Write Your Way Home

BursaSnipers

Publish date: Sun, 15 Sep 2019, 01:26 PM

Write Your Way Home

2 With dozens of goal-setting apps vying to help keep you on track, the best tools to track goals may actually predate the digital age: pen and paper.

Old-fashioned paper planners remain popular with many go-getters. Even savvy tech mavens may find it more satisfying to jot their goals on paper rather than type them into a phone.

While many people enter their goals onto a computer and view them daily, there’s something about seeing them on a screen that can make them seem distant. By contrast, writing them on a desk calendar or day planner makes goals come alive in a more palpable sense.

To record goals that stay with you:

› Think and write. It rarely pays to devise goals in a mad rush. Deciding what you want to accomplish, how you’ll measure your progress and your deadline for achieving what you want requires diligent effort.

“The more you think it through — and writing a goal down is one step in thinking about it — the more encoded it becomes in your long-term memory,” said Mark Murphy, chief executive of Leadership IQ, an Atlanta-based consulting firm. “The more time you spend thinking about the goal, the more likely it will get seared into your brain.”

He adds that some online tools promise to turn goal-setting into a quick, easy task. But you risk selfsabotage if you make a cursory stab at establishing goals on a mobile app.

› Minimize distractions. Setting meaningful goals demands intense concentration. Trying to multitask while determining important objectives won’t work.

“When I’m at my computer, I’ve got zillions of pings distracting me,” said Erin Condren, founder and chief creative officer of Erin-Condren.com, which sells customized organizational products. “I can be more focused and mindful in my space when I’m writing down my goals” on paper.

› Tap your inner artist. Writing your goals in a paper planner is a good start, but don’t stop there. Get creative by combining words and images.

“Draw a picture of what your goal looks like,” said Murphy, author of “Hard Goals.” “Picture what it’ll be like to achieve the goal and draw something that shows how it’ll make you feel.”

He suggests using a blank sheet of paper to design your image. When you’re pleased with it — whether it shows you lounging on a beach or celebrating on a mountaintop — transfer it to your paper planner.

› Dig deeper. Some people equate setting goals with picking quantifiable targets to hit. But when writing your objective, don’t just jot a number and leave it at that.

“Most people focus on the number, like wanting to lose 20 pounds or gain 29% market share,” Murphy said. “They assume that if they get that number, everything will be magical. But by thinking about all the stuff that goes into the number and why it actually matters,” you’re more apt to follow through.

› Stick with one planner. You may have different types of goals ranging from the personal to the professional. Beware of keeping separate journals for each category.

“Some people have multiple notebooks,” said Christina Wodtke, a lecturer at Stanford University and author of “Radical Focus.” “That’s a disaster. You’ll never have it with you when you need it. It’s better to have one notebook with different sections.”

› Add color. Writing goals works better when you choose from among a rainbow of ink colors. Condren uses orange for personal lists and green for financial goals.

“I prioritize with different colors,” Condren added. “My favorite pen is a dual tip marker with a fine tip for writing and a fatter, thicker tip to cross out goals that I’ve accomplished.”

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