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I am obsessed with the wheel of life and I literally audited everything in each of the categories that were important to me. I asked myself how I did in each section. What did I do well? What went poorly? What did I learn from each of my wins and failures? What lessons can I walk with into this new year? Dude. I got pretty deep. Looking at my wheel of life in an honest perspective it looks a bit deflated. It’s not as well balanced as I want it to be – for one, my exercise and health is at a 4 of 10.

Life Goals Jar: The 5 Rules for This Fun and Easy DIY New Year Resolution Project

It’s that time of year again… the malls are filled with Christmas tunes and lights are hanging from every window. In just a few weeks we’re going to be entering 2018 and 11 months later from there, we’re going to be saying, “Wow. I can’t believe it’s already November. Time flies so fast.” Don’t we say this every year? *Raises hand* Guilty!

Reflections and Life Audit

Before we do that and we get all deep into our resolutions, I want to take a step back. This year, I’ve done something I’ve never done before and that’s to DEEPLY reflect.

Goal Setting Important Goals

Every year I tell myself I’m going to go run a half marathon. I don’t know why I even sit this goal. I hate running. I put this measurement of success over my head because it sounds like a cool thing to check off the list. In 2018, I’m not going to attempt to run any damn marathons.

What I am going to do instead is boulder at V6! In August 2017, I signed up for a rockclimbing membership and I absolutely love the sport. I am hovering over a V3/V4 right now but I’m determined to rock the V6s by the end of 2018.

DIY Project: New Year Resolution Life Goals Jar

This year I wanted to do something new. I often just journal my New Year resolutions but I often find that list gets lost or hidden somewhere. I can’t even tell you where my 2017, 2016, 2015, etc. ones are. They are either in a trash bin or in one of the hundreds of journals I have laying in my closet but I’m not sure which page to point to. In my process of life design. I’m also in the process of office and home design. That’s why this year I decided to get a little bit crafty and artsy and design a jar filled with goals. I plan on having the jar sit on my desk so I can look through it often and see where I’m at with my goals. I think being able to sift through the jar will serve as an excellent reminder of what was important to me this day, December 6, 2017.

The 5 Rules for My Life Goals Jar:

• I can add to it whenever I want… it’s going to be my jar of (future) fulfilled goals.
• Each goal I write down has to be very important to me (not like running a damn marathon).
• Every goal has to be a result. It can’t be ‘I am going to work out 3 times a day’. Instead it has to be something like I’m going to lose 10 pounds (insert current weight for reference).
• Every goal has to be past tense.
• Every goal remains important – do not waver or remove!

So for example, in my jar, I have a goal: I climbed a V6!

I haven’t actually done it yet. But I imagine when I’m reading this again in 2018, I’m going to be positively reinforced with the past tense statement as in, “Wow. This is totally achievable.”

This is my first time trying this technique but I think it’s really powerful compared to, “I want to climb a V6.”

Also, I just cannot wait for that feeling of when I read these again on December 6, 2018 during my year-end reflections. I am so excited to grin and say, “Wow. I did climb a V6!”

So, that’s the 5 rules… pretty simple, right? Let’s dive in and create your own!

How to Create the DIY Life Goals Jar

Step 1: Prepare your supplies:

1. Jar or container: I picked up this glass one because I like the clearness but you can get creative and use any jar or container you’d like. I also contemplated buying a really pretty candle and reusing the jar but I figured it would take too long to empty the wax.
2. Paper: I used cardstock paper for a bit of thickness but regular paper is fine!
3. Scissors: You’ll need scissors to cut your paper into different shapes and sizes – or keep them all consistent. Whatever you fancy!
4. Pens: or any other writing supplies – the sky is the limit.
5. Decorative Items (Optional): I added ribbon lace around mine but you can keep it minimal or go all out and bling it.

The point is, this is your jar so go crazy!

Step 2: Reflect + Write:

Without any judgment, write down your goals for 2018 on individual pieces of paper you cut out. Remember to follow the four rules especially #3 on making it results oriented. Here are some prompts to get you thinking:

a. On the Wheel of Life, what does a 10 out of 10 look like?
b. What do I need to accomplish to make that a reality?
c. What’s one thing I was disappointed I didn’t get to do last year?
d. What do I fantasize about?
e. If I couldn’t fail, what would I try?
f. What would get me more excited every day/week/month?

Step 3: Revisit Often:

There you have it. Told you this was an easy DIY project! But before you finish, I encourage you to pull up your calendar to pencil in when you’re going to revisit these goals and add to the jar. For example, I plan on visiting mine on the first of every month. By having them on my office desk, it’s easy enough for me to be reminded. By reflecting once a month, I’ll have my goals fresh in my mind even six months later.

Now it’s your turn!

I’d love to hear your top goals for 2018. Remember, sometimes it’s easy for us to throw away our goals or go at full speed in the month of January… but I encourage you to think back on why you wrote them down in the first place. Don’t give up just because something didn’t work out the first time you tried it. I had you write down your results instead of your actions because there are often multiple actions you can take to get a result.

Cheers to you accomplishing your wildest dreams this year!