Calendar Your Goals Into Reality

5 ways to rein in your calendar and goal setting to make this your most productive year yet.

Anyone who has read my blog posts knows I am not a big fan of new years resolutions. I prefer to make a plan and break it down into to bite size pieces that add up to big change, regardless of the time of year. One change I made last year served me so well, I want to share it with you.

Well over a year ago, I read “The Productive Writer” by Sage Cohen. A very good book, which I would recommend to anyone. One of her suggestions was to consolidate calendars. At the time I was keeping 4 different calendars, three “idea” notebooks and several legal pads of various sizes, none of which seemed to be at hand when needed. Some of you are nodding because you are familiar with my chaos. Some of you are shaking your head, but if you really think about it for a minute, you are not as removed from the situation as you think you are. The family calendar on the fridge, my budget calendar in my bill portfolio, the outlook calendar on my desktop at work, and desk calendar because I like to look up and see the month at a glance and the lovely palm tree covered beach I would rather be reading a book on instead of being at work. SO shake your head if you must, but I bet you are now saying, “wait that one doesn’t count because….” Yeah they all count, and they all stifle your productivity.  

One place for everything. Something big enough to keep track of goal setting, but small enough to fit in my bag. It was weird at first. But the more I used it the better I became at breaking down goals into reasonable to do lists and what do you know, actually accomplishing them. So here it is…. How I keep track of deadlines, family life and progress all in one handy place:

1. Find a book the size that is most useful to you. If it is so big you never carry it…then what’s the point?
   
   
2. Calendar stickers!!! I love them. They make special days stick out like a sore thumb and let me tell you, I need a sore thumb or my anniversary sneaks up on me. 
   
   
3. There should be a place to make lists in the back. Typically it is a grocery list. That goes on my fridge not in my calendar. I redefined this area to make grand plans. Goal setting. A wish list as it were. 
   
   
4. For each item on your wish list, determine the first step to make it possible. But that step on your calendar this week. No don’t put it off. It should be a small step, something completely obtainable. If your goal is to get organized, then step one is what? Clean out ONE drawer?  Or take that pile to goodwill?  Or throw out the leftovers in the fridge. I don’t care what the step is, but it goes on your calendar. And you DO NOT have to know what step two three or four is yet…just step one. Write it down.
   
   
5.  When you complete step one, check it off, determine what step two is and WRITE IT DOWN on any day next week. You see how this works? I love to see the check marks accumulate in my datebook right next to my meetings and birthdays. I am literally scheduling time for my goals to be achieved.
   
   

As the year went by my steps got a little bigger, and I got bolder with what I dared to put on the list. I made sure each item was something I had control over. Getting published was not an obtainable step, but making three queries a week until I found a publisher was something I had complete control over. And as I love to say…throw enough spaghetti at the wall and eventually something is gonna stick. 

Now this is my system. I hope by sharing it, I got your wheels turning and even if you do it on your phone rather than on paper, schedule your success this year and watch it come to fruition.