Reflect and Review

Before setting new goals, I like to take some time to reflect on the past year by asking myself the following questions:

• What routines worked well? What didn’t?
• What happened in the past year that was exciting or noteworthy? - What did I learn from it?
• What am I looking forward to in the new year? Do I already have anything planned?

What do I want my life to look like next year? The best way I’ve found to do this is through Stream of Consciousness Journaling. This is a fun and easy exercise where you start with one of these questions and just write. As new thoughts come to mind, jot them down too. It’s a meditative process that slows your thoughts enough to really reflect on what’s on your mind. The great thing is that once you’ve written everything down, you can look back and see your thoughts and feelings from the past year, making it easier to gain insights.

For me, I wrote about starting my first adult job, moving into a new apartment, and looking forward to the trips I have planned for the new year!

Once you’ve reflected and written everything down, you’ll likely have a clearer sense of what’s important and what needs attention. Now, it’s time to set some goals for the new year!

Goals

Step 1: Organize Your Thoughts

To start, I like to make a simple chart to organize my thoughts and help prioritize my goals for the year. This will allow you to align your focus and make sure you’re not spreading yourself too thin—we all have a limited amount of time and energy!

For this, I use a mind map. Here’s how it works: Start with “2025 Goals” in the center, then branch out to different areas of your life. Here are some examples:

• Health
• Relationships
• Career
• Personal Growth
• Financial Wellness
• Spirituality
• Home
• Creativity

I used different colors for each area to visually distinguish which goals belong to each part of my life. This color-coding also helps me later, as I don’t need to rewrite the main goal categories when reviewing or updating them.

From there, branch out with specific goals for each area. For example:

• Health: Get more sleep.
• Career: Complete a professional development course.
• Creativity: Draw more frequently.

Step 2: Refine Your Goals

Now that you have your initial goals, it’s time to refine them. Take each goal and rewrite it in a way that’s focused on actions you can control. For instance, instead of writing “Be more financially stable,” rephrase it to something actionable like, “Save a percentage of every paycheck to create an emergency fund.” This is more specific and gives you clear steps to follow.

Also, remember to make your goals SMART:

• Specific: Be clear about what needs to be done and how.
• Measurable: Define how you will measure your progress.
• Achievable: Make sure your goal is realistic.
• Relevant: Ensure the goal aligns with your bigger vision.
• Time-bound: Set a deadline, such as “by the end of the year.”

I continued using my color scheme to keep things visually appealing and easy to follow.

Here is my list:

All of mine aren’t completely SMART but I kept the principles in mind when creating my list of goals.

Step 3

Next, narrow down your list to 3-5 goals that you want to prioritize for the year. Write these goals on the next page, leaving space under each one to add why they are important to you and how you plan to achieve them. This step will help you turn big, daunting goals into smaller, actionable steps.

For example, “Learn to play the piano” can feel overwhelming. But if you break it down into smaller steps—such as “sign up for piano lessons,” “buy a beginner’s piano book,” and “practice 30 minutes every week”—it becomes more manageable and gives you a roadmap to follow throughout the year.

Here are mine:

Step 4 (Optional): Create a Pretty Goal Page

For extra motivation, I like to create a visually appealing goal page in my new year’s journal. This page serves as a reminder of why I set these goals and helps me stay focused throughout the year. Feel free to copy my layout or make it your own! I aimed for a balance between functional and fun, so I can enjoy looking at it every day.

I hope this post helps you prioritize your goals for the new year and sets you up for success in 2025! Happy journaling and Happy New Year!