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2018.10.21 Kaizen – one step at a time

Goals in my journal

One of the things I keep track of in my journal are my daily goals.

We all have goals or tasks, or whatever you want to call them. Some years ago I started with a system of getting my goals done. It is easier to complete a goal or make something to a daily practice if I keep track of it.

At first, I made a list with the aid of these 4 squares:

New (once per month)Do more of
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • etc
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • etc
Do less ofStop doing
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • etc
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • etc

Then I made a choice of which items were most important to me. One from each column.
Every night I wrote a note of which goal succeeded and which one needed improvement.
And every month I evaluated whether items have to get off the list, which to keep, and which new ones I will add.

All this evolved into a list of things I nowadays do daily. And I developed a very simple system to keep on track: every item has a chain of empty circles behind it with the day of the month at the top. If I completed the item I make the circle green. If I failed the next circle is made orange, so in the end, it’s very clear which goals are easy-peasy to me and which ones are not yet.

Some goals are not “done or not done”, but have a complicated meaning. For those, I use several colors.

It looks like a lot of work maybe. You can trust me, it’s not. And coloring at the end of the day is a soothing activity.

Besides, it’s really rewarding to see that goal setting helps. This way I made it a habit to daily:

  • exercise half an hour
  • walk 3 to 6 km
  • meditate 10 minutes mornings and evenings
  • water my plants
  • practice Spanish
  • write
  • and much more

I am proud of myself 🙂

^hm

2 thoughts on “2018.10.21 Kaizen – one step at a time”

  1. Oh this is great!
    I don’t think of this as a lot of work, it is extremely rewarding to color a green dot.

    I also have trackers in my journal, plus on the door of the fridge, plus above my desk (different places for different goals 😉 )

    If you need to color a lot of dots orange, due to falling off the wagon with your habit/goal, it’s a little less rewarding… so I guess it triggers us on pleasure and pain, with nice little dopamine shots connected to the green marker!

    Reply
    • Ah, great! You figured out the meaning of the orange dots. 😀
      Yes, having a lot of green dots and an occasional orange works great for me. I didn’t realize I have been doing this for so many years already! October 2018 is 4,5 years ago. Wow. And the system still works perfectly for me.
      Thanks for your comment and take care, Kadanza <3

      Reply

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