Hi everyone! It’s Kylie from @bujo.kylie here to give you a few tips on creating, organizing, and tracking your 2021 goals in your bullet journal! For this project, we’ll be creating a two-page spread you can use for tracking weekly, monthly, or yearly goals. For materials, you will need Mildliner Highlighters, Zensations Technical Drawing Pens, and of course your bullet journal, art journal, or whatever you like to use for tracking your goals. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Make a List
It’s list time! Creating a goal tracker is one of my favorite ways to organize my thoughts. I like to start in December and start compiling a list of all my goals, big or small. Anything I’d like to accomplish the next year goes on the list. Don’t worry too much yet about organization. Getting the thought on paper is the first step in setting your goal, so jot down anything and everything that comes to mind. My list is a little dressed up because I used it as my entry for the Zebra Pen Mildliner Challenge, but as long as you have all your goals in one place, the presentation can be as minimal or as detailed as you want.
Step 2: Prioritize Your Goals
The next step is to review your list and prioritize your top goals. Take some time and really think about where you are in life, what you want and, most importantly, what makes you happy. Some goals may already be jumping out at you! Ask yourself, is this goal reasonably attainable? Can your progress be measured? Can any of your goals be combined, or used as a step towards a larger goal? All these factors should help narrow down your list to the highest priority goals. For this tutorial, I chose to prioritize four goals for the year, but pick as many or as few as you think you can accomplish in the amount of time you are giving yourself!
Step 3: Break it Down
Once you have your goals prioritized, break each one down in to smaller, more easily obtained goals. Think short term when you’re deciding on these. For example, if your long-term goal is to become a doctor, a short-term goal could be to apply for Med School, or to maintain a certain GPA for the school year. I like to break each long-term goal in to five short term goals, but you can use as few or as many as you need!
Step 4: Outline with the Zensations Technical Drawing Pen
Now it’s time to grab your Zensations Technical Drawing Pen so you can organize your goals in an eye-catching chart that will keep you motivated to chase those dreams all year long! First, I make long, rectangular boxes, and separate them in to three sections. The first section is to number your goals. I have four goals, so I’ve numbered the boxes one through four.
The second section is for your long-term goals. These should be listed in the order they are prioritized. The third section is a place to list your short-term goals. Underneath this chart, make sure you leave a space for notes! This way, your thoughts can all be collected in one place, and you can keep track of what is working for your goals and what isn’t.
Step 5: Create a Progress Tracker
After you have made your chart with your long-term and short-term goals for the week, month, or year, it’s time to create a system for tracking. There are a ton of creative ways to track your progress. Some people track with doodles and a key, some might like to use the Level 10 Life style pie chart, but for my goals, I used a simple bar graph, divided in to 5 sections. Each section represents a short-term goal to complete. Once the bar is filled in, your long-term goal will be complete!
Step 6: Color Coordinate with Mildliner Highlighters
However you decide to track your goals progress, the important thing is to make sure you coordinate your tracker with your goals on the first page. This is where your Mildliner Highlighters come in handy! Color coordinating your goals with your progress tracker will ensure you’re keeping everything organized so you can stay on track.
Step 7: Treat Yourself!
The last step to tracking your goals is creating a reward system. For my tracker, I made a box symmetrical to my notes box where I can keep track of things that make me proud! Be sure you write down everything. Even the small or seemingly insignificant achievements can be really fulfilling to look back on. Just be sure whatever reward you’re choosing for your short-term goals won’t take away progress from your long-term goals. For example, if your goal is to save $100 a month, you probably shouldn’t reward yourself by buying something expensive.
That’s it! You’re ready to start tracking any goal you set for the week, month, or year. I hope this tutorial has inspired you to get creative when it comes to reaching your goals. To see more creations made with Mildliner Highlighters and other Zebra creative tools be sure to check out my other bullet journal spreads by visiting @bujo.kylie on Instagram!
