# How to document your goals It is of the utmost importance to document your goals. Vague goals that linger in your mind tend to be overlooked and rarely get achieved. To live your life in an intentional way, you need to clearly document your goals and regularly look at those to remind you of what you want to focus your time and energy on. Luckily, documenting goals is rather straightforward. ## How I approach this I personally combine two things to document my goals: - A textual list of my goals - A visual [[Kanban]] board My list of goals includes both professional and personal ones. That way, I get to see everything at once, and I can prioritize it all. On the other end, my visual board helps me associate each goal with a specific time horizon. And I document and manage it all within my [[Obsidian]] knowledge base. ## Spreadsheet You can also document your goals and map those to time horizons using a spreadsheet. Here's an example: ![[Knowledge Worker Kit - 01.05.06 Goals - How to document your goals - spreadsheet.png]] As you can see, it is rather simple. Each goal has - A unique identifier - A code name: useful for referencing it elsewhere, including in the visual board - A specific time horizon - A SMART description (cfr [[SMART Goals]]) You can use the current date as the sheet's name, to remind your future self of when you last updated it. When you go back to your list of goals to review/update those, you can make a copy of the current sheet, and change the date. That way, you will have an history of your goals, and will be able to see how they evolved over the years. You can use the following template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16IDu2VAA2LOq7p6GroqdsQleSDLPOLE6SM8F5djUvBc/edit?usp=sharing ## Visual board The most important part of my Goals Management System is the visual board. I like digital solutions, so I personally use Obsidian canvas to create and maintain my visual board. Note that previously, I used Miro to do the same. Tools don’t matter that much, but the information does. Here’s what my board currently looks like: ![[Knowledge Worker Kit - 01.05.06 Goals - How to document your goals - 2025 goals.png]] Right now, I have one such board per time frame. This enables me to focus on the short-term, while still being able to think more strategically during yearly reviews. I use one column per "focus zone". Note that there are actually more columns (e.g., Family & Friendship). Every time I review/update my boards, I make a copy of the previous one, with the status of each goal (green for achievements). Also, I print it out and put it on my desk, where I can see it regularly. It acts as a permanent reminder of where I’m headed. This has served me well so far and helped a lot with focus management. Here’s how it previously looked like with Miro: ![[Knowledge Worker Kit - 01.05.06 Goals - How to document your goals - miro goals.png]] Previously, I used a single board to visually organize everything: - One row per time horizon - One column per “focus zone” ## References - Goals spreadsheet template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16IDu2VAA2LOq7p6GroqdsQleSDLPOLE6SM8F5djUvBc/edit?usp=sharing ## Related - [[Reverse Goal setting]] - [[Why time horizons matter]] - [[What time horizons to consider]] - [[How to define your life goals]]