How To Crush Your Goals In 2019

Each new year is like a fresh start for many of us. Coming off the holiday breaks, you're relaxed, feeling refreshed, and ready to take on the world in 2019! This is when many of us make New Year Resolutions or goals - better eating habits, work on our fitness, be better at balancing work/family, and so on. While many people stick to their resolutions, there are those of us who lose focus after a few months. This is quite common. I have made tons of New Year's resolution but didn't stick with it. I blamed things like not having enough time, too many distractions, blah blah blah.

Two years ago I changed my focus and my view on New Year resolutions. Instead of making a resolution, I focused on setting goals. I didn't restrict myself on how many goals I could set for myself, whether they were long term or short term. What mattered was that by setting goals, I had a clear vision of what to focus on. Since then, I try to set at least 2 long term goal and 3 short term goals at the beginning of the year to see how close I can get to them.

To avoid setting too many goals and losing focus, I used various journals and books to better guide me. Before we dive into these items, I want you to know that these are things that I came across that happen to work for me. This may or may not work for you but I want to share in case they do help. I'm also not sponsored by any of these productions I'm about to mention.

5 Second Journal

Created by Mel Robbins (author of 5 Second Rule), this journal can be used daily or as needed. It is pre-set with questions that allow you to focus on how you're feeling and what your priorities are for the day. Often times we feel overwhelmed because we're doing so many things, causing us to lose focus and feel like there's never enough time to do everything. This journal really helps you determine what is most important to you and allowing you to focus on that.

Since I started to use the 5 Second Journal, I find myself being able to focus better and less frustrated because I feel like I don't have enough time in a day. The way this journal is structured lets you focus on the most important thing first -- you! It starts with how you're feeling right now, why do you think you're feeling this way, and what you can do to feel more energized throughout the day. After that, the journal moves on to prioritizing your to-do list and asks why those things are important to you. This really helps me narrow down my evergrowing list of "Things I Must Do". The journal also focuses on gratitude, a time table for you to plan your day, and a doodle space. There's also a daily challenge designed to take you out of your comfort zone and push yourself. This is the one section that I don't utilize because I don't journal in this daily so sometimes I forget about the challenge altogether. Overall, if you're looking for something that'll help you focus and prioritize your day, it may be worth a try.

5 Second Journal, $29.99

It’s Your Universe

While this is not a journal, it is a great read for all ages. Penned by actress and Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein, this inspirational book filled with her personal stories of success and failures and how through it all, she kept going after her dream. Ashley uses her love of Disney stories and gorgeous visuals (by artist Ashley Taylor) to show us “if you can dream it, you can do it”. There’s a worksheet at the end of each chapter to motivate you to chase after your dream. I love this book because it lets you connect with Ashley on a personal level, to know that she too struggled with many auditions and other challenges before landing the role of Ahsoka Tano and founding Her Universe.

It’s Your Universe: You Have The Power To Make It Happen, $17.99

Blogilate Fit Planner

Photo via Popflex (www.popflexactive.com)

If working on your fitness on in 2019 is your goal, the Fit Planner by Blogilates may be just what you’re looking for. Blogilates aka Cassey Ho is a YouTube fitness sensation who have not only created an online empire with her fun and popular workout videos, she has also designed her own collection of gorgeous workout apparel. Each year, Cassey releases a yearly planner called the Fit Planner. It combines journaling and fitness planning together in a beautiful planner.

What I really like about this planner is at the very beginning, it has pages to help map out your 2019. Cassey designed it so you can set a long term goal, a short term goal, and a "wildest dream" which allows you to write down whatever goal you want to achieve, no matter how outrageous it may be. For me, it really put things in perspective as to what I want to focus on in order to achieve my goals. There are also Habit Trackers, Meal, Water, and Sleep Tracker, space for daily meal planning and recipes, motivational quotes, and so much more.

This is really a do-it-all planner. The only downside for me is that it is a little bulky in size since it's filled with all those goodies. This year's planner is slimmer than last year's which is a plus.

Fit Planner 2019, $27

The Mini Happy Planner

You've probably seen these gorgeous planners if you frequent craft stores such as Michaels or Jo-Ann's Fabric. The Happy Planner comes in different sizes and variations to fit your lifestyle needs. They have planners with a focus on fitness, travel, for moms, and more. Did I mention this planner is customizable? Yep, The Happy Planner sells stickers, insert pages, and even binding disks so you can design it to your esthetics. Some planners even come undated so you can start a planner in the middle of the year if you want.

The one I'm using currently is the Mini Happy Planner. I chose the dated one because I simply don't have the time to customize an entire planner. This planner has a monthly-at-a-glance, space for daily planning/notes, spaces for doodle or list-making, and gorgeous page layouts with inspiration quotes. The Mini Happy Planner fits inside my everyday purses or mini backpacks perfectly.

The Mini Happy Planner (Michael’s)
The Happy Planner website

Grid Diary

This app for those who doesn’t like to keep a physical journal and would rather keep everything on their phone. The Grid Diary app has a very simple and clean layout and it’s easy to use. This is more of a journal rather than a planner and the purpose of this is for you to look back on your day and reflect what you achieve and what tasks you didn’t get to. Questions prompts such as “What did I get done today” to “What am I grateful for” really allows you to think take a moment to think about your day and how you felt overall. The prompts can be really helpful on the days that you don’t feel like writing. If you don’t like the question/prompts, you can customize it to your own liking. This is all available to you in the basic version. The pro version gives you more customizing abilities such as uploading a photo or changing the font style.
However, on June 13th, 2019 this version of Grid Diary will stop updating due to a new generation of Grid Diary has been released so Grid Diary 2 may be worth checking out.

Grid Diary in available in Apple App Store

I hope you found this post helpful in kickstarting your 2019. These are all the products I have tried and loved. Each of these items helped me focus on my goals, reflect, and time manage better. What are some product that help you plan out your day and focus on your goal or new year’s resolution? Comment below and let me know.
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