress and discoveries related to goals.
So here is what I came up with:
Table of Contents
First block out 3 pages and Title them Table of Contents. Write the following:
(Page) (Title)
1-3. Table of Contents
4. Lifetime, 10 yr, 5 yr Goals
5-6. Next 12 Month Goals
7. Daily Notes Template / Weekly Template
8. Current Month Daily Tracker
9. General Todos
10. Bucket List
11. Values
Lifetime, 10 yr, 5 yr, Goals
Remember, these should be specific measurable, attainable, relevant, trackable. Take the goal and 10x it (kinda cheesy but good to remember).
Also good to remember to have goals for health, wealth, family / love, happiness.
Specific goals for health like quit drinking. Run a marathon. Be able to to 100 push ups. eat right everyday. Exercise everyday. Get enough sleep everyday.
Specific goals for wealth income of 100k from real estate. 100k income from dividends. High salary. Whatever.
Related to wealth: I think you should also have specific goals for networking. People you want to meet etc. The process in the book never eat alone is a good place to start. (And I admit that I’m not doing well in that area.)
Specific goals for Family / Love: to spend takes kids to park once a week. To go on date with spouse once every two weeks. To cook for family.
Specific goals for Happiness: Schedule time for friends, help others, vacation, schedule fun.
When planning goals it is important to also think about:
- Who can help me meet this goal?
- Why do I want to reach this goal?
- What do I need to reach this goal?
12 Month Goals
List out the next twelve months. Write monthly goals for each based on your long term goals. What sub goals do you need to reach in the next twelve months in order to reach your long term goals?
Values List
It’s good to go through this and make a list of your top ten values. Family, Creativity, Freedom, Independence, Helpfulness, Integrity, Sincerity – Brainstorm on it for 30 minutes. Set a timer on your phone. Put everything away and think on it. Then compare your goals and your values. Make sure there isn’t a conflict. If you value family above all else but your goals mean you have to work 80 hours a week – then there is a problem.
Bucket List
it’s good to keep track of random things you want to accomplish. It’s helpful to have a page devoted to that in the journal.
Todo List
I also like to keep a general todo list of random things that pop up and I want to remember to review them. If I fill this page up I just create a new one on the next available page and note that in the table of contents.
Daily Template
The daily template contains 2-3 questions to answer each day as well as a short list of long term goals and an affirmation to write. That way you get in the habit of writing your goals everyday. Also you get in the habit of looking critically at your day, what you learned etc.
Example questions to ask yourself:
- Three things you are grateful for
- Something you learned today or yesterday
- Three things you need to get done today
Example goals and affirmations. Write in the present tense. I can do one a arm push-up, a one arm pull-up, and a pistol squat. I make 100,000 a year from writing. I have my own thriving law practice generating over 1,000,000 per year. I spend the weekends with my kids and go on regular dates with my wife. I see my friends at least twice a month.
30 day check in template
This is a template with questions to review to make sure I review my goals and how things are going. I also review the last Monthly Tracker and see how I did on my daily goals. I do this at the beginning of the month.
First, review the monthly tracker and see who I did for daily habits.
Second, questions to answer
- What went well this past thirty days?
- What were my wins in goal areas?
- What had me the most excited?
- Where do I need to pivot?
- What have I done and what?
- What have I learned?
- What do I wanted to do in the next thirty days (translate to monthly goals)?
- What 2-3 wins would make the biggest difference to my ideal vision?
Monthly Tracker
For the month breakdown a list of things you want to do on a daily basis. You should definitely include at the top of the list the hard stuff that you always push off so that you prioritize it. I push off exercise and writing generally, so those are the things I should do first. I don’t have a problem reading at the moment but I do have a problem making notes on what I’m reading so that I can learn from it.
This is similar to the Ben Franklin method of keeping track of his virtues but what I’m trying to do is dial in daily habits that will help me in achieving my goals.
An example of daily habit list:
- Exercise (15 min)
- Write (20 min)
- Meditate (5 min)
- No internet in the morning
- 8 hours of sleep
- No drinking before sleep
- 2 cups of coffee max
A daily list at work could include:
- notes on reading
- writing
- marketing activity
- 3 important things
When its the next month you just go to the next available page and put that in the table of contents.
Daily Notes
After all that preliminary work is done, this is the more traditional form of journaling. This is where I just put the date, answer the questions from the template, write out my goals. Sometimes I put in things that happened that day.
Conclusion
Now with the table of contents I can find important information, track goals and daily habits, and have an easy to find structure of monthly and daily reviews. Hope this helps you too.