On Track?: 4 Ways A Tracker Journal Can Work For You
How can you know where you are in reaching your goals? A tracker journal to the rescue! Why? Because sometimes it can be hard to tell where you are, especially if you’re aiming to do something that involves several steps or may require a good bit of time to accomplish.
Without tracking, sadly, projects can easily die out or goals fade away simply because we don’t always know how far we’ve come. Or worse, we might feel like we’re not getting anywhere. This is why journaling can be such an important part of your day.
Is A Tracker Journal Really A Thing?
Call it what you want … a Goals Planner, a Success Journal or My Get It Done! Notebook … the bottom line is that this journal of yours will be THE place you will list your goals and also track the steps to reach those goals. Whether you use a notebook to create it yourself, purchase a pre-formatted journal or tap into an app … your journal/planner provides space and other track-able elements to support you along the way.
Use A Tracker Journal To:
1) Set Daily Goals: What would you like to accomplish today?
- Start your day by simply writing down the top couple of goals you have for the day.
- Use your journal a second time before bed to report on your progress for the day toward those goals.
- Process any feelings or thoughts you might have regarding those goals.
2) Track Your Milestones: At some point in making your plan of attack toward your goal, you set up certain milestones. By using a journal, it’s easy to see just which milestones you’ve already reached while tracking how far you are from the next big milestone. Understanding these signposts lets you know where you are in your journey.
3) Set Up Micro-Goals To Encourage and Boost Productivity: If you feel like you need an extra boost of productivity or even just encouragement, you can use your journal to set up a smaller “sub-goal” (or multiples) between your milestones. These quick goals give you something you can strive for today and feel so accomplished once you reach them. Your journal should be full of these goals.
4) See if You’re Being Consistent: Are you in the ‘habit zone’? If you’re unsure if you’ve been working daily toward your goals, your journal is the perfect place to find out. Chart your progress and see where you might be falling back a little before you get too far behind. Remember, you want to make working toward your goals a daily habit. Your journal is the perfect accountability tool to make sure you do.
Journaling is a great way to see where are and where you’re going. And the best part? Your journal doesn’t have to involve long, detailed passages (that’s unless you want to write more). Once you’ve established your “plan”, set micro goals and dates, then simple checkbox lists, marks on a drawn chart/graph, along with any remarks for the day can easily keep you on track and accomplishing what you’re aiming for.
