Earlier this year, I moved away from using a planner for a while. That was a Very Bad Thing. It wasn’t just bad in terms of not knowing where and when I needed to be places or what I was supposed to be doing. It was bad for my motivation.
Without goals written down where I could look at them every day, I didn’t make the kind of progress I need to—that I know I’m capable of. I wasted time, and time is the most precious gift we all receive.
When I’m actively planning out my days, I’m much more likely to move forward on a path to what matters most to me. I always have word count goals, and my planner is where I write how much I accomplished in a given day (I also have project tracking sheets with word counts, but that serves a different purpose). I also track how much I exercise and make notes of any other important events that happened that I may not have been expecting.
Writing down what I achieve is almost as important as writing down my goals. It keeps me motivated—gives me the fuel I need to keep moving forward on days when I feel like I’m not getting anywhere. Without planning ahead and setting the goals I want to reach, I end up spinning my wheels.
I’ve accomplished quite a bit this year already. If I hadn’t mapped out my goals, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve as much. And if I hadn’t made notes about my achievements, I wouldn’t know how far I’ve come, or what I can manage next.
How do you keep track of your accomplishments and goals?
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