By Christina Morton DesAuguste
Christina is the founder of The Organizing Company and has been organizing professionally since 2013. She is currently loving journaling (obviously), snow days, and nerdy things like binder tabs and color coded files.
No A.I. copy & paste here! All our blogs are still written by humans.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on our website are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
January is halfway over and- I don’t know about you- but I’m realizing I’m a little behind on some of my goals already.
Surely I’m not the only one.
You know how it goes: You have a dream, you set a goal, you’re excited and motivated. And then you look up a year later and realize you’re no closer to achieving your goals or dreams.
I’ve been working on refining my goal setting process over the last few years, and I think I finally have something that will work for me.
I thought about the key areas of my life that I want to be really intentional about and made a page for each of those. For me, it’s 12 areas.
1. Spiritual Health
2. Wellness & Lifestyle
3. Play & Travel
4. Personal Growth & Dreams
5. Romance & Intimacy
6. Family or Household Relationships
7. Other/Extended Family Relationships
8. Friendships & Social Life
9. Community Involvement
10. Home Environment
11. Professional/Business
12. Finances
I feel like that encompasses just about everything in life! But feel free to add/delete categories that don’t apply to you. For example, #6 is Family or Household Relationships. I include pets in that, or if you have children that’s where I’d think about goals for/with them. Or maybe you are in college and live with your parents, or you have housemates. If you live alone (or with a partner and you only need #5 Romance & Intimacy) skip that section.
Maybe you have another deep core value that you want a whole section on. Like environmental issues. It could fall into the Community Involvement section or Wellness & Lifestyle, but if it’s a big part of your life, make it its own category.
So as I go through these categories of life, I think about my dreams or desires and how I want to feel in regards to each area. I start to list out goals and then refine them until they are S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Then, the next part is key.
I break down the goals into action steps. I think about how I’m going to take a getaway with my husband for our anniversary, for example. How much do I need to budget for it? When do I need to have something booked by? What else needs to happen to make sure we can go and everything else is taken care of (work covered, dog taken care of, etc)?
It helps me get clear about little things that I need to do to make the big things happen.
Think about dates/deadlines and when you’re going to check in on your progress.
I like to set reminders in my calendar and my reminders app during this process so I don’t forget and lose track again.
It’s so easy for months to fly by and then realize, “Shoot! Our anniversary is in two weeks. What are we doing?”
Or, if you’re in my Organizing Challenge this month, you know how easy it is for time to slip by without accomplishing your organizing goals. So breaking them down and physically/digitally scheduling them on your calendar so you have those reminders and the time set aside is HUGE.
So while I was working on all of these things for myself for 2025, I thought that perhaps it may help some of you, too.
That’s why I created my new Reflect & Refocus Goals Journal.
It is an instant PDF download you can print at home and fill out again and again.
Everything I just shared is in there. The categories, prompts for action steps, deadlines and budget, etc.
I have a page for each of the 12 areas I mentioned above. But I also include a blank page you can print as many times as needed for whatever other goals or core values you want to journal about.
My vision is that this journal helps you organize your thoughts, clarify your goals, and make more time for the people and passions that give you meaning.
If you’ve been following me for a while, that last phrase might sound familiar. My mission for The Organizing Company is to organize clients in order to free up their time and energy so they can pursue the people and passions that give them meaning.
This journal is just another way to help you do that.
It’s available for $7 for a limited time.
I hope it helps you achieve what matters most to you!
And, as always, happy organizing!
Christina
PS: If you’re a binder person, like me, you can hole punch it and put it in a binder. This is also really great for referring back on a regular basis to stay on track with your goals and action steps. Click here to download it right now.
January 18th, 2025
Share & Follow
