goal chunking: my secret weapon for 2018

For someone like me, who struggles daily with staying focused on tasks, having systems in place is the only way I will ever accomplish anything. I’ve learned that about myself over the years. If I don’t write it down or map it out, it just isn’t going to happen. Last year, I set very lofty goals for myself, and I thought I did a pretty great job of mapping them out, but I only accomplished 50% of what I set out to do, so I know my systems need work. Don’t get me wrong, some of the things I was able to check off my goals list were HUGE and deserve to be celebrated, but only for a quick minute; I’m all about looking for ways to improve and move forward.

When I took a close look at the goals that I set but did not accomplish, I realized that they all had one thing in common: soooooo many action steps. There were so many things that needed to be done to reach those goals and I didn’t do a good enough job of mapping out the steps. I needed a more clearly defined plan! Another thing I noticed with those goals that required a ton of steps was that if I shifted my focus to working toward another goal, I kind of lost all momentum and never went back to the really big ones. So, this year, I’m really excited to give goal chunking a whirl. I think it’s going to be a better fit for the way my brain works. :)

Goal chunking is basically just mapping out each goal with clear action steps and then focusing on accomplishing all of those steps before moving onto a new goal (within reason, of course; like, my day to day business tasks such as answering emails still take priority). It will take serious discipline for me to train my brain to work this way, but I think it’s really going to be a game changer for me.

Okay, so this is the template I created for goal-chunking, and an example of how I’m using it to map out a really big goal that I’d like to accomplish this year:

The box at the top of the page is where I write in my goal, and the lines below are all of the steps I have to take to achieve it. For example, one of my really big goals for 2017 was to launch my pet photography website. Well, actually, I’m just gonna go ahead and be real here…I’ve been “working on ” this goal for like 5 years, lol. It has been on my list every single year and it never happens because there’s so many steps involved and I lose interest and get distracted. Using the template forces me to give serious thought to what I really need to do to make this goal happen and map it out in a way that is easy to keep track of. Each step is like a mini goal, and I can check them off as I go. Without breaking it down this way, my goal “Launch Pet Photography Website” would be an abstract concept that would literally NEVER happen. This method makes me feel like there’s actually a chance of it happening for the first time ever, and I’m pretty excited about it. :)

What do you think of goal-chunking? Do you think this template would be super helpful for you, too??  Let me know your thoughts in the comments!!