On the first day of class in college, you’re given a syllabus that maps out exactly what is expected of you—what you should do and when—and provides a timeline of what is due over the course of the semester. That syllabus has always been one of my favorite parts of college. Why? Because it’s a definitive road map of where we’re going.
After graduation, though, what you do and where you go is entirely up to you. Want to move to an apartment in a new city? Go for it! Are you dreaming of getting an internship in your dream field? Or settling down and designing your cozy cottage in the countryside? It’s all up to you.
If you’re anything like me, you like to know where your life is headed. You have big dreams and you’re going to make a plan to get there. You want a road map of what to accomplish, and when, even while you leave space for magic to happen.
The metaphorical syllabus is yours for the making.
Mission Statement
In the front of my notebook—on the title page—I keep my mission statement. I read once that it’s important to have a mission statement to guide you through all aspects of life; to remind you of who you are and where you’re going, and why. It’s like your own personal north star.
Start by writing down the words and values that resonate with you most; words like love, integrity, creativity, joy, kindness, patience, travel, grace, peace, steadfast, wild, wanderer. Words that remind you who you want to be. Then, wrapping up those words into a single sentence, explain the sort of person you want to become.
If writing your own life mission statement is too daunting for now, use other’s words. Maybe you have a Scripture verse that you want to guide you for the rest of your life, or a quote that is so impactful it has stuck with you for years and years. It will take time, but narrow down to a sentence or a quote or a phrase, and copy it out in the front of the notebook. That’s your north star.
Vision Boards
Visual inspiration is so important. I can’t stress that enough. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? No matter how much you talk about your goals, all it takes is one singular photograph to capture it and then suddenly, wham, you know exactly how you want to feel, who you want to be, where you want to go. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy Pinterest so much—used in moderation, it is a valuable way to organize your dreams and ideas.
At the start of each new year, I like to print out pictures from Pinterest and make a vision board to capture the direction I want to go. This is also a good place to keep a road map of where you’ve been over time: your best achievements, the goals you’ve reached, the things you’re grateful for, what you’ve been learning.
Focus Areas
Find your “focus areas,” the areas of your life you want to improve. My current focus areas are Writing, Blog, Work, Creativity, and Health. Others might be Academics, Home, Travel, Reading, Music, Art. For indications of your focus areas, look at how you spend your free time. The things that light you up, that make you excited. Things you want to do more often, because you enjoy them or because you need them to reach a future goal.
I set one goal in each area. For example, this year I’m working to…
- write a draft of my current work-in-progress (Writing)
- create consistent posts for this site (Blog)
- save enough money from waitressing to pay for my last semester at college (Work)
- learn violin and write poetry (Creativity)
- and feel my healthiest by getting enough sleep, water, and whole foods (Health).
The fewer focus areas you have, the better. By 2020, I’m hoping to narrow down to having focus areas in Education, Writing, and Blogging.
Dreams
Where do you want to be in a year? What about in two years? In five years? In ten?
Imagine a day in your future life. Let’s say ten years from now. Imagine it as if it were happening, present-tense. Think about the person you are—the way you think, how you feel, how you speak. What do you wear? Who are the people you’re around? What do you do everyday? What are your mornings like, and your afternoons, and your evenings? Where do you live? What does your home look like? Who is with you? How do you spend your mornings, afternoons, evenings? What have you experienced and accomplished by this time in your life? Write it all out in exquisite detail.
The first time I did this exercise was five years ago, when I was sixteen. And I love looking back at these, because my dreams at age sixteen were so much different than my dreams are now. Life doesn’t turn out the way you think it will, but it’s amazing how many of my “Five Year” dreams have come true. I made it to my dream college. I studied abroad in England. I finished the trilogy I was writing. Dreams really do come true, and more often than you think.
Other Ideas
If all that wasn’t enough for you, here are a handful of other things you can add into your life design notebook.
- Current Projects: Writing projects that you’ve worked on and completed.
- Reading: Keep track of the books you read and how they influenced you.
- Finance: Record your annual budget, college payment plan, overview of budget system, and expense records.
- Achievements: Write down your greatest achievements and the things you’re most proud of yourself for.
If your life design notebook is getting too complicated, then eliminate the unnecessary. Track your current projects in your bullet journal or personal planner. Move your reading list to Goodreads. Create a budget spreadsheet on your laptop.
I used to keep current projects, reading lists, and finance records in this notebook as well, until I decided to move transient things over to my annual planner. The Planner is like the flip side of this life design coin: one side is the dreamy goal-setting part, the other side is the practical plan of what you’re doing daily/weekly/monthly.
There you have it! Let me know what you think. Do you keep a life plan journal or binder? How do you set it up? I’d love to hear your comments.
<3 Olivia Grace
