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It's been awhile since I last participated in the Ministry of Testing's Bloggers Club challenge and I have been feeling the urge to get back on track. Incidentally, the theme for this month is 'Managing and Achieving Goals'. I started this blog late 2019 and at first, I was posting blogs every week. So my personal development goal initially was to write new content weekly. Recently though, I shifted to just at least once a month due to other priorities as well. The point is that I still achieve my overall goal of being a tech blogger.
Last year, I achieved some pretty big goals which I've shared in this blog post, 2020 Year In Review: Software Tester. I have to admit that there were times that I was working until late but I'm now getting better at managing my time so I want to share three tips which helped me manage most of them.
Bullet journal
I started bullet journaling about two years ago but stopped halfway due to laziness and I was initially trying to make it look so artsy rather than focusing on the actual journalling. The great thing about bullet journals is you can pretty much start anytime, it doesn't have to be the start of the year. Now that I am back on track, I'm using my journal to track my todo lists, events (yearly, monthly and daily), gratitudes, habit tracker, emotional and physical check-ins etc. I found this minimalist journal setup which I have been following. I recommend this setup to anyone who wants to start!
The simple setup lets me prioritise my day-to-day activities and I found that it's been helpful in remembering the small things. Rather than have my notes spread all over, it's all in just one notebook. I find as well that bullet journaling helps me organise my life better 😅
It also encourages you to get things done which is great if you have set yourself some goals! I normally prep my weekly spread earlier on and add the top 3 things that I want to achieve in the upcoming days. By sticking to 3, it makes achieving what you want to achieve more manageable.
It's also a great way to track your habits. One of my personal goals for this year was to eat more healthily and try intermittent fasting (amongst other things! 😂). To make sure I keep up with it, I track my habits daily. Habits eventually lead to achieving your goals.
As you can see, I do miss days where I haven't kept up with the habit but that's ok. It's not about achieving perfection 😊
Declutter!
The next tip that I've done personally which helps me maintain and achieve my goals is to de-clutter! There's actual studies out there proving that a de-cluttered and organised environment can help you focus and avoid distractions. You also save a lot of time on cleaning! I've done a lot of decluttering these past few weeks including digitally and I find that I am happier and more content, which leads to an improvement on my mental health, which then leads to me being able to focus more on my goals! It's all a chain of reaction.
Share your goals
I enjoy sharing my goals to other people for two reasons. One, in the hopes of encouraging them to join me and two, to keep me accountable! Joining public challenges is always a fun idea or you can also find an accountability partner. The more you talk about your goals, the higher chance other people will support you.
Sometimes, you begin to self doubt if you will ever have the time to achieve your goal and this is where talking about it helps. I recently shared one of my goals for this year online and I really loved Ryan Cox's analogy on how to break up goals.
Wrapping up
If you've got some goals you want to achieve this year, why not try the above tips and see how you get on. They are helping me so far and I'm hoping it will help you too. Make sure to also check out other recommendations from other bloggers on this month's blogger club challenge. If you're looking for a book recommendation to help you manage your goals and get you on the right track, I highly recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear.
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