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As of the publish date on this blog post, there are 5 months and 11 days left in 2018.

That’s 23 weeks total.

164 days.

Gut check – How are those New Year’s Resolutions lookin’?

What about those goals you set 6 months ago? When you were all wide eyed and looking out across a blank slate year full of opportunity and possibility.

If your New Year’s Resolution list is lost somewhere under the sofa, next to your gym membership…. Well you’re in luck.

As Lara Casey and her team at Cultivate What Matters reminds us throughout the year.

There is nothing magical about January 1st.

So, if you’re ready to make the most of the time left in 2018 OR you want to get a head start on making 2019 the YOUR BEST YEAR EVER – I’ve put together a list of my favorite goal setting tools and resources.

And *shout out* to Carrie for emailing this question! If you ever want to pick my brain, ask for book recs or resources, drop me a line at anna@annadkornick.com.

 

1. PowerSheets

PowerSheets is a goal planning workbook that guides you through the process of brainstorming, drilling down into what matters most, turning ideas into goals, and then creating actionable plans for achieving them. Not to mention it’s super colorful, very fun to use and comes with stickers.

It comes in a 6-month undated version, and a full-year dated version. 2018 marks my second full year of using PowerSheets, and they’ve made a HUGE difference in helping me move forward WITH INTENTION in my life, business and relationships.

The beginning section includes spaces to think through and write down your top goals for the year, and self-assess different areas of your life, including Spouse/Significant Other, Finances, Family, Recreation, and more.

Each month includes space to express your fears and worries, as well as write down all of the dates, events and milestones that you’re looking forward to in the coming month. Then, you take the priorities that emerge, look back at your goal list and jot down Monthly, Weekly and Daily Goals on a “Tending List”  – and then monitor them by coloring in progress bars and checking off check boxes.

I keep my PowerSheets on my desk and open to the current month’s Tending List so my goals are always visible.

Here’s the bummer. (Sorry.) Right now, Cultivate What Matters is completely sold out of their 2018 and 6-month undated planners. But they’re launching the 2019 line on October 24th. You can sign up for more info on their fall launch here.

However – they do offer these adorable mini Goal Guides that could tide you over if you’re interested in making process NOW in one of these areas of your life.

Goal Guide for Couples – Made for dating, married and engaged couples.
Goal Guide for Parents – For setting grace-filled goals as a family.
Finance Goal Guide – To get you started on a solid financial path.
Wellness Goal Guide – Encouragement and motivation for nutrition, fitness and self-care.

Ooh – I also have the Goal Setting Sticker Book, because why not?

2. Your Best Year Ever, by Michael Hyatt

Of all the books I’ve read on business, goal-setting, productivity, Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt contains the most practical, actionable steps to setting goals and achieving them.

Not gonna lie – I discovered this book because Ashlyn Carter of Ashlyn Writes included it in an Instagram flat-lay post in December-ish 2017 and I was intrigued by the title.

Yes, I want to live my best year ever! Who wouldn’t?

A few clicks later and I was on the pre-order list. It arrived shortly after the new year, and I was on my way.

I can honestly say that reading this book in January set the stage for many – if not all – of the things that I’ve accomplished so far in 2018. In fact, I’ll likely re-read it in October/November as I begin strategic planning for 2019, just to get re-energized and re-focused.

In addition to Your Best Year Ever, Hyatt teaches an online companion course. I’ve never taken it, and I hear it echoes a lot of the content in the book. It opens later this year and could be a good option if you know you’ll never actually read the book. (But don’t forget that you can listen via Audible!)

3. The Full Focus Planner

Another Michael Hyatt gem. The Full Focus Planner is a quarterly daily planner with a similar, but more professional-feeling method as PowerSheets. It’s a lot less “brainstorm” and “get messy” and more about starting with your goals already in mind.

There are pages for thinking through and writing down Achievement Goals and Habit Goals, plus you Key Motivations, Next Steps and Reward for achieving each goal. It’s “beginning with the end in mind” at it’s finest.

Achievement Goals are more long-term project-style goals, such as:

• Complete full kitchen remodel by September 30

• Increase Q3 Sales by 25%

• Lose 30 pounds by End of Year

Habit Goals are things you want to commit to doing on a regular basis, such as:

• Complete a half-marathon training run every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

• Drink 8 glasses of water every day.

• Call my grandmother once a week, every week.

There’s space for capturing your ideal routines on paper, including

• Ideal Week

• Morning Ritual

• Workday Startup Ritual

• Workday Shutdown Ritual

• Evening Ritual

So, what’s the point in writing this stuff down?

Well – for one, it forces you to actually visualize and think through your ideal week. How much time do you spend working certain types of projects, and what time of day? Some of us are early birds and are most productive with thought work early in the morning, while others come alive at 2PM. Thinking through your rhythms and writing down your perfect set-up helps you stick to it. The same goes for your other routines.

At the end of each week, there are pages to reflect on successes, lessons learned and to set your Top Three priorities for the coming week. There’s even a two-page spread for thinking through your weekend so you can be intentional with your leisure time. Sure – maybe that seems weird and like overdoing it, but how many times has Sunday afternoon arrived and you’ve found yourself thinking, “Where did the weekend go? All I did was watch Season 2 of Riverdale on Netflix?”

Don’t get me wrong, Season 2 of Riverdale was bananas, but I wish I’d at least taken Penelope for a walk while the sun was shining on Sunday morning.

I started using The Full Focus Planner on July 1, and have yet to complete every single day/week/reflection as prescribed, but I’m still getting a lot out of what I have used in terms of structure, prioritization, personal accountability, and keeping my goals and priorities front and center.

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So folks – there you have it. Those are the Top 3 Tools/Resources that I recommend and have used to turn ideas into goals, and goals into plans. 

Are there any tools that you’ve had success with? Share with wealth! Tell me all about em’ in the comments!