For a while I looked at my ideal life and dreams as part of a whole. When I created goals they were not organized and did not have clear categories. They were all lumped together in the ideal life I would write out.
About five months ago I needed to re-energize my goals and become dreamward bound again. I needed a change, so I tried something new.
Instead of simply writing my ideal life out as one whole thing then separate it out into steps or goals I could take, I separated my ideal life into areas first and then made a plan.
I wrote how I wanted my spiritual life, writing life, visual arts life, physical health, mental life, and relationships to look. I took that information and asked myself how close I thought I could get in 5 years. I may have lofty goals, but my ideal life write-ups are also my 5 year goals.
I took my 5 year goals and asked how close could I see myself being in 1 year, then 6 months, then 3 months. It was easy to break the 3 months into 1 month and finally weekly goals.
Since I like bullet points and lists here is what I did in step form.
- Section out your life (Spiritual, relationship, hobby, career, mental, physical, emotion, etc)
- Write an ideal life for each of the sections.
- Write out how close you want to be in 5 years for the first section.
- Narrow your goals down to the top 3 for the section you are working on.
- Organize the 3 goals to Level A, Level B, and Level C goals (Level A being the highest/ most important)
- Create 1 year goals, 6 month goals, 3 months goals, 1 month goals, and finally 1 week goals.
- Repeat until all sections are completed.
As I reach each milestone I make adjustment notes and assess if the goals and organization still makes sense. So far it has made sense and helped me stay on track.
I can keep track of my plan. I know that I should focus on Level A goals before Level B goals. I also know that my spiritual life is more important than my writing. which is more important than my visual art.
If you are interested in creating goals I would highly recommend sectioning your life into different areas and creating you ideal areas of life. You can then make a plan easier to get to you ideal life.