Back to basics: Why writing your goals down matters more than you think

Writing down your goals. You know you should, and you have them rolling around your mind somewhere, but you just can’t seem to put pen to paper. Or maybe, you simply don’t have the right tools to do so? Well, aside from the benefit of remembering them, this simple act matters much more than you think, and may in fact be the roadblock that is stopping you from achieving your aspirations. There is no prescribed process, simply scribing your goals in a clear and vivid manner will kickstart the process.

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But, why does it really matter? We’ve listed four reasons to help you make the switch.

Instills motivation

Motivations finds us all in different ways. It comes in bursts and flashes for some, and a little more frequent for others. But truly successful people? They recognize that instilling motivation in oneself is worth developing, and it starts with simply writing down your goals and addressing them in some fashion each day. The thoughtfully designed 2019 diary by Saint Belford addresses these very motivations speaking to the mind, body and soul. Writing down your goals will enable you to visualize the end goal, and this motivation will drive you through those trying times and forks in the road. In addition to writing them down, use pictures and drawings – anything that will light that fire and get you hungry to meet those goals.

Actionable outcomes

We all know what we want to achieve. But how many of us could summarize that into an elevator pitch, with our intentions clear and well rounded? Perhaps a few less. According to Forbes, fewer than 20% of people did not have their goals fleshed out vividly enough that they could regale them concisely to their peers. You can only put steps and actionable outcomes in place to accomplish these goals if they are first written down. ‘Start a business’ is a first step, but writing down the goals in which to achieve this are key, for example; write business plan, complete a competitor review, apply for a license, etc. Give your goals the time they deserve and write down the supporting actionable outcomes to bring these aspirations to life.

Successful habits

There is almost a whole genre of self-help books designed to help you mirror the habits of successful people. Always at the top of these lists are goal setting and journaling. Why? Well it is a favorable habit to get into, and one that you can apply a personal, professional and commercial lens to. Of the same Forbes research, those who were able to vividly describe or picture their goals were 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to achieve their goals. Writing down your goals will give you the habit of project management, fitting you with the emotional intelligence to identify what you want and how you intend to achieve it. The same study found that writing down your goals deploys external storage as well as encoding. The external storage, as it suggests, is having a tangible piece of paper that you can have on hand to review and check-in with solidifying its worth. Encoding is the biological process of which writing something down sends it to the brain to remember.

Manages stress

If writing down a to-do-list keeps you calm, imagine how you will feel after writing down your personal and professional goals. Not just for the week, but for the year ahead. We all feel overwhelmed at one point or another, but by scribing your goals, you will have them on hand rather than trying to scramble around what you think they should be or forgetting key criteria altogether. It will also give you clarity on what is to come and how you can anticipate those changes, rather than being surprised and subsequently consumed by the drama that ensues. The therapeutic benefits of journaling have been tested, tried, and true, so do your future self a favor and start the work today for the benefits tomorrow.

You know that feeling of crossing an item off a list, or penning in a milestone into a new diary? Imagine if you could feel that progress daily, and it be related to something as important as your personal development. Start goal setting today and pour your vision on to the page!

Another important reason to write down your goals