The power of writing down your goal

This morning I wiped off the chalkboard in my office with original Windex with streak-free shine. I had written a few messages on the chalkboard, notes to myself. Plans, ideas, dreams. One of the items on the chalkboard I had circled  – Adult Coloring Book.

I know the chalkboard is in my office, and I know it was me who wrote down, Adult Coloring Book, with a drawing of a cat. But, it just occurred to me today, that I had written down a goal and finished it.

The power of writing down your goal

Is there some sort of magic to writing down a goal? Steve Maraboli said if you don’t write it down, it’s not a goal, it’s a wish.

“If you have a goal, write it down. If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal – you have a wish.”
― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

Dominican University of California psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews researched the effectiveness on goal setting if the goals are written down. She discovered that if your goals are written down you are 42 percent more likely to complete your goal.

I wonder if they wrote their notes on a chalkboard or on a piece of paper. Perhaps the 42 percent that finished their goals wrote their goals on a chalkboard and the other 58 percent wrote their goals on a piece of paper that they lost?

Or maybe it wasn’t because they wrote their goals on a chalkboard, maybe they finished because they got tired of thinking, I never finish what I start. There are so many unfinished projects in the basement. I am not very good at finishing.

The words we say and the thoughts we allow to circle in our brain can either help us or hinder us.

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Dr. Matthews found out in her research that if you wrote actionable steps with your goal, shared this steps with a friend, and sent a weekly report to the friend, your chances of finishing your goal rose to 76 percent.

I drew a question mark in the middle of the chalkboard. A question for you. What do you want to write down? What do you want to finish this year?

Tomorrow I will show you what I drew on the chalkboard. Please write down your goal and then share it here. We can encourage each other to finish. I would love to know what you are working on.

Do you finish your goals more often when you write them down?

xo
Pamela

p.s. I included a photograph of my painting studio so you can see how messy I really am. The room with the chalkboard is where I write.

p.s.s. The coloring book I made is Color the Cats – Forty Real Cats From Around The World and Their Stories
The book is free if you subscribe to my blog. You will receive a link to a pdf of the book in a dropbox file.
Get your FREE coloring book!

The coloring book is $12.99 on Amazon. If you buy the coloring book here, you will help me buy litter for my seven litter boxes, as this link is an affiliate link. 10% of the proceeds from the coloring book go to Animal Rescue. 

p.s.s.s
I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge. I wonder if writing down the goal of writing every day would help people finish the challenge?
Click on the orange slice to read great slice stories.