I've always known that I won't live forever, and my time is limited. Acceptance, for me, means not letting days pass without building something—whether it's a personal project, work-related, or a professional course.
My goals and objectives aren't necessarily grand or overly ambitious. The real question is: what gives your life value? Where do you see yourself in 10, 20, or 30 years? What direction are you heading?
If you have many ideas but struggle to bring them to life due to a lack of method or inaction, this article explains a simple method to achieve your goals using Notion. Don't worry if you're not familiar with Notion; you can follow these steps with another application or even without using any.
From Dream to Goal
We all have dreams and ideas.
Ideas often come at random times—when you're about to fall asleep, in the bathroom, or during a shower. You might have had an idea in your head for months, even years, but haven't taken action to make it happen.
Start by setting a clear and achievable goal that's not too daunting and is closer to your current position. For instance, achieving "financial success" can be challenging, especially if you haven't reached simpler goals like "having a stable job or business."
Consider "financial success" as the dream and "earning a stable income" as a goal that leads to the dream. Or, if "having a perfect body" is the dream, "going to the gym" and "eating a balanced diet" can be specific goals to aim for.
Your goals should be realistically achievable, or you won't feel motivated to work towards them. Think about who you want to become and what you want to accomplish.
From Goal to Tasks to Complete
After setting your goals, it's time to take action. But before jumping into action, there's one more crucial step: identifying the tasks you need to complete to achieve that goal.
A goal is considered 100% done when all its tasks are completed. So, the completeness of a goal depends on finishing its tasks. If a goal has 10 tasks, completing each task gets you 10% closer to achieving that goal.
It's straightforward, right? This way, we break down big dreams into many smaller goals, and each goal into several tasks. Every task you complete brings you closer to reaching your goal.
So, once you've set a goal, identify the actions you need to take, and each of these actions becomes a task.
Using Notion to Set Goals and Tasks
If you're not familiar with Notion, this may not be your cup of tea. For those who know their way around Notion, here's a method to track your goals by completing tasks.
Creating Goal and Task Databases
Start by creating a database that you can view as a table and name it "Goals." You can customize the fields you want for this table, but for now, the name is all you need.
Next, create another database in table format and name it "Tasks." Again, for now, the task name is sufficient.
Tracking Progress: Adding Goal/Task Status
Now that we've set up the two databases, it's time to add a status indicator to each of them. Every goal and task can be either Not Started, In Progress, or Completed.
Notion provides these status options by default. Don't change these settings; they work just fine. Simply assign "Not Started" as the status to each goal and task.
Connecting the Two Databases
Now, let's make sure these two databases can talk to each other. The idea is to assign specific tasks to each goal, and these tasks come from the second database. In the tasks database, there should be a reference to the goal for which each task was created.
To set this up, head over to the Goals database and create a relation, linking it to the Tasks database.
Creating the Rollup
Now, add another field within Goals, which will also affect the other database. The field in question is a rollup set up as follows:
Name: Progress (or your preferred name)
Type: Rollup
Relation: Tasks (meaning the other database)
Property: Status
Calculation: Percent per group
Choose one of the three options under "Display As," with the progress bar being the most visually helpful.
This way, each goal will have a completion percentage based on how many tasks related to this goal are completed and it's all automated, giving you a clear view of your project's progress without manual adjustments.
Celebrating Progress: Turning Dreams into Achievable Goals
Aachieving our goals is a process we all undergo, with the ultimate aim of leading a fulfilling life. We've emphasized the significance of breaking down these dreams into manageable objectives, converting these objectives into specific tasks, and leveraging Notion to manage and monitor our progress.
The incorporation of progress tracking in Notion serves as a valuable tool for visualizing and overseeing goals and tasks. This dynamic system, covering goals, tasks, and their statuses, simplifies our route to success.
Whether you're already familiar with Notion or just starting, you now have a method to ensure your goals transform into attainable accomplishments. It's about turning your dreams into reality, one step at a time. And remember, just as the wheels keep turning, progress is a continuous process.
