How to Achieve Your Goals in an Ever Changing World

The times have been tumultuous to say the least. Between ever changing regulations in response to COVID-19 to a civil rights movement. Emotions are higher than normal.

If you’re a heart-centered entrepreneur or high-achieving human being who also deeply loves the world, you might be wondering how the heck you’re supposed to keep your head up above the waves when they seem to just keep coming!

You also may be wondering, “How the heck are others around me thriving during this time?” You see them not only hitting their income goals but exceeding them. You see them experiencing peace of mind when all you see is the world crashing down around you.

You’re aware that there’s a need for you to keep going, but the weight of the world is really starting to weigh on you!

I’ll be talking about how to free your mind in the coming weeks and thrive despite what’s going on around you. So stay tuned!

Today, I’m sharing a system that has been a lighthouse for me amongst the storms of 2020 (and really the storms of my past as well).

Why I Love Evaluations

Last weekend, my husband’s family gathered around to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We grilled out, had cake and ice cream, and then sat around and told stories. Have you ever noticed how we are made for stories? As human beings, we love them!

We love to tell them. We love to listen to them. We love to create them.

It’s incredible how our brains are built with their own imagination. Our minds are like mini movies playing in our heads! Our imaginations are wonderful for our own entertainment, but they are also incredible for our problem solving skills.

And sometimes, our imaginations can take a turn “for the worst” and all of the sudden we find ourselves in a horror film! Before we know it, there are five hungry monsters under our bed with large canines ready to devour us!

Now most of us are old enough to be wise to these tails of monsters under our bed. And if we were brave enough, we’d look under our beds and find that there are in fact no monsters. Phew, we are safe!

But as adults, how do we learn to bypass our ever imaginative lizard brain to see what’s actually going on? What tool can we use to dissect what’s really going on from the thoughts we are having in our brain that feel ever so true?

We evaluate!

Now, if you’re anything like me, and you enjoy numbers, the thought of an “evaluation” is enough to get you giddy with joy. But for many of my clients that are creative and not a numbers person, this word may be enough to make you want to run down the hall screaming. If you’re in the second category, please stick with me. I promise, it’ll be worth it.

There are many reasons why I love evaluations. And if you’re in the business of achieving your goals, evaluations are one of the most important tools I believe that you could have in your tool belt.

Here are a few reasons I love evaluations to help me achieve my goals if you’re still feeling unsure:

✔ It pulls me out of victim mode. If I'm ever feeling like a victim, evaluations are my one way ticket out. Why? Because it reminds me that I am responsible for creating my own results. It helps me to ask how I can make things differently instead of focusing on the things I can't change: people and circumstances.

✔ It helps me to see and solidify my insights. I can't tell you how many insights that I've had that feel good in the moment, but I forget about over time. When I'm able to sit down and journal about it or do a monthly review, I really see the impact various insights have had in my life. Spending time with them helps me turn that inspiring moment into something that transforms me over time.

✔ It frees my mind from wondering. I love this one especially! Sometimes we create mind purgatories where we just keep thinking about a problem (unintentionally, of course). It's really uncomfortable, and it doesn't help up move forward! Instead, I love acting on something and seeing if it works or doesn't work. My evaluations show me exactly what's going on. I'm no longer wonder if my new food choices are making a difference or thinking that I'm achieving my financial goals when really I'm not. It allows me to see the truth and know for sure.

✔It shows me my progress and how far I've come. This is a fun one if you are wanting to celebrate your wins more often, but you keep telling yourself, "But I haven't really done much!" My clients tell me all the time that they are amazed at just how much progress they are making when they take the time to track and evaluate over time. We often discount or forget a lot of things that we are doing along the way that this is a cool way to add to your evidence bank that you are growing and worth celebrating!

✔It often shows me a clear path to my next move. Have you ever been overwhelmed on all of the options? Do you ever feel uncertain and unsure of yourself or what step you should take next? Evaluations are amazing because they are a comprehensive picture that illuminates what's working and what's not.

What is a Bullet Journal?

Over the last few months, my bullet journal has been my favorite place to house all of my monthly (and sometimes weekly) evaluations.

One of my incredible clients suggested that I check out bullet journaling earlier this year. Once I did, I’ve never looked back!

A bullet journal is in my opinion the perfect combination of a planner + a journal + a notebook all at the same time. The system was originally created by Ryder Caroll. If you don’t know who he is or, his story, I’d highly recommend going to his website and learning more. His story is quite inspirational. He’s been able to not only help many individuals increase their productivity, but he’s assisted in creating a system that has helped countless individuals struggling with disabilities and issues like PTSD build more productivity, meaning, and intentionality into their lives. (You can find more information about the bullet journal at www.bulletjournal.com. Click “Start Here” to watch a brief tutorial.)

Why I Love My Bullet Journal

1. SIMPLE SYSTEM

Ryder Carroll created a very simple system that's focused on productivity. It's easy to understand and easy to start.

2. PERSONALIZATION

I love planners! But I've always struggled to find a planner that works for all the things that I want it to do! Bullet journaling is set up so that you can create it for you.

3. SIMPLICITY

I no longer have to carry around a planner and my journal. I absolutely love Ryder's system for integrating both your journal (daily log) and calendar and to-do list all in one.

4. CREATIVITY

My creativity needs just enough structure and just enough spaciousness to thrive. I love that my Bullet Journal gives me the structure with an Index, Future Log, Daily Logs, and Monthly Spreads, but it also allows me to be me! It's actually reconnected me to drawing. I get so inspired by everyone's Monthly Spreads on IG!

5. MY INDEX

I know where everything is! I have all of my journals since I was a child. I love those journals. But it's always frustrated me that if I wanted to find out what I was up to in the past, I'd have to read the whole thing to find what I was after. Sometimes I don't want to read everything from my past, you know? I just want a snapshot! Plus, now I can find any inspiration I had because I'm able to look at my index for specific page numbers.

How I Set up My Bullet Journal

1. MONTHLY SPREADS.

I love starting with a Monthly Spread. I get inspiration from IG and create something that's pretty (but not perfect) to showcase the start of a new month. I love doing my best version of calligraphy with some sort of pretty or fun drawing. I also love to choose a colored pen that I use for that particular month (especially the beginning and end pages.) That way it makes it stand out from the other months.

2. MONTHLY TASKS

After I do my "intro" pretty page for my month, I like to write out my top goals for the month along with a "tasks" section. My goals guide my focus for the month. My tasks section is where I put all the things I need to accomplish. This may be connected to my goals, or just things I need to remember like paying a bill. Then, I'll also create a "calendar" per say where I list the dates of the month vertically down the page and write down any important activities or meetings as I plan them. Sometimes, I'll also add a tracker for something - like a mood tracker or weight loss tracker, etc.

3. WEEKLY SPREADS

I don't always do this, but this is a cool way for me to get more of that planner feel into my Bullet Journal. My favorite way of doing this is creating a dutch window so that I can have the days of my week all on one page, but have lots of room to write down what I accomplished that day. If you don't know what a dutch window is, but you're curious, I really like @cayaline's tutorial on how to make one.

4. DAILY LOGS

Daily logs is the technical name for entries that Ryder, the creator of the Bullet Journal came up with. Basically, these are just my notes and journal entries during the month. They go in between my Monthly Spread, Weekly Spreads, and Monthly Review.

5. MONTHLY REVIEW

This is where I house my monthly evaluation! I get creative with how I set it up, but my favorite so far has been where I create boxes with these titles: 2020 Goals, Month Goals, My Biggest Accomplishments, Who Did I Spend Time With?, Insights, Made Me Happy. Then, I fill the boxes out. I have a few other categories that I'll add in too based on what my goals are, like: Savings or # of Email Subscribers.

And of course, I make sure to number my pages and have an Index at the very beginning of my bullet journal, so that I always know where to find certain entries that were specifically impactful or all my monthly reviews.

This is by far my favorite thing that has distinguished my past journals from my new Bullet Journal. I always know where to find things!

How I Use My Bullet Journal for Evaluations

Primarily, I have been housing my evaluations in my monthly review. I love having a summary of all the things that have worked for me in the past month along with any insights I’ve had. It gives me a very clear picture of how I’ve moved towards my goals (or if I’ve gotten distracted) over the last four weeks. I can then take a look over each of my monthly reviews as a collective whole and see how my progress is towards my goals based on each business quarter, or every few months.

In addition to the monthly reviews, I have trackers (currently, I have a weight loss tracker)- you can get creative here! - and I love using the Dutch Doors set up for my weekly spread. I love the system that Rachael Cook created (and her CEO planner), so I use her CEO Scorecard to give me a comprehensive picture of how much value I’m bringing into the world each week.

What I love about my bullet journal is that it’s completely customizable, so there’s room for you to create your own system for productivity and evaluations!

The important thing is that I’m always asking myself, “What went well ___________ (over specific time period? What didn’t go so well _______________ (over the same time period)? How could I do things differently to improve ____________ (my process, my systems, my mindsets, etc.).”

Asking myself these questions set me up for being a detective. I’m able to discern the facts from the hearsay, which in our case, sometimes may be our wild imaginations. It allows me to put my imagination in it’s rightful space - as the inspirational powerhouse. While I use my evaluations to be the driver to see if I’m right on track to actually bring my beautiful imagination into reality, or if I need to readjust or change something.

And my favorite part of using my bullet journal for evaluations? It reminds me how much I’ve overcome during the last few months! If you’re someone who wants to create more impact in the world, you probably are like my clients - high achievers who also have a bad habit of downgrading their current success. That’s why I always have a spot for writing down my biggest accomplishments! I go back through my daily logs for the month helps remind me all of the amazing things that I’ve done. Most of which I’d forget about if I didn’t do this exercise!

So if these last few months have been hard on you, at the very least use evaluations to remind you how much you have to celebrate because I promise you, you’re moving forward much more and much faster than you realize!

Need help with your evaluations?

Book a call below and let’s chat about how you can bring evaluations into you life/business to achieve your goals!