Welcome to the second post in our Goal Setting series. Remember, you can go through these steps at any time during the year to refresh your day + live your best life. Today your going to be using the information you collected last time to help guide you as you create a plan for your best year.

# Tip : If you didn’t join us last time you can download your free printables + do the first two steps here, then come back and join us here!

With your reflection questions in hand, download the free Clock Chart + Goals printables, grab some note paper + your favourite pen let’s continue.

Step 3 : Time management

We’re going to change our thinking here just a little + instead of time management we’re going to manage our focus.

Time soldiers on with or without us + I don’t believe there’s is anything we can do to manage it. It’s, like gravity.

However, we can change what we give our attention to.

Let’s take a look at what we spend our time focusing on.

You’re welcome to download the free Clock Chart printable if you haven’t already + shade in how you currently spend your time. On the second half of the page list the activities you do in those categories.

When you can see how your hours are spent, decision making is so much easier. If your like me, I often over estimate what I can get done in the time I have available. This simple exercise will help you to know what you can realistically fit in your day.

What I like about looking at time from a focus perspective is that it help me remove activities from my day that aren’t really important.

Instead of trying to fit everything in your day, think about what it is that you want to focus on + only schedule what’s important.

Step 4 : Create your vision

Now you’ve seen how spend your time, take a few minutes to consider if those activities are what you really want to fill your day with.

To help you move from where you are to where you want to be, answer the following big picture questions about what your best life would look like.

The answers to these questions will help you to discover what’s important to you + your family for this season of life.

Think of this exercise like creating a map.

When you know where you want to go making decisions about how to get there, in your finances, health, relationships, work + faith, are a whole lot easier.

Big Picture Questions :

• What are you looking forward to right now?
• If you could look ahead + see what your life looked like in 1, 3 or 5 years, what would you see?
• What are your top three values to focus on in the coming year?
• What do you want to achieve by the end of the year?
• Why are these things important to achieve?
• What do you need to learn or know to achieve your plans?
• What challenges could stop you from achieving your plans?
• What would your daily schedule look like to be successful?
• What does your best day look like?
• Where will you find your inspiration from?
• What distractions will you stay away from?
• How will you maintain your energy + recharge?
• What word describes your focus?

# Creative Challenge : Create a vision board in your planner, journal or noticeboard of images + words that represent your big picture view of your year.

Step 5 : Make your plan

List Your Goals
Now that you have created your big picture map it’s time to write down your goals for your faith, relationships, health, work + finances. You’re welcome to download this free Goals printable if you haven’t already.

List everything you can think of here, don’t be concerned about how many things there are, or whether you think they are possible. Write it all down.

# Tip : make sure your goals include your why + a date you’d like to achieve it by. Don’t get stuck on the date, you can add a date or adjust it later.

Sort your goals
Looking over your goals, if there are any items that relate to daily habits put a star next to that item. With these times you’ll create a daily routine to achieve them a little later.

For example, a daily habit goal might be to strengthen your back muscles so you can get out of bed without stiffness in 3 months. Or you want to have 15 minutes of quite time reading your bible each morning to grow your faith this year. These goals require you to take daily action to achieve the desired result, so you’d put a star next to them.

Or you maybe you have a goal of losing a few kilos to feel more comfortable in your own skin by summer. You’d put a star next to this one too as it also takes daily action across a number of smaller actions that make up the goal.

When it comes to establishing daily habits its easier to work on one at a time. Trying to establish too many new habits at once may result in frustration or overwhelm. I want you to succeed so take it slow + build as you go.

All your remaining goals would be projects.

Some examples of project goals may be :

• Go on a family holiday to the snow in August
• Create space at home for a new hobby in May (a surprise for someone’s birthday)
• Create a photo book for your anniversary in October

Number your goals
Using your Check In printable from last time for insight into the areas you want to work on first, number your routine goals in order of priority.

Then in another colour number your project goals in order of priority to create a separate list of those.

For example you may have rated your health as a 3 + so this category would be a high priority. You might number one of your health goals as 1.

Your family holiday will take a little time to save the money so you may number it 2.

Congratulations on doing the hard work so far!

Making your daily routine + planning out your projects is so much easier now that you know what you want to focus on. I’m excited for you!

Creating your best year + living your best life is practically a certainty, as long as you follow your plan.

So let’s put it on paper …

4. Creating a daily routine

Creating a daily routine, habits for your morning + evenings, is the easier way to set yourself up to live your best life.

These habits become the book ends to your day. And they help support everything in between.

The easiest way I’ve found to establish a new habit is to assign a trigger to it. A trigger is simply something that prompts you to remember to do that new thing while you are working on making it automatic.

For example if I want to remember to take fish pills I decide ahead of time what action precedes it. To do this I decide that after I eat lunch I will take two fish pills. So eating lunch is my trigger for taking fish pills.

When we started home schooling I needed to create a new daily routine as so many things were changing. I decided on a few items that would make up my morning routine.

My morning routine consists of exercise, breakfast, bible reading + journalling.

By creating a morning routine I was able to put a number of things together that ensured I did the things I needed to do to be the kind of person I want to be. I call these my non-negotiables. So no matter what else happens in the day I new that these important things were taken care of.

I also decided on an evening routine to establish good sleeping + gratitude habits.

I’ve discovered that the seasons play a big part in my natural rhythm, so the timing of my routine changes from summer to winter. But the activities that make up my routine are constant.

# Tip :For a little help picturing what you’d like your ideal day to look like fill in the [blanks] below (inspired by Jasmine Star) :

In the morning I wake up at [blank] and the first thing I do is [blank], then I [blank] to ensure I’m feeling [blank]. I start the day of my dreams at [blank], but not before taking time for myself to [blank]. I leave space in my day for [blank], and I’m most proud of [blank]. At the end of my day I [blank] + have dinner with [blank]. Before going to bed, I [blank].

Looking for a way to easily establish + track your habits, use The Daily Routine planner printable kit.

5. Planning your projects

All that remain on your list would now be project goals. I have an article about planning projects that you’re welcome to read.

It will help you break down your project into simple steps so that you can accomplish your goal in bit sizes pieces.

# Tip : For my best tips on planning projects see this article.

Awesome! I’m so glad you’ve taken the time to work through these steps to create your best year. Like I said earlier, living your best life is practically guaranteed, as long as you follow through with action.

Looking to create your own unique planner, make your plans + achieve your goals, you’re welcome to shop the Colour Your 365 planner printables.

Ultimate Digital Goodies Giveaway

If I could pick a fourth value for every year it would be giving. So I’ve gathered up a selection of printable + digi craft supplies from in store to help you create an awesome year ahead.

There are a bundle of prizes to win + fun ways to enter :

• Colour Your 365 2017 Planner Kit
• Colour your 365 Projects Kit
• Colour your 365 Finances Kit
• Colour your 365 Health Kit
• Colour your 365 Daily Routine Kit
• Colour your 365 Circle of Life Stickers
• So Thankful Creative Bible Study
• Faith Planner Kit
• So Thankful Digi Craft Bundle
• Super Grateful Planner Kit

BONUS: One person who comments on both their Check In + Going Deeper answers in the comments of the first post of the Goals Setting series, or share’s what your ideal day looks like in the comments below will receive the complete bundle of digital goodies!

:: Giveaway closes 31 January 2017.

#plansmomentslife

Share: a little or much of your answers to both the Check In + Going Deeper questions in the comments below to win the complete bundle of digital goodies listed above!