Do you feel under pressure to show up, hit your goals, and make awesome happen? If so, you’re not alone. In a world of social media highlights, it can feel as though everyone else is living the perfect life! Comparisonitis shows up and before you know it you’re comparing where you’re at with those influencers you admire on Insta. Why aren’t you as far along as they are? Grrrrr. It’s not a good place to be. Feeling as though you’re not where you ‘should’ be undermines your confidence and steals your motivation. It’s a habit that takes away from your achievements and undermines your current success. So instead of setting yourself up to fail by measuring yourself against the wrong benchmarks, why not simply commit to do your best? Take this approach and the only person you’ll ever have to beat is YOU. It’s an approach that’s hugely motivating and inspiring. When you are your own competition, you get to control the game. You get to hold all the cards. You get to set the finish line and choose the metrics you want to crush. And let’s be honest, all you can ever ask of yourself is to do your very best - in every situation. But how can you make it more likely that you’ll do your best? Here are five powerful strategies to try. 1. Write down your wins When you’re always on the go, juggling a big to-do list, and hustling after your goals, it’s easy to lose sight of what you’ve already achieved. It’s easy to see why… when you’re always busy, it’s hard to take a pause and reflect on how far you’ve already come. That’s why writing down your wins is such a powerful strategy to adopt. It can actually fuel further success and inspire you to do your best. When you write down your wins, you crystalize your successes. You take ownership for them and this helps boost your confidence and self-esteem. Writing down your wins also allows you to reflect on your performance. This helps you get clearer on what it looks like for you to do your best. It’s easy to get distracted and skip over your wins, but write them down and you’ll build up a record of what’s possible when you do your best. 2. Prioritize your day Do you regularly hit the pillow wondering where your day went? When you’re busy, but not productive it’s easy to fall short of your goals. And when the needle doesn’t move because you’ve run out of time, your confidence takes a hit. Being your best doesn’t mean doing everything. In fact, it’s impossible to do it all - there just isn’t enough time. Instead, focus your energy on doing the most important things - or the 80/20. Identify which tasks on your to-do list will move the needle furthest and fastest and do those first. When you prioritize your day in this way, it’s easier to do your best. That’s because instead of wallowing in overwhelm and doing lots of things badly, you can ramp up your performance and output on the tasks that really count. One of the simplest ways to prioritize your life is with a Weekly Action Plan. Write a list of everything you need to do, by when. See everything that’s on your plate in one place, and you’ll find it easier to figure out which tasks to do now, next, and later (or even never). 3. Create good habits that stick Good habits make it easy to do the things that matter - on autopilot. When you don’t have to think and you remove decisions, you can get more done with less time. So if you want to do your best, cultivate the habits that empower you show up as the person you want to be - in all areas of your life. For example, take daily walks, start meditating, practice journaling, make Friday night date or plan your week on the Sunday before the week begins. Then go a step further and track your habits until they become so ingrained, you feel wrong if you don’t do them. A tool such as the Habit Roadmap will help you do this. 4. Become an evergreen learner Your best is a moving target. Each time you learn something new, take a risk, or step out of your comfort zone, you get a new insight into who you are and what you have the potential to do. So if you want to do your best, commit to a learning diet. Become insatiable about topping up your skills, sharpening your strengths, and overcoming your so-called weaknesses. The more you know and understand, the more you’ll be able to think, problem solve, and create. There are countless ways to learn. So mix it up and discover what ways work best for you. For example, you can: - Read a book - Take a course - Get yourself mentored - Stay accountable with the help of Facebook groups (such as the BestSelf Alliance) - Go back to school - Reflect in your journal - Ask questions of people who’ve got the results you want - Listen to podcasts - Watch TED talks In today’s information rich age, you can create your own learning curriculum around the topics, special interests, and knowledge that matters to you. 5. Do your best with S.M.A.R.T Goals If you want to do your best, you need targets to head towards. Without a clear target, your efforts will be more scattergun. That’s why we advocate S.M.A.R.T goal setting. This strategy goes deeper than setting intentions alone. That’s because a S.M.A.R.T goal is: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based In other words, S.M.A.R.T goals create a specific finish line. This creates the clear direction you need to figure out your action steps and get busy implementing. With a stretching, but clear goal to work towards, you can hustle with purpose. You can hone in on the tasks and actions that move the needle. And you can feel inspired to do your best to get the result you want. In the absence of a clear, achievable goal it’s more likely you’ll drift. And when you feel aimless in your day-to-day it’s a lot harder to do your best. If you want some help setting S.M.A.R.T goals for everything from business, to health and relationships to money, download these S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting templates - they’re all free! When you do your best you can feel your best. And when you do your best you get to live with the satisfaction that you gave it your all and achieved the results and outcomes of which you are capable. A commitment to do your best - in every situation is a catalyst that can help you step into your best self. And with this five strategies to try, you may find it easier than you think to get the results you want.

Are you working towards a financial goal? Perhaps you want to save money to pay for a dream vacation, an extension, or a new car. Maybe you want to pay off your student loan or other debts. Do you want to have more cash in the bank for more security or is it time to grow your business from 5-6 figures - and beyond. Money may not make you happy, but it does create more choice. It’s why so many people set themselves financial goals - and on the surface, they’re easy to achieve! All you have to do is one of these three things: Earn/generate more money Spend less money Or a combination of the two Of course, the reality is more complicated than that. Financial goals require you to change your habits, shift your beliefs, and commit to difficult actions. You’ll need to cultivate discipline and grit as well - to ensure you stay the course all the way to the finish line. So regardless of the top-line strategy you pick, you’ll need a tool to help you plan your actions, track your progress, and reflect on your performance. You need a tool that keeps your goal top of mind and hold you to account - especially when the journey gets tough. It’s why you need a Self Journal. Let me explain… What is the Self Journal The Self Journal is the high-performance planner that combines productivity with positivity. Based on science, this planner provides the structures that help you take control of your life and achieve your goals. With the Self Journal, you can plan your day to prioritize the actions that lead to success. For example: - The 30-minute scheduler helps you fit everything into your day - Habit Trackers inspire you to build the good financial habits that lead to your goals - Reflection makes it easy to access your progress so you can stay on track With a Self Journal in your hands, you can mastermind the path to your goals - instead of making up the steps as you go along. With a clear plan of action, you’re more likely to stay the course and succeed. These are the steps to take. Step 1. Set a SMART Goal If you want to achieve a financial goal you have to set the right goal. This is a non-negotiable. Science says 92% of people don’t achieve their goals and a core reason is because their goals aren’t SMART. Instead of getting super clear on the desired outcome, they say something flimsy such as: “I want to save money” or “I want to get out of debt”. These statements are intentions, they not goals because they aren’t: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based Making your goal SMART increases your likelihood of success because you know what success looks like for you. As a result, you have a clear target to hit which keeps you focused and motivated. Look at the difference: - I will save $6,000 in the next three months. - I will clear 10% of my debt in the next 90 days. - I will increase my turnover to $10,000 a month by the end of June Each of these goals detail a specific target (S) that can be measured (M) and a clear deadline (T). You know when you’ve crossed the finish line and you know how quickly you have to work. More importantly, these ‘restrictions’ create a framework in which you can mastermind your plan of attack. This is where A (attainable) and R (relevant) come in. It’s good to set a stretching goal. When we’re pushed out of our comfort zone we can always do more than we believe is possible. But don’t make your target so stretching that it’s no longer realistic. If you set yourself up to fail, you’ll struggle to drum up the motivation you need to keep going. In addition, check the relevancy of your goal. Do you care enough about the target you’ve set? Does this goal take you in the direction you want your life to go? If you don’t have a big enough why, you won’t cultivate the grit and determination needed to succeed. With your SMART target defined, you can start to complete your Self Journal 13-Week Roadmap (it’s on page 4). Write your SMART target into the RESULTS GOAL section. Step 2. Define your progress goals With a SMART target set, you’re now clear on the finish line. But how will you get from where you are now to where you want to be? Success rarely happens overnight. Instead, success is the cumulative effect of consistent daily action - and there will be a number of milestones along the way. It’s a little like climbing Mount Everest. While the peak is the ultimate destination, climbers concentrate on each stage at a time. Chunking down your goal into more manageable steps makes the ultimate goal feel less overwhelming. And when you’re not overwhelmed, it’s a LOT easier to focus and keep the needle moving. So your next step is to figure out your equivalent PROGRESS GOALS for your financial targets. What big milestones will you pass along the way? - For a savings target, this could be as simple as saving $2,000 a month. - For a debt reduction target, as well as reworking your budget, you may decide to explore new ways to increase your income. - For a business growth target, your progress goals may focus on the product creation and marketing strategy that will help you cross the finish line. What is your strategy for achieving your goal? When you’ve figured out your plan of action, create your progress goals and add them to your 13-Week Roadmap. Step 3. Define your Actions and Tasks Where your RESULT and PROGRESS goals help you to stay on a straight line, your tasks and actions focus on the nitty gritty of what you need to do on a daily basis. Let’s return to our savings goal: - RESULT GOAL: We want to save $6,000 over the next three months - PROGRESS GOALS: We’ll know we’re on track if we save $2,000 a month. What do you need to do on a daily/weekly basis to hit these targets? Time to brainstorm. For example, you could: - Cut out your daily coffee shop coffee and brew your own - Cancel subscriptions you know you don’t use - Make a shopping list for groceries so you don’t waste money on impulse purchases - Take the subway instead of a taxi - Prepare a meal at home on a Friday night instead of going out If you add up the savings from all the above, it’s surprising how much you can accumulate. Consider the one-offs as well, for example: - Ask your boss for a raise - Do overtime - Sell things you no longer love on eBay or Facebook marketplace - Start a side hustle - Research cheaper alternatives to the things you buy regularly The key is to examine your lifestyle and your budget to explore the opportunities that exist to spend less and save more. You can get really creative with this. What actions and tasks are you committed to? Write them on your 13-week Roadmap. Step 4. Plan your time With your goal set, your milestones laid out, and your actions and tasks identified, your next step is to plan your life to make it all happen. Your Self Journal contains everything you need to do that: - Weekly pages: Use the weekly template to plan when you’ll do your money-saving activities. For example, you might allocate 90 minutes every Monday to sort through your home to identify items to sell. - Daily pages: This is where you get granular with your time so you can set up your day to achieve your goals. The daily structure includes: - Space to write your goal - to keep you focused on where you want to be - Daily gratitude - to remind you of the abundance you already have, even as you hustle for more - Today’s targets - a space to get clear on what’s most important so you can double-down on what will move the needle - 30-Minute scheduler - so you can plan your time to fit everything in - Space for reflection - so you can track your progress and get clear on what’s working (and what isn’t) Time is your most valuable, non-renewable resource. If you can figure out how to spend it well, you’ll be able to get a lot more done. Plan your time to account for every minute, and this is where you free up the time to do the extra tasks and actions that will close the gap to your goal. Step 5: Adopt new, empowering habits What you achieve is the sum of your habits. The problem is that we are creatures of habit! In other words, it’s not always easy to break free of ‘bad’ ones and embed more empowering ones. But that’s exactly what you need to do if you want to achieve your financial goals. Once again, the Self Journal can help with its weekly Habit Tracker. Simply note the habits you want to track (and how many times a week you want to do them). Check off your success and watch your chain of wins grow. Repeat your new habits long enough and they’ll soon become second nature. Self Journal Success Stories Anything is possible with the right plan and the Self Journal contains a proven system that will help you close the gap from where you are now to where you want to be. Do you have a financial goal you want to achieve? If so, grab yourself a Self Journal and use it to mastermind your path to success.

What do you want to achieve, experience, and enjoy in your life? With the hustle and pressure of your day-to-day commitments, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the big picture. When your to-do list is calling and you’re weighed down by responsibility, you can get lost in the flow of life. Then, before you know it, 10 years have passed and you’re left wondering what you’ve got to show for all that time! The good news is there’s a simple tool you can use that can help you maximize your years. It’s your life goals list. In this blog, I’ll reveal five reasons why you want to create your life goals list - and how to start building yours today. “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” - Bill Gates 1. Get yourself in the driver’s seat of your life Do you ever feel as though you’re on autopilot - drifting along through life? It’s so easy to fall into this trap. For example, you find yourself doing the things that others want of you. You stay in the same job for years because it’s comfortable and what you know. You stick with routines that are well worn because you know who you are inside them. There’s nothing wrong with going with the flow, but don’t flow so far that you lose sight of what you really desire. A life goals list allows you to take back control because you get to choose the things you’re working towards. Life goals give you focus. They make you proactive. They empower you to grab life by the scruff of the neck. Instead of allowing things to unravel, you get to set a direction that takes you closer to the life and experiences you want. 2. Spark your reticular activating system When I was pregnant with my first child, suddenly I was surrounded by pregnant women everywhere! It wasn’t that there was a surge in pregnancies, rather my brain was more aware of other pregnant women - because it was an experience that was important to me. It’s the same way that everyone’s driving the car you want to buy or wearing the watch you’ve got your eyes on. Your brain can’t consciously focus on all the stimuli and information it’s bombarded with everyday. Instead, it has to get selective. When you set life goals, you give your brain that focus. You tell it what’s most important to you. It’s how opportunities that will help you achieve your goals seem to miraculously appear! It’s no accident. Instead, when you’re focused on what you want, you’ll be more alert to the people, experiences, and events that will help you achieve them. 3. No regrets Life is short. You have a finite amount of time on planet Earth - so you may as well make the most of it! A life goals list gives you the space to think about what you actually want to see, experience, feel, taste, touch, achieve, and do. The simple act of setting an intention and writing out your list brings all the things you want a step closer. The more things you check off your bucket list, the fewer regrets you’ll have. And the sooner you start the better. Different life goals will take different amounts of time. You could achieve some this year or even this month. Others may take years - even decades, but the sooner you start, the more time you’ll have to play with (and the more you’ll get to do with your life). 4. Know yourself By their nature, your life goals will push you out of your comfort zone and inspire you to take on things you’ve never done before. As a result, your life goals provide incredible learning experiences that will help you get to know who you are, what you’re passionate about, and how far you can push yourself. Under pressure or in intense situations, some of your greatest hidden qualities will emerge. You’ll realize that you’re stronger than you thought, braver than you thought, and more resilient than you thought. And through the pursuit of your goals, you’ll also learn new skills, grow as an individual, and become your best self. 5. Feel happier A life well lived - filled with the experiences you crave and the adventures and achievements that make you feel alive will fuel a deep sense of fulfillment inside you. You’ll feel more successful. More sure of yourself. More aware of your strengths, skills, and unique talents. A full life - rich with all the things you desire - will make you feel happier and filled with a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment. It’s that feeling of knowing you gave it your best and made the most of what you had. How to create a life goals list It’s super simple to create a life goals list. All you need is a notebook, a blank sheet of paper, or a new Google doc. I suggest you break your life goals into categories, for example: - Health, wellbeing, and fitness - Financial - Work/career/business - Adventure - Relationships - Personal achievements - Skills and learning Setting categories allows you to take a holistic approach to your goal setting - so you create a range of experiences across every area of life that’s important to you. With your categories drawn up, write down all the things you want to do. Include the big things, for example: - Helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon - Attend a yoga retreat in India - Backpack around Europe - Become fluent in French - Write a New York Times bestseller - Build a 7-figure business - Buy your dream home And the little things, such as: - Make pancakes with your kids - Go star gazing - Find out about your grandparents childhood - Write a piece of poetry Don’t censor yourself. Remember that Bill Gates quote -  “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” Just because you can’t perceive how you’ll achieve a goal right now, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in the years to come. That’s the beauty of a goal-fueled life… each time you achieve something outside your comfort zone you transform your future possibilities. With your list written, keep it safe and refer to it often. Always be working towards something on that list. Even better, share your list with the people closest to you - so they know what you want to achieve in your life. If you’re in a relationship, create your life goals list together. Inspire your kids to start one too. One more thing… your life goals list is going to continue evolving. It will get shorter as you check things off and it will get longer as you’re inspired to add more things to it. Embrace this evolution and enjoy how your list inspires you to get the most out of your life. Tools to achieve your life goals list When you’re ready to focus on a particular goal from your life goals list, we’ve got the tools to help you succeed. For example: - The Self Journal helps you plan your time so you can achieve a significant goal in just three months - The Project Action Pad guides you to map out the smaller action steps that will take you to your bigger goal - The Scribe notebook is the perfect place for storing your life goals list and for journaling ideas to help you achieve them With Best Self tools providing the framework to help you succeed, you could go a lot further.

Self empowerment is about taking control of your life. This involves developing the self-trust and self-awareness you need to set the right goals, make sound decisions, and understand your strengths and weaknesses - so you can thrive. Living a life fuelled by self empowerment is a refusal to allow others to make decisions for you. Instead, it’s claiming your own path - regardless of what anyone else says - because you know that path is right for you. It’s the harder path for sure. It’s far easier to settle for conventional rules and fall in line. It’s easier to play small and dumb down your goals and your ideas. But if you’re reading this, I know that’s not what you want. You want to dream bigger and achieve more. You want to explore your full potential and you want to feel empowered to take the actions and decisions that lead to an abundant life. So if you know there’s so much more out there, this article is for you. Keep reading and you’ll discover SEVEN powerful self improvement techniques that will help you cultivate the grit, self-trust, and confidence you need to be your best. 1. Journaling “An unexamined life is not worth living.” - Plato Everyday you make decisions, ponder over thoughts, and live out experiences. It’s a big melting pot, which contains a host of insights ready for you to pull out. That’s what journaling helps you to do - it’s a practice that empowers you to examine your life for self empowerment. By getting introspective in your notebook, you can explore your thoughts and experiences more deeply. You can look for the connections, join up the dots, and get clearer on who you are. Journaling isn’t just about mulling over the here and now. You can also use this practice to reflect over your life so you can get more clarity on what’s shaped your beliefs and your thought patterns. If you struggle to know what to journal about, ask yourself questions or get your hands on some prompts. Do what it takes to get more clarity on the subconscious, hidden stuff that’s driving you, and you’ll be able to make more empowered choices moving forward. 2. Make good decisions “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” - Tony Robbins When you lack confidence and you don’t know yourself, it’s easy to be influenced by the people you admire and respect. Especially when it comes to those big, defining decisions! If you don’t trust your own judgement, there’s a good chance you’ll be persuaded. But what others think you should do isn’t necessarily what’s right for you. Often, we know in our gut what the right choice is, but we end up overriding that decision because of fear, ‘logical’ thinking, and the opinions of others. Decisiveness is powerful because it allows you to take control over your life. Instead of procrastinating, you can choose and act. So invest in developing your decision making skills. Train your mind to think widely about the tough choices - considering all angles so you feel confident you’ve chosen well. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but trusting yourself enough to go for what you think is right is a hugely empowering thing to do.    3. Set goals "The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score." –Bill Copeland When it comes to self empowerment, your goals are the drivers. Set goals and you begin to live your life intentionally. Instead of allowing each day to be like the one before, you set a course that allows you to create the life YOU want. Goals create focus. They tell your brain what’s important (and what is less so). They make it easy for you to prioritize what’s on your plate by putting the things that will take you closer to your targets first. Goals are the seeds of change and they put you in the driving seat of your life. What goals do you need to set - in your relationships, your work/career, your personal development, your finances, your hobbies, your health and wellbeing etc? Set goals that take you closer to the things you want, and take action on them, and you’ll feel more empowered than ever. 4. Manage your time “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” - Stephen Covey Each day, you wake up with 1440 minutes deposited in your time bank account. Time is the greatest equalizer. It doesn’t matter who you are, we all get the same time allocation. It’s what you do with your time that counts. It’s easy to feel disempowered in life when time feels scarce, but the truth is you do have enough time to do it all. It’s simply a case of prioritization and allocation. Self empowerment is about taking responsibility for your time and ensuing you’re using it wisely. Ask yourself: - What are you doing that you don’t really enjoy? - Where are you wasting time through procrastination and distractions? - What could you outsource, delegate, or even scrap all together? - What are you not doing that you’d really love to explore? Time is too precious to leave it to chance. Instead, use a planner (such as the Self Journal) to plan your day. Figure out your daily targets (ensuring they’re aligned to your goals) and schedule in all your tasks in the same way you would a fixed appointment. Budget your time to get it all done and there’s a good chance you will.   5. Don’t be afraid to fail “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” - Henry Ford If self empowerment is about taking control and using your life to do the things you want, you MUST get comfortable with failure. No one likes to fail. It’s uncomfortable, it can knock our confidence, and it makes us vulnerable to the judgement of others. However, you can’t create a fully expressed life if you never push yourself out of your comfort zone. The things you want require you to take actions and make decisions that you’ve never taken before. It’s just the way it is! You can’t know everything in advance (and if you do, perhaps you’re not thinking big enough). So give yourself the freedom and permission to get it wrong. Change your perception of failure and see it as a fundamental part of the self-growth process. Turn ‘mistakes’ into learning opportunities and every time things don’t go as you planned, soak up the rush of fresh insights that will help you do more next time. You aren’t your mistakes. You are so much more than that. It takes guts to take a risk and push yourself further than you think you can go. But prioritize courage over comfort, and you’ll feel more self empowered than ever. 6. Say no without feeling guilty “Just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.” - Seth Godin Time is your most precious resource. So don’t waste it doing things you think you have to do. I get it, saying no can be really hard - you don’t want to let people down and you don’t want others to feel bad about you. But every time you say YES when you really mean no, you divert your time resource to activities you don’t really want to do. Let that sink in… Saying yes to someone else means saying no to you. It’s your life and that means you’re allowed to do things your way. You’re allowed to prioritize your needs over other people’s. Self empowerment involves being more mindful with your yeses and nos. So next time someone makes a request of you and you want to say no, but feel you have to say yes, dive deeper into your thought process. Grab your journal if you need to. When you understand your programming, you’ll be empowered to give replies that are true to you. 7. Love yourself “Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have.” - Robert Holden How’s your relationship with yourself? How do you feel when you look in the mirror? Do you like what you see? Do you think you’re worthy of living life to the full and creating everything you desire? Without self love, everything else becomes so much harder. It’s why nurturing your relationship with yourself is one of the most powerful things you can do. In fact, self love is the catalyst to virtually everything (including self empowerment). - Prioritize your self care routines. - Make more space for the things YOU enjoy (and enjoy them without feeling guilty). - Do the work necessary to ensure your self talk is positive, encouraging, and loving. - Practice daily gratitude and own all the abundance you have in your life already. - Exercise, eat well, and take care of yourself like you are the most important person in the world Make sure your cup is full, and you’ll feel empowered to do so much more. Self empowerment is a journey, NOT an overnight fix Your ability to take control of your life and feel good in the skin you’re in is a state that’s constantly evolving. That’s the beautiful thing about self growth… The more you achieve and discover about yourself, the more you realize is possible. That’s why self empowerment isn’t a destination. Instead, it’s an ongoing journey of personal evolution. And at each stage, you open the doors to bigger and bigger opportunities and rewards. When self empowerment becomes a driver, you’ll always be growing. You’ll discover more and more truths about who you really are. And that is a mammoth reward in itself. How are you cultivating self empowerment in your life? 

A monthly, calendar view is a useful tool for planning your life and achieving your goals. With a monthly planner, you can keep dates, appointments, meetings, birthdays, deadlines, and reminders in one easy-to-see place. It’s a life hack! Instead of frantically trying to remember everything in your head (which let’s face it, is impossible!) Instead, you can use this ‘external brain’ to capture all the things you need to keep top of mind. No more double-booking. No more showing up late. And no more frantically trying to swap plans around at the last-minute because you forgot you said yes to your friend’s party invite! But what if your monthly planner could be more than a place to log your dates. What if you could use this powerful tool to help you achieve your goals too. Good news! You can, when you integrate monthly planning into your broader planning process. And if you keep reading, you’ll find out how. Sharpen your focus, get the needle moving It’s a fact that good planning is at the heart of your best life. When you identify all the parts and pieces and fit them into a bigger picture that works, you can be more productive and achieve your goals. Good planning makes you feel good too. When you’re organized with all your ducks in a row, you feel more confident and capable. You’re able to juggle more, take on more, and do more without burning out. Instead of feeling like a scatterbrain, you know exactly where you are and what you need to do. Good planning is a multi-dimensional process - especially when you’re planning a life you love. You don’t just want to stay afloat by checking through that do-do list alone. Instead, you want work-life harmony. You want to have time for fun, your relationships, your health, and your hobbies too. That’s why good planning - whether that’s your daily overview or your monthly planner - always starts with setting goals. What do you want to achieve? When planning to achieve goals, we recommend you work with a three monthly planner. Set yourself a three-month goal. That’s long enough to achieve something significant, but short enough to prevent overwhelm and keep the finish line in sight. It’s a strategy that will inspire you to keep moving - and when you’re trying to hit big goals, you need all the motivation you can get! Even a three-month, achievable goal can feel like a stretch at the very beginning. The nature of goals mean they’ll push your out of your comfort zone and require you to take difficult decisions. Although there’s gold at the end, if can feel very uncomfortable getting there. That’s why different level planning is key. Step 1: Plan your three month goal using a tool such as the Self Journal What do you want to achieve by the end of three months? Will you lose weight, launch a product, increase your revenue, or double your personal savings. Set a goal that’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound and you’ll give yourself the focus you need to achieve. With the finish line laid out, you can focus your attention on planning how to cross it. You’ll need your monthly planner for this. Step 2: Map out your monthly milestones using a monthly planner. Your monthly planner can be used for a variety of purposes. 1. Use your monthly planner to keep track of deadlines and commitments On your monthly planner, mark out all your key dates for the month. Use this planning view to capture things such as appointments, deadlines, days out, and vacations. Get all these dates out of your head and onto paper and you’ll be able to see where the white spaces are. This step will help you achieve your goals in a number of ways: - With a monthly overview, you won’t double-book yourself - It’s easy to check days off - like a countdown to keep you motivated and moving - You can figure out realistic deadlines. Can you really hit that first milestone by the date you’ve set? 2. Use your monthly planner to achieve work-life harmony Life shouldn’t be all work, work, work. You need to have downtime too. Your monthly planner can help you do this by showing you what non-work things you’ve got coming up. - Have you got enough social dates built into your month? - Where are you making time for your health and wellbeing - What plans do you have for weekends? - What bucket list items and personal goals can you check off over the next four weeks. Create the bigger picture for your month and you can see where you’re falling short. When you know, you can take action to improve the balance. Use your monthly planner to track your habits Let’s say you want to get into the habit of writing every single day. Here’s how easy it is to turn your monthly planner into a motivational boost that inspires you to keep going: - Choose your success mark - it might be a line, a dot, or a star - anything goes - For every day that you hit your habit, put your success mark - Before long, those success marks will turn into a chain or winning streak - Eventually, it will become more painful to do the habit rather than break the chain - And before you know it, that success habit is now part of who you are Remember, you can track more than one habit using your monthly planner. Simply use a different success mark for different targets. Step 3: Plan your week With your monthly view sorted, you can move to your weekly view using a tool such as the Weekly Action Pad. Your goals should be to identify everything you need to complete over the next 7 days. - Start by taking dates and deadlines from your monthly planner - Next, add on any additional to-dos and tasks - Jot down due dates so you can build up your deadline pattern for the week - Estimate how much time you need for each task - Keep your weekly view somewhere close so you can check off completed tasks and monitor your progress Step 4: Plan your days With your weekly view complete, you can now plan your days - something the Self Journal will help you do. - Set your priorities for the day (taking a guide from your weekly planning view) - Optimize your time by allocating every task a time slot on your daily schedule. Give each task a fixed amount of time, and you’ll be motivated to hit your goals and get everything done. - Reflect on your wins and identify your learnings - Rinse and repeat! Plan your life and become the person you know you can be Planning is key to a productive, successful life. But you’ll get better results when you plan at multiple levels. Used alongside quarterly, weekly, and daily pages, a monthly planner is a powerful tool that will help you achieve your goals. So if you big things you want to achieve, set yourself up for success with tools that help you master your time so you can do it all. With quality planning, you can match tasks with time slots and get yourself ahead of the game. It’s a powerful way to move the needle, hit your goals, and become the person you always wanted to be.

New Year equals a chance to create a new you. That’s the message of the moment, right? There’s just one problem - IT’S A LOAD OF RUBBISH. It’s tempting to see a new year as a clean slate and an opportunity to kick-start big changes and transformations. It’s compelling to use resolutions as the method to help you get there. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against you. Chances are the New Year’s resolutions you’re passionate about now won’t last out the month. Instead of those resolutions creating permanent change, you’ll be back into your old routines and rituals. By February (maybe even earlier), you’ll beat yourself up and start dreaming about the next time you’ll try - when things really will be different. But why is it so hard to leverage the New Year to help you achieve the things you want? The simple answer is New Year’s Resolutions DON’T work. Want to know why? Then keep reading to discover the SEVEN reasons New Year’s Resolutions are destined to fail - and what you should do instead to create the change and transformation you crave. 1. New Year’s Resolutions leave you overwhelmed If you’re like most people, you’ll want to create change in more than one area of your life. You want more money, a fitter body, a more passionate relationship, a bigger business, a more fulfilling job or career - the list goes on. But in this age of instant gratification, we don’t want to wait. Instead, we want it all NOW! The problem is success doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, big achievements are the result of consistent action over a period of time. If you try to do it all now, you’ll feel so overwhelmed, you won’t know where to start. This overwhelm creates mental fog, which prevents clear thinking and pushes you back into what you know. Using New Year’s resolutions to make big strides feels tempting, BUT you’ll enjoy far more success with baby steps. That’s why we advocate 3-month goals instead of New Year’s Resolutions. Set a 3-month goal and you’ll keep your finish line in sight. As a result, you’re less likely to procrastinate and more likely to keep hustling. Close the gap to your goal with consistent daily action and you’ll move the needle further by leveraging the compound effect. With a 3-month goal, you won’t be done in by February. Instead, you’ll be halfway to a meaningful achievement, which you can leverage to build momentum for your next steps. It’s how you can create massive change without burning out. 2. You have no clear plan of action New Year’s Resolutions are usually intangible or vague. For example, you say you’re going to lose weight, launch a successful side hustle, or make more money. The problem with these statements in they’re intentions. They’re not clearly articulated goals and therefore you have nothing to get your teeth stuck into. How will you know you’ve lost enough weight or earned more money? How will you know when your side hustle is successful? Without a clear focus, you can’t take focused action. And without focused action, your dream will never become a reality. That’s why we recommend turning your New Year’s Resolutions into SMART targets. This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. So instead of a New Year’s Resolution that says, ‘I’ll lose weight’. You create a SMART target that says, ‘I’ll lose 16 lbs by March 30th. 16 lbs is specific and measurable. It’s also an achievable and realistic amount to lose by your deadline. With your SMART target set, you have a goal you can measure and track your progress against. What are the chances you’ll succeed now? 3. You hate change (even the change you say you want) Humans instinctively resist change because change represents the unknown where it may no longer be safe. Survival is the primary objective of your brain so anytime you step outside your comfort zone, fear will show up and try to stop you. Fear can be valuable because it flags up potential risks and dangers. It helps you better prepare for the road ahead by anticipating challenges so you can plan your way around them. But fear also throws in self-doubt. It fuels the inner critic and it drives those internal dialogues where you talk yourself out of taking action. If you’ve ever had a knock of confidence, you’ll know how much harder it can be to take the action you need to win. It’s another reason New Year’s Resolutions set you up to fail. Without a system to keep you implementing consistently, fear is going to stop you in your tracks - pushing you back into the status quo that you know. It’s another reason why consistent daily action is a winning strategy. Take baby steps that allow you to thrive in discomfort daily. Soon the change you need to create is habitual - it becomes your new norm and therefore has a chance of lasting. Far better than dipping your toe in every now and again! 4. You forget to enjoy the process The end result of achieving your New Year’s resolution is a destination that’s maybe 3, 6, or even 12 months down the line… perhaps even longer. Most people don’t have the patience to see it though. They stick firm for the first few days or weeks, but as willpower and motivation wane, the enthusiasm to keep implementing starts to evaporate. It’s the problem of obsessing about the end result. The things you want are somewhere out there in the distant future, whereas you are ‘stuck’ in the here and now. It’s a feeling that causes a lot of friction and resistance - and if you don’t tackle it, you’ll slow down. You can’t achieve your New Year’s Resolutions unless you commit to enjoying the journey. It’s why successful people think bigger, achieve more, AND enjoy today. They commit to their goals, but they also strive to maximize each day along the way. In the words of Zig Ziglar, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” 5. You don’t normalize failure Ever stuck firm to a New Year’s Resolution only to fall off the wagon and decide it’s not worth carrying on with? Successful people expect to fail. In fact, they see it as an inevitably when they’re thinking bigger. When you step into unchartered waters and push outside of your comfort zone, you’re not going to get everything right. And if you do, perhaps you’re not thinking big enough. Successful people know a failure is NEVER a failure if you learn something from it. It’s only a failure if you keep making the same mistake over and over again. Truth is, you’ll probably ‘cheat’ on your meal planning. The launch you planned to help hit your revenue target may not deliver. Writer’s block may steal the words from your book and a spontaneous shopping trip with friends may spoil your savings plans. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop. It doesn’t mean all is lost. Instead, use the ‘failure’ as a learning experience by reflecting, reviewing, and then move on. If you want to create change, you better normalize failure. One way to do that is to make each day a win - regardless of what happens. Simply make a note on a daily basis of what made the day a success - however small that win may have been. This practice will keep you motivated and boost your confidence so you nurture and support that part of you that doesn’t want to stop. 6. You don’t know your WHY We’ve already said it… You resist change because change requires you to step into the unknown and outside your comfort zone. It’s why you need more than enthusiasm and willpower to keep going with your New Year’s Resolutions. While the feeling of optimism and excitement may get you out of the starting blocks, they won’t take you all the way to your goals. If you’re to consistently do the hard actions that lie outside your comfort zone, you need to know WHY you want the thing you say you want. And we’re not talking about a superficial answer such as ‘I want more money’ or ‘I want to be thinner’. That doesn’t cut the mustard. Instead, you need to understand at a deep level what’s really driving you and the way to do this is to keep asking WHY - until you get at the truth. For example, at the surface, you say you want to build a six-figure business to earn more money. But dig deeper and you’ll find there’s another driver. Why do you really want more money? What will more money say about you? What kind of lifestyle will it help you create? What opportunities will 6-figures open up for you? Discover the deeper WHY and on those days when motivation wanes and willpower is depleted, you’ll find a reason to keep going. 7. You leave too much to chance Right now, you’re in a groove and you have habits and behaviors that keep that groove intact. If you want your New Year’s Resolutions to stick, you have to get into a new groove - and as we’ve already seen, that’s not easy! You’ll need to replace outdated habits with those that support your new vision for your life. You’ll need to create new rituals and routines. You’ll need to make time for new activities and to-dos - while eliminating the ones that no longer serve you. Try to manage all this in your head and you’re going to fail. When you’re short of time, energy, or ideas, you’ll simply default to what you know - because that’s the easiest way forward. That’s why you need a planner. Somewhere you can mastermind your day and allocate your time to ensure your New Year’s Resolutions have a chance to be fulfilled. - You won’t make it to the gym if you don’t plan it into your day - something else will take priority - You won’t make those sales calls if they’re not mapped onto your calendar - You won’t write your book if you try to be creative when you’re all used up for the day With a planner, you get to pick your priorities and create powerful days that move the needle in the direction YOU want to go. Ready to make your New Year’s Resolutions stick? If so, we got you. The flagship Self Journal can help make your success inevitable. Use it to mastermind your day, pin down your priorities, and develop the habits, rituals, and routines that help you carve out the life you really want. Don’t wake up next New Year’s Day frustrated at your lack of progress. Don’t allow yourself to feel the regret of opportunities lost and another year of same-old, same-old. Instead, empower yourself to make the things you want a reality. Get yourself the tool that takes the guesswork out of New Year’s Resolutions and turns them into achievable goals that you action on every single day. Stick to the strategy and you won’t believe where you end up in three months time - let alone a year! Ready to get started? To join over 170,000 high-achievers who are making incredible things happen with their Self Journal CLICK HERE.

The simple act of setting a goal kick-starts a powerful chain of events for you and your life. That’s because your goal creates a clear and specific route through your life. Your goal sends instructions about what you need to focus on and what you need to switch off.  It helps you to decide what tangents and diversions to avoid so you can hold true to what you really want. But it’s a mistake to focus on your finish line alone. Zig Ziglar said it best. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Sure, you’ve got to think big, but you’ve also got to enjoy the process too. And one powerful way to do that is to write down your wins along the way to the ‘big one’ - however small. Not only does this simple success habit help you enjoy your life, but it also fuels further success (and makes it more likely that you’ll hit that finish line). Here’s how… 1. Cultivates confidence Goals are going to push you out of your comfort zone. It’s inevitable. Strive to achieve something you’ve never done before and you’ll have to learn new things and explore fresh limits. It’s how goal setting helps you grow and evolve as an individual. But it’s a rocky road (as you’ll know if you’ve ever hustled after goals in the past). As you explore your limits, you’ll also make mistakes and ‘fail’’ and this can knock your confidence - even put the brakes on action. Writing down your wins helps switch on the frame of mind you need to keep going - regardless of the chaos you currently face. Celebrate the mini-wins along the way and you’ll create a string of new references that you CAN do it. Over time, this practice builds your confidence because as those wins clock up, you’ll see yourself as a winner. When you know you can achieve, you’ll feel more confident moving through the ‘failures’. You’ll know you’ll find a way through any roadblocks and challenges. You’ll know you do have what it takes to succeed. In this way, confidence is not only the catalyst for the goal you’re working towards currently, but for tackling bigger and bigger goals in the future too. 2. Nurtures positivity and optimism The more you do, the more you feel you CAN do. This mindset shift is a game-changer when it comes to creating your best self and setting goals that help you create the life you want. Every time you write down a win, you create a new reference point of what you actually achieved. We get it… It’s tempting to downplay or overlook the little victories labelling them insignificant in the big scheme of things, but that’s not true. On those days when things go wrong, when your confidence takes a knock, or when the self-doubt wreaks havoc with your mojo, being able to look back through your wins provides you with a motivational boost to keep going. It reminds you of who you really are. Celebrate your victories and you’ll nurture the positive mindset that’s crucial - if you want to achieve big things. Because whether you think you can or you think you can’t, YOU’RE RIGHT. 3. You get what you focus on Have you ever got a new car only to see that car pop up everywhere (where you previously only saw one once in a blue moon?) This mysterious set of events isn’t a coincidence and your new car didn’t suddenly become popular overnight. Instead, you can thank your brain for its selective attention. Inside your brain stem is a clever bundle of nerves called the Reticular Activating System (or RAS). The job of your RAS is to show you information from the world that supports your beliefs and interests. With so many stimuli out there, we can’t process it all. Instead, we need a filter that allows us to see the world through our chosen lens. So the new car parked outside your house… the reason it’s suddenly ‘everywhere’ is because that particular make, model, and color is now important to you (where it wasn’t before). But what does this have to do with success? When you habitually write down your wins, you train your RAS to look for more of them. Suddenly, you’ll see wins everywhere. It’s simple, it’s powerful, and it’s a strategy that can transform what you believe is possible for you and your life. 4. Track your progress You never achieve a big goal overnight. Instead, you sow the seeds and make progress over time. This slowness can be a problem. When change is gradual, it’s often so subtle that you don’t see it. You can actually struggle to get a clear before and after view so you can own the extent to which you have evolved. But track your wins along the way and you can benchmark your success. Suddenly, it’s clear just how far you did come. You’ll see significant progress where you didn’t see any before and this shift in perception will inspire and motivate you to do more and more. After all, success is addictive. We like the way it makes us feel. Own more of the micro wins along the way to the biggie and you’ll train yourself to take the actions that lead to the highs that ownership of your wins fuels. 5. Learn more about yourself Logging your wins is about more than patting yourself on the back. It also creates an opportunity for you to learn from those experiences. Wins are never accidental. Reflect on the events, mindsets, decisions, and actions that led to your success and you will see patterns. There’s a chance some of those patterns will be repeatable. In other words, if you did it once, then you can do it again. They say success leaves clues. So capture your wins with curiosity and you’ll uncover the secrets that will help you achieve more of what you want. It’s an empowering behaviour that’s going to help you go even further than you currently imagine is possible for you. Log your wins DAILY As a big thinker and a high-achiever who has high expectations for yourself and your life, it’s not surprising you downplay the little victories along the way. Instead, you tell yourself things such as... ‘Is it really that significant.’ ‘It was only a little.’ ‘Anyone could have done that’ But this thinking harms your ability to hit the goals that are going to change your life. Logging the small victories along the way isn’t about stroking your ego. Instead, it’s a success practice that builds momentum, fuels positivity, nurtures self-awareness, and makes you hungry for even more success. That’s why you’ll find a section on every daily page of the Self Journal to capture your daily wins. It’s a powerful, intentional section of the daily template that will help you think bigger and achieve more, while you enjoy today. Are you in the habit of writing down and tracking your goals? If not, start today. Use your Self Journal to fuel your best self by owning all your wins - even the ones that feel too small to capture. They’re ALL a significant part of your journey.

There’s a scary statistic that says that 92% of people DON’T achieve their goals. That’s a ton of wasted potential, forgotten dreams, and unexplored opportunities.But it’s easy to see why… After the initial excitement wanes off, reality sinks in! How do you get from where you are now to where you want to be?We’re often the biggest obstacle to our big goals. Fear, self-doubt, poor planning, or lack of time and knowledge soon puts the brakes on our dreams. If we run out of steam, all progress grinds to a halt.It’s why short-term goals are so powerful.If you set yourself up for multiple wins along the road, there’s more chance you’ll hustle for more. It’s what successful people do. They break big goals into bite-sized steps then leverage the wins to achieve a BHAG.You can do the same. So keep reading and discover an easier way to make that goal in your ‘someday’ folder, a reality. Why are Short-Term Goals Launchpads to Something More? Big goals stretch your limits in every way imaginable. Without boosts to keep you going, there’s a good chance you’ll never arrive at your ultimate destination.Short-term goals provide that all-important boost in three powerful ways. 1. Reinvestment Reinvestment is a about transforming little things into something big.Howard Schultz is a great example of this approach. He joined Starbucks in the early 80s as a rank-and-file employee. After a few years, he persuaded the owners to sell the company to him. At the time, there were just 17 stores, but with little more than a big loan and a long-range vision, he got to work turning the little-known regional coffee chain into the international giant it is today.He grew his empire one store at a time.It’s the idea of trading up the chain. You may not have the platform or foundations at the start to achieve the big dream, but break your vision into shorter-term milestones and you can get there one step at a time.Better still, the more short-term targets you hit, the more skills and resources you gain and the stronger your platform becomes. Over time, this all consolidates to make what was impossible in the beginning, just another stage of your growth. 2. Momentum The first step towards a goal is always the hardest. It’s easy to think of an idea, but actually getting it off the ground can be tough. But as soon as you’re out of the starting blocks and you’re chipping away at your goal step by step, you build momentum.It’s like a ball rolling down a hill.It may need a little push to get going, but once it’s off, it just keeps going. It’s the same with short-term wins. Not only do they help you get started, but as you tick them off you build that all-important momentum to keep pushing.This is a strategy writers use. They don’t write a book in one sitting, instead they develop a habit and the discipline to write everyday. Stephen King is a good example of this. He trashed messy drafts of his first book several times (fortunately, his wife rescued the pages and encouraged him to keep at it), but eventually finished Carrie by leveraging momentum by working at it in short bursts every day. 3. Motivation Big goals test you. They’ll push you out of your comfort zone, stretch your limits, and force you solve challenging problems. To keep going, you’ve got to stay inspired and energized and that requires motivation.Short-terms wins help fuel the motivation you need to hit a bigger goal in the future. For example, the movies Steven Spielberg made as a child wouldn't have made it to Hollywood, but they did form the foundations for what came later. In fact, Spielberg has been open about the role his early projects played in motivating him to aim higher every time.Your goal may be to make a $100 million movie, but you’ll have to notch up some smaller wins on the way to that BHAG - for experience, for confidence, and for reputation. Examples of short-term goals that lead to big wins It’s not always obvious what the short-term targets inside a big scary goal look like. So to help you craft your own goal journey, here are three examples of the steps you could take to achieve three significant wins. Writing a Novel It’s hard to write a novel and nobody has written a bestseller without starting small. Even though J.K. Rowling wrote her first novel by the age of 11, it probably wasn’t on the level of Harry Potter, and she wrote a ton of shorter stories first.Remember, you’ll finish your novel before you know if you break it down and practice easier skills first. Here’s how: Set a goal to write every day for a month. Social media posts, emails, even journal entries count. Next, write short blog posts or micro-stories (aim for 300 words or less). Then move onto short stories in the range of 1,000-10,000 words. Share your work so you can collect feedback and use the practice as a way to learn about plot, theme, and character development. With short stories under your belt, create a solid outline for your novel. Then get to writing it. Set a daily word goal - and don’t break the chain! Write everyday to make it a habit and you’ll produce a novel before you know it. Running a Marathon Few, if any, of us could get off the couch and run 26.2 miles without any prior training. Yet, chip away at short-term targets and almost anyone can get there eventually: Start with a modest distance goal - say half a mile. Track your time and begin challenging yourself to get faster. Running a marathon is about stamina, not speed, so once your endurance improves start framing your goals in terms of distance rather than time. Enter local races. Start with 5K, then 10K, and then a half marathon. Once you can run 13.1 miles in one stretch, a full marathon is the next step. It shouldn’t be too much harder, provided you’ve attained metabolic flexibility by eating right. At this point, you’re pretty much there! Opening a Restaurant (And Cooking in It) Michelin star chef Gordon Ramsay still gives basic cooking lessons on YouTube because he understands the importance of fundamentals. The path to becoming a master chef starts with a few inexpensive tools and some super simple recipes. Learn how to chop vegetables quickly and safely, make perfect pasta, and filet fish - get those basic kitchen skills down. If you’re totally inept in the kitchen, buy a cookbook for kids - and don’t feel silly about it! There’s much to be said for understanding what makes a dish good or bad, even with the most basic foods. As your skills and confidence grow, start cooking for other people. Integrate their feedback into your recipes and keep working at them. When you’re ready, challenge yourself to make some tricky dishes, like souffle or sushi. The business side of getting a restaurant off the ground is a separate set of skills, but at the end of the day, yours will sink or swim based on the quality of your food. Wow your investors and you’ll soon be wowing thousands of customers. But what about your goal? Here’s the secret to making it a reality. Hit the big one - 13 weeks at a time Big goals aren’t only challenging because of their scale.They’re a challenge because of the time it takes to cross the finish line. A big goal may take years - even decades to achieve. With the finish line so far ahead, there’s no urgency to start now. As a result, procrastination creeps in, bad habits come back with a vengeance, and before you know it a year is up and you’re in the exact same place you started out.13-week roadmaps are a game-changer.Instead of planning years in advance, you set your sights on where you want to be after just three months. This time scale is short enough to keep you motivated, but still long enough to achieve something significant.In three months you could train for a 10k, publish a series of guest blogs, launch a new product, lose 12lbs, plan a dream trip, start a side hustle, get a promotion etc.In three months you can clock up the wins that give you momentum, motivation, and a success which you can reinvest to get you even closer to the biggie!It’s what the Self Journal is designed to help you do.Chosen as the New York Times’ favorite paper planner, the Self Journal is packed with all the planning and productivity templates and tools you need to win big in 13 weeks. It’s a tool tried and trusted by 10s of thousands of high-achievers - and now it’s your turn to join them. Make that short-term goal as good as done when you invest in your journal HERE.

As an entrepreneur, setting goals is what you do. You set goals to grow your revenue by a certain percentage each quarter, goals to meet with a certain number of potential investors each week or goals to write a certain number of words per day. But while you’re busy setting goals for your business, are you neglecting setting goals for yourself in the process? Are you letting your business goals crowd out personal development? It’s easy to get so focused on your professional and business goals that you forget the importance of personal goal setting. However, setting goals for yourself is essential, keeping you fresh as both an entrepreneur and a person. Let’s have a look at why. Personal vs. Professional Goals What makes a goal “personal” as opposed to professional or business? The most obvious answer is that a personal goal is one that doesn’t relate to your work, but this isn’t always the case. After all, you could be a freelance writer with a personal goal of publishing a memoir. Both technically relate to your profession of writing, but the memoir goal is decidedly in the personal camp. Therefore, we prefer to define personal goals as those that you pursue solely for the enjoyment and fulfillment they provide. In general, they don’t directly relate to making money, or at least don’t have making money as their primary end. Continuing with the above example, you might make a bit of money from selling a book you self-published on the side, but that money is secondary to the joy you get from putting your story out into the world. Personal goals don’t have to be related to artistic output. They can involve anything you do for personal fulfillment, such as reaching a particular fitness benchmark, learning a new skill or growing as a person. With that definition out of the way, here are some essential benefits of setting personal goals. 1. Increased Self-Confidence When you set goals and achieve them, it provides a major boost to your self-confidence. This increase in self-confidence will improve all areas of your life, from your relationships with people to your success in business to your overall sense of well-being. And your personal goals provide the perfect low-stakes sandbox to boost your self-confidence through “small wins” on the goals that you already find meaningful enough to pursue in your free time. 2. Pushing Your Comfort Zone Along with boosting your self-confidence, setting personal goals also provides an opportunity to expand your comfort zone without the risk of serious consequences for failing to meet your goals. If you make the wrong decision in your business, it can jeopardize your livelihood. Therefore, you’re less likely to take risks in business, even when it’s ultimately to your advantage to do so. With personal goals, in contrast, taking risks and going beyond what’s comfortable are far less potentially disastrous. Yet, you still get the practice taking risks in a safe environment, ultimately making you more comfortable with pushing your comfort zone in higher stakes areas such as growing and developing your business. 3. Personal Development Setting goals for yourself offers an opportunity for a type of self-improvement that you don’t get in your professional goals. Sure, learning to get better at sales or sharpening your knowledge of a particular software provide a kind of improvement experience that can be rewarding. But these goals do little in the long run to make you a better person. With personal goals, in contrast, you have the opportunity to improve yourself in a way that lasts beyond your specific job, company or career. This process offers a chance to remember that life is about more than just spreadsheets and dollar signs — it’s also about figuring out who you want to be. How to Set Personal Goals Now that you understand what personal goals are and what benefits come from setting them, let’s take a look at how to set personal goals that you’ll be able to achieve. 1. Pick Meaningful Goals If you’re going to devote the time to achieving a personal goal, it ought to be one that means something to you. This is a decision that only you can make, and you shouldn’t base it on the goals that other people say are worth achieving. Just think about the number of people who resolve to run a marathon each New Year, only to stop in frustration after a couple weeks of the pain that comes from working toward a goal they didn’t care about to begin with. It’s far better to pick a goal that matters to you — you’ll enjoy the process of reaching it and be far more likely to succeed. 2. Balance Long-Term and Short-Term Goals While there are no rules for setting personal goals, we recommend striking the right balance of short term and long term. This way, you have big things to work towards while still benefiting from the motivation that comes from achieving things in the short term. For example, you might have a long-term vision of running a marathon, but that’s far too big a goal to help you maintain the motivation to meet it. To balance this, you can break that down into smaller goals that form a marathon training plan that consists of running a certain number of miles per week. This way, you’re far more likely to accomplish your goal. 3. Set SMART Goals The SMART goal-setting framework is a powerful tool that you can use to set yourself up for success to achieve any goal you want. It consists of setting goals that meet the following criteria:• Specific• Measurable• Achievable• Relevant• Time-bound With this (or any similar framework) in place, you’ll be able to increase your chances of achieving your goals to a far greater degree than if you start without a plan. For a full exploration of SMART goal setting, check out our SMART goals guide. Keep It Personal We hope you now see the power and importance of personal goals as a way to bring challenge and richness into your life. Not only will you see benefits in the professional sphere from increased self-confidence, but you’ll also benefit as a person overall, using personal goals to shape a life full of meaning and fulfillment.