One of the best ways to get ahead in life is to adopt a goal oriented attitude. Setting small goals, big goals, and especially the audacious ones that stretch you can help you achieve your dreams! Goal setting is anything but boring, it’s your chance to express your creativity and have fun while you prioritize the important things in life!

Before you can track your goals, you need to set them, and they need to be S.M.A.R.T. Let’s break it down:

S - Specific.

Goals need to be narrow and specific. If they’re too vague, you’ll have a hard time measuring and knowing when you’ve met the goal. 

M - Measurable.

No matter what you’re going after, it needs to be measurable otherwise how will you know you’ve achieved it?

A - Attainable.

At this step ask yourself if it’s reasonable to expect you’ll be able to achieve your goal in the time-frame you set

R - Relevant.

It’s important to set goals for yourself and they need to be aligned with your values, attitudes, and beliefs.

T - Time-based.

The end date should be reasonable and also just enough of a stretch to motivate you.

Now that you have the formula for setting achievable goals, let’s start tracking. We believe seeing is doing so let's use your journal or notebook and write down the steps to achieve goals! Here are a few tips for keeping track of your goals 

We recommend gathering a few of your favorite mark making supplies: colorful pens, markers, highlighters, stickers, and washi tape are all excellent ways to brighten up your goal tracker. Using gel pens or fineliner pens is a great way to group your goals and color code them for easy tracking. 

• Stickers, especially those gold stars, can help motivate you when your spirits start to lag. Plus, it’s quite a sight to see a month of shiny stars! 
• If you’re a visual person, it might help to draw your goals. To get your creative mojo flowing, grab a PAPERAGE Blank Notebok, your colored markers, and start brainstorming all the fun goals to go after!  
• If you’re a fill in the box person, try a check box system. With 5 mm dotted grid the PAPERAGE Dotted Journal is a great choice for designing your own personalized goal tracker. 
• If you need to see it bigger than life, try dedicating a whole whiteboard to getting ahead. PAPERAGE offers a variety of white boards to bring goal setting front and center. 

Good luck with your goals setting - we’re cheering you on! And if you need some inspiration on getting it all done, check out our posts: How to Master the Art of Doing  and 8 Practical Tips for Getting it All Done!