A Guest Post By Kristen Tejada, Director of Marketing at EZ Real Estate

Let’s face it; Goal setting usually feels like a massive chore that you just keep pushing to the bottom of the to-do list and hoping that all the things you want to accomplish will magically manifest without you having to write them down. Why do we have to write down our goals, anyways? Does it really matter?

Neuroscience has proven that you're more likely to achieve your goals if you actually write them down. Don’t blame me, blame science. Even knowing that, sitting down at a blank screen or piece of paper can feel daunting. Sometimes, you just need a place to start or a spark of creativity to get the visionary juices flowing. If you’re feeling a bit stuck on getting started, here are four ways to make goal setting feel less like a chore and something that you’ll actually enjoy doing.

Take yourself on a date

Have you ever had a date night with yourself? As a single person who isn’t so enthusiastic about dating during COVID, I’ve mastered the art of date nights for one. It might sound weird at first, but it’s really no different than a self care day or “you time,” as some like to call it. The key here is to create an enjoyable environment that makes you feel happy and is free of distractions. Here’s some tips: Make or order a meal you love eating, pour yourself a glass of wine, beer or make yourself a yummy mocktail, put on a Spotify playlist you’ve been vibing to, and/or even take a bath or a relaxing shower. Give yourself space to think and open up your mind.

Once your gears are turning, use whatever template is easy for you to start transferring your ideas out of just your head. Maybe it’s an old school piece of paper or you prefer a more digital approach like Excel. Either way, use the right environment to spark creativity and the mindset of having nothing else to do with this time but focus to help you start creating that list of goals. Plus, making it a special night gives you something to look forward to instead of dreading your goal setting sesh.

Create a vision board

Some of us are more visual thinkers. You may find it’s easier to start by expressing your goals in pictures before turning to words. That’s where the vision board comes in. It’s a simple tool you can use to basically create a collage of pictures (and words, if you want) that express what you want your life to look like this year. Again, you can go analog and use a poster board, magazines, and some good old Elmer’s glue, or you can go digital and use a tool like Canva which has vision board templates. 

Coming from a former non-vision-board-believer, I can tell you that even if you’re not very into them now, you should still give it a try some time, regardless of whether you’ve already set your goals for the year or not. Vision boards help give you something to look at whenever you need that little reminder of what you were envisioning your life would look like. It’s more inspiring to me than just my list of goals. I have personally found that creating my vision board for my long term life first then translating that into a list of goals for the year that will help me make progress towards that life works best for me. Experiment here and see what works for you.

Write in story format

Perhaps you like the idea of writing but line items in a spreadsheet seem very uninspiring. Try writing out your ideas for what you’d like to achieve in story format first. Visualize your perfect day or week a year from now - what do you do, what does your day look like, what makes you happy about it? You can also try just writing down what you’d want to be able to tell your friends or a family member when you’re catching up with them over the holidays at the end of the year. Then, try taking that and creating a few big goals that if you accomplished them, would allow you to be able to make this story a reality.

Break out the sticky notes

Sticky notes are great for just getting ideas out of your brain and onto paper. They somehow feel easier to take on because there is only a small amount of space to fill. Plus, you get that satisfaction of tearing them off and smacking them on a wall or table somewhere. If you’re feeling stuck in front of a blank page, grab a pen and a stack of sticky notes. 

Try starting with a prompt or an idea of a goal you have and use the sticky notes to write your answers to the prompt or what you’d  need to do to accomplish that goal. It could be something like “In one year, I want to have ____”, or “In order to accomplish ___, I could do ___.” Once you’re done, group the sticky notes into similar themes. You can then create your list of goals out of the themes or, if you had the goals already, you could create an action plan from the sticky notes.

You may not know what will work best for you until you give it a good college try. If one of these methods pops out to you as sounding fun, then start with that one first. You may also do a combo of multiple methods to end up with a list of goals. What’s important is that you actually take what is in your head and get it out on paper. 

Once you have your goals written down, don’t forget to revisit them at least once every quarter. Goals shouldn’t be static; They are ever-evolving, like you. Check in on your progress, get new inspiration, and hold yourself accountable. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t accomplish everything you set out to do. That’s a surefire way to not want to even set goals going forward. Remember that you’re taking action and making things happen. Progress in itself is positive. Just keep moving forward, and have some fun along the way.

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