We’re midway through January. The gym is back to normal after a predictable surge, and people have stopped saying they can’t believe it’s already 2020. It also seems like many folks have already forgotten their New Year’s resolutions. It’s all too easy to do.

Despite the calendar year change-over being completely arbitrary to our lives, I’m someone that loves the symbolism of that reset. It’s part of why I don’t usually go out on NYE—I prefer staying home to reflect on what the year has brought and what my dreams are for the next one. And goal-setting is how I make it happen.

Goals (and resolutions) are sometimes dangerous. When I don’t live up to them (even if I did a lot!), I’m inevitably disappointed and a lot of negative self-talk follows. I also get anxious about the things that I wish I was making more time for.

This year I’m trying something different.

It’s no secret that a crucial part of achieving goals is writing them down. Journaling, doing a mind-map, writing a list… those are all fine. But if you don’t have something that you’re always referring back to, I think it’s harder to make those goals a reality. After all, you’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down… with specificity. That’s key.

Even more important is breaking them up into manageable pieces that are also written down. Personally, I’ve found this makes me less stressed about the overall goal, since I can focus on one month at a time.

Here’s a handy spreadsheet template for tracking your goal progress in 2020 and a step-by-step guide for getting the most out of it.

Click the image to go to the spreadsheet!

STEP ONE:

Journal or do a loose brainstorm about what you want from the year. Don’t limit yourself just yet—banish those ‘but I can’t do x because y’ thoughts. Some questions to ask yourself:

What would make you feel happy and accomplished at the end of the year? Successful? Proud? What do those words mean to you?
What do you want more of?
What do you want less of?
How can you be kind to yourself?
What’s realistic to expect of yourself?
What’s a dream that’s so big you don’t admit it to anyone?
What would you do if there was nothing to hold you back?
What would you do if you didn’t need to make money?

STEP TWO:

If you didn’t already, pick out the goals from your brainstorm and make a giant list. Dream big!

Once that’s done, group them by category. Some that you can use as a jumping-off point:

Health (physical and mental)
Learning
Professional life
Creative pursuits
Habits you want to develop
Relationships
Money

STEP THREE:

Set up your tracking spreadsheet with my handy template:

List your goals along the left-hand column, grouped by the categories that you came up with. One goal per line on the spreadsheet!
At the top of the spreadsheet, note any limitations that you’ll have during that month, e.g. travel, holidays, big deadlines.

STEP FOUR:

Look at each goal and divide it up into months. By breaking it up into steps, you’re both demystifying the process, as well as forcing your brain to think at least somewhat realistically. I’m all for ambition, but if you go too overboard, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Some tips to increase your odds of success:

Make your goals granular enough that you only have one step per goal (line on the spreadsheet) for each month. Those steps can vary in size (e.g. “write one song” to “edit 50% of my novel”), but generally try to keep them small and manageable. The newer something is to me (aka I’m not currently doing that thing at all), the smaller I try to make the steps
Don’t schedule everything to start in January. Look at the year as a whole and stagger things!
Schedule less for yourself during months where you have events, travel, or lots of other commitments
Listen to your intuition. Scale goals back if you realize they are too ambitious—a red flag is if you find yourself putting too large of steps or too many steps in each month. Break it up into smaller goals or make peace with the fact it may have to be a multi-year goal!
Use checklists to give yourself a little bit of flexibility while you’re making something into a habit, e.g. rather than “work out 3x per week”, do “work out 10x in February” - that will minimize the likelihood of you feeling like you’ve already failed the first week

STEP FIVE:

Make it happen!

Once you’re done outlining your year, break it down to the month you’re currently in—put those goals somewhere (there’s lots of free tools, I recommend Trello and Habitica) that you can revisit on a regular basis throughout the month without having to look back at your spreadsheet.

At the start of each month, revisit what you’ve done. Set yourself automatic alerts (in Google Calendar or elsewhere) so that you don’t let months slide by without checking in on your progress. Check in with yourself: how did you do with last month’s goals? How do you feel about next month’s goals? Do you need to revise them at all?

Finally, use whatever tricks and bribery you need to get it done: stickers, bullet journals, big calendars hanging by your desk, sweet treat rewards.

BONUS:

Do the same for your 5 year goals! There’s another tab in the template that breaks out the next five years into half-year increments.

I hope this helps you get your 2020 goals on track—it’s never too late to start! The most important thing is to be kind and empathetic to yourself. You will fail. That’s just part of goal-setting. But also hopefully you will also move forward. Remember: anything you get done by the end of the year is more than you had at the start!

Achieving your 2020 goals: free planning and tracking template