2022 Goal Setting: The Longest To-Do List EVER
Let’s recap. You spent some time reflecting on 2021. You decided what you wanted to take with you and what you wanted to leave behind. Hopefully you spent time writing out your feelings or at least took yourself on a social media/phone free walk to think it through. Next, you went through a vision board exercise, sourcing inspiration from magazines, books, photos, nature, or anywhere else that struck a chord with you. Now, you write down your goals right?
Before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, you must first make the longest to-do list ever! How do you know what to-do if you don’t have goals yet? One of the biggest challenges with your yearly goals is fitting your goals in with everything else that you have going on in your life. It’s time to get your goal to-dos and your life to-dos in a long-term relationship. We need to get these two on the same page, literally.
Follow these steps to making the longest to-do list ever:
Set aside 1 full uninterrupted hour for this exercise! This should be phone free, kid free, and distraction free.
Grab a pen and paper or open a google doc. Note: this to-do list won’t permanently live in the place you initially write it all down, so don’t get fumbled by your choice of where to record this information. I use Asana for life management but I always do this exercise with pen and paper. I also use gel pens because life is too short to use boring pens.
Start writing down everything you can think of that needs to get done in the next 3-6 months. Think of this as cognitive clutter-clearing. Just remembering that we have to do something later takes up mental space. Do you have to make a dentist appointment for June? Write that down. Do you have to buy a gift for a wedding in April? Also write that down. If you think it, write it down. Even write down the items you think you might not even get around to, like reading 20 books or purchasing the perfect backpack.
Include items on your list that correspond with some of those dreams you started dreaming on your vision board. If you dream of starting a podcast, write down that you need to buy a microphone, come up with a topic, or listen to podcasts for inspiration.
As you are making this list, please keep the following in mind:
You will NOT have to do everything on the list. We all have to-dos that don’t get done. The goal isn’t to make a list of everything you must do. The goal is to make a list of everything that is floating in your brain as something you might have to-do.
If something comes to mind that you are considering outsourcing, still add it! You can later make it a to-do to outsource that item.
Take pleasure in the cognitive clutter-clearing exercise instead of drowning yourself in fear of how long this list might be! You can’t prioritize your goals if you can’t clearly identify what is competing with those priorities. Remember - you won’t do it all!
Now, go add “make a to-do list” to your current to-do list!
