Simple Goal Setting – Goal setting worksheet pdf

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If you are struggling to reach your goals, this article on goal setting will help. Not only will you get my goal-reaching tips but also my goal setting worksheet pdf. Download it, print it out, and get ready to start reaching every single goal you set going forward.

goal setting worksheet pdf

I have a secret to share with you. I LOVE to set goals.

There is nothing I love more than a brand-new tablet of paper and my favorite pen. It inspires me to dream and plan. And with a new year just around the corner, I am even more excited to get busy creating a life I love. Sometimes, coming up with a list of goals is the easy part. It’s the follow-through that can be a bit tricky.

Simple goal setting is a technique I came up with after I found myself year after year, setting this huge and unrealistic list of goals and only achieving a fraction of them.

A hiker celebrates making the summit after goal setting

I know goal setting is nothing new. Just about every person young and old makes a list of New Year’s resolutions for example. And, I am sad to say, those same people,by February 1st completely forget those goals and are back into their old patterns of living life.

The truth is, I used to be one of those people.

I would write up an insurmountable list of things I wanted to change only to forget all about it a few months or even a few weeks later. The motivation for a fresh start was gone, and I was back to the same old person, the same messy home, and the same average life.

What was missing was a plan. One that would help me to narrow down my goals into a specific list. A list that gave value to each goal so I could go in and highlight my most important ones. Once I had that, all I needed was a formula for creating a roadmap that would help me focus and complete each one of my goals.

In the last few years, I have been able to not only achieve most of my goals but to remain focused on them every single month of the year.

That is the key, after all. To make goals, keep them in focus, and take steps every single month to achieve them. It might sound easy enough, but how do we actually do it? How do we ensure that the goals we make now are accomplished (or, at the very least…remembered) by the end of the year?

What you need is a step-by-step approach to making, focusing on, and completing each goal on your list. I call this system SCORE goal setting, and it is your super simple system for not only setting your goals but also for achieving them.

What does SCORE mean? 

Score is an acronym for goal setting and succeeding. The breakdown is this:

S– Set a plan

C– Create steps

O– Organize

R-Revisit

E-Excel

Let’s break it down.

the letters SCORE on yellow post it notes with purple checks below

Goal Setting Worksheet 

As with all lists, put your focus on just one step at a time. This will help you to really streamline a success path that will work for you. Use this process for personal goals, home goals, financial goals, and homesteading goals.

Step #1 Set a plan

Start by closing your eyes and imagining your dream life. The sky is the limit here, so don’t hold back. What does your home look like? Your job? Your finances? Your physical self? Get a good picture of every detail.

Once you have it, I want you to actually walk through your day. From morning to evening, take a peek at the life and person you dream of being. Are you happy? Are you fulfilled? Is this truly where you want to be?

Make a New Year resolution list in your goal setting worksheet

Sometimes the life we dream of is not all it’s cracked up to be. By actually walking through our day in our minds, we can get a taste of what we want our lives to be so we can then adjust our goals accordingly. As we see areas where we need and want to improve, make a note on a piece of paper. 

Keep doing this exercise until you actually have your fulfilled life in mind. Do not skip this step, no matter how silly you think it is. Without seeing the end result, you can never expect to stick with the steps you need to take to make a change. 

By visualizing each area of your life and listing key aspects to focus on, you will see the exact areas that you need to work on. But remember to not overdo it. Try to keep goals to 3-5 for each area with only 1 or maybe 2 of those being very large goals. 

Here’s an example to help. 

  1. Home
    1. Remove the clutter in our kitchen
    2. Organize my closet 
    3. Clean out the pantry and fridge, so we stop throwing out food. 
  2. Finances
    1. Set up a debt repayment plan for the year
    2. Create a budget we can stick to
  3. Relationships
    1. Go on a date with hubby once a week
    2. Spend time with the kids
    3. Call my parents every Sunday
  4. Physical
    1. Get rid of the junk food
    2. Drink more water
    3. Begin walking each week
  5. Work
    1. Create a schedule that is not overwhelming.
    2. Get to work 10 minutes early each day to plan

I know it’s hard when you are dreaming of your perfect home and life, but if you don’t keep things in perspective, you will have a list of unrealistic goals. The key is to have attainable goals that you can build on as time goes by. Start small and break it all down into steps.

Step #2  Create easy to accomplish steps

Now that you have your dream life in your sites, let’s break things down into doable steps.

With every goal, you will have mini-goals that you will need to aim for first. Let’s say you visualize yourself as healthy and thinner than you are now. Sure we can say your goal is to lose weight and stop right there. Easier said than done, right?

Without a mapped-out plan of what you need to do in order to get to your ideal weight, you will likely only make it a short while. You need a road map with specific steps that will get you from where you are now to where you truly want to be.

As with any large goal, if you are not specific, the odds of you actually losing the pounds are slim to none. If, however, you break that one big goal down into small doable steps, you will have a much better chance of actually accomplishing what you set out to do. Lose weight.

A goal setting worksheet is a better way to keep a list than random Post-It notes

So instead of this: Goal-lose weight

We will write this: Goal – To attain a healthy and happy weight specifically for me.

  1. Eat 5 servings of veggies and fruits each day
  2. Drink 8 glasses of water a day
  3. Exercise 3-5 times a week
  4. No eating after 6 pm
  5. Cut out all refined sugar and processed foods

As you can see, when you list that one large goal out into small mini-goals, things become real and a bit easier to see. You are now turning a large dream into something you can actually visualize happening. Now, your vague weight loss goal is a healthy living game plan that you can easily implement every day.

Step #3  Organize your steps into habits

Another way to ensure you are actually staying focused on your goals is to schedule each list.

It’s no secret that it takes 21 days to create a habit. So, if you choose just 1 item from each goal list to focus on every week, by the end of a quarter, you will have a solid foundation of habits all aimed at achieving your main goal.

Pretty cool, right? So, how do we do this?

By breaking things down even further. (Remember..steps. Lots of steps!) The bigger the goal, the more you will want to break it down. Go back to our weight loss example.

New Habits

  1. Start each morning out with an 8 oz glass of water.
  2. Do a morning stretch and meditation.
  3. Eat a salad before each evening meal.
  4. Only snack on fresh unprocessed foods.
  5. Incorporate fish into 2 meals each week.
  6. Use the stairs whenever possible.
  7. End each day with stretches and reflection.

By breaking this big goal down into easy to focus on changes and then working on each – one at a time, you will begin to see minor adjustments in your daily life that will all work together to get you closer to your end goal of losing weight.

A mouthful? Yes.

Life-changing? You better believe it!

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Step #4  Revisit Your Goals Every Month

By getting those goals out to read over the first day of every single month, you will keep that image of your true self at the forefront of your mind. By always being focused on your main goal, you will take your resolution success just one step further.

Okay, let’s really make this work for us! Right now take a minute to make a recurring appointment on your phone for the first of every single month.

A woman works on her smart phone.  A goal setting worksheet can be helpful to organize your life.

When that reminder comes up you will take just a few minutes, 30 should be about perfect, to look over your list.

Pull out your original goal sheet and read over what you wrote in January. Now is your time to make any adjustments you feel are needed. Add or subtract any goals and go over your other lists to make sure everything is on track.

Tweak your habits and adjust your steps to better reflect where you are in your life. As we change, our goals need to change too. If your goal in January was to lose a specific amount of weight, but now it’s September, and your goal has adjusted to getting physically healthy, then your habits will naturally change as well.

Rather than just focusing on a diet, you are focusing on your entire lifestyle, and that will, in turn, completely adjust your habits for this one goal. By revisiting your list each and every month, you will see where your goals have changed so you can then adjust your habits, making your rate for success even greater.

Step #5  Excel and Succeed

Now that you have a map using your goal setting worksheet pdf and the steps that you need to achieve every one of your annual goals, there is no reason for you NOT to succeed!

As you see the changes you hoped for back in January begin to take shape, and as the life you longed for comes into focus, you will only want to achieve more. Success naturally creates motivation, but please be careful here. Don’t begin to add so many goals that your original focus becomes clouded.

Keep your eye on the ball and make adjustments where they make sense rather than overwhelming. Small steps equal big wins, so keep it simple and easy to succeed.

a woman sitting in a room making a list on her lap

To ensure you do not overdo it, quarterly goal revisits are another way to keep our focus in check. 

Each new quarter, you will want to revisit your Dream Life Worksheet just to make sure you are still on the right path. Just like you did in January, close your eyes and visualize your dream life. If you still see the same goals as you did back in January, then you are on track and right where you need to be.

If you see minor changes, take the time now to make adjustments to your Habits Sheet.

If you see major changes, you will want to ask yourself why. The answer to this question will determine whether or not you are on track or if you need a mid-year restart.

By doing this quarterly check, you will stop any roadblocks before they show up, making your chance for success even greater.

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Let’s face it: we all want to be better. That is a part of human nature. Instead of making goals that are forgotten a few months into the year, let’s instead create a game plan for a life and home you have always dreamed of.

Then, let’s take that one step further and make those dreams a reality for you and your family. Now that you have your goal setting worksheet pdf, what goals will you work on this year?

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2 Comments

  1. Good article. Looking forward to 2019. Just one thing… the advertising is so overwhelming it makes reading frustrating. Is there any way to read these blogs without so many repetitive ads?

    1. Yes, Julie, I know and I am sorry for that.
      Unfortunately, this is how I make my income on my blog and for that reason, they need to stay. I hope they are not too much of an inconvenience and that you understand that this is my job and how I support my family.
      Thank you!
      Tracy Lynn

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