Do I Need to Write Down My Goals?
A friend caught me off guard over a bottle of red wine today.
During our catch up, she assumed, quite confidently, that I must be someone who writes down their goals.
Her words... “Wait, you don’t write down your goals?!”
At first, I laughed. But then I paused. I could see why she thought I would be someone who writes down their goals.
My life, on the surface, looks like I might be a classic goal-setter.
Career milestones? Tick.
Buying a house? Tick.
Going after what I want and getting it? Tick.
I mean, it would make sense if I was someone who wrote out my ambitions and followed them step by step, wouldn’t it?
Because, that is what every self-help book says.
You need to:
Write down your goals down...
Map out your plan...
Visualise it...
Hustle your way through to your final destination...
It's the perfect formula :)
I just don’t do it.
So, what do I do?
When I told my friend that I don’t write down my goals, I started reflecting on the way I approach things.
I mean, it’s not that I drift aimlessly or don’t have ambition. Its actually quite the opposite.
I’m decisive.
When I want something, I know it in my gut. It’s like a switch flips, and suddenly, I’m laser-focused. I find out what needs to be done, and I just… do it.
Take the last really big goal I chased: becoming a Marketing Director in my early 30s.
I wasl clear that it was the role I wanted, and I told my manager outright. I asked him,
“What do I need to do to prove I’m ready?” He gave me the checklist.
I did all the things, and as these managers so often do, he moved the goalposts, adding 'secret criteria' we hadn’tdiscussed. It was so bloody fustrating.
But I pushed through. I decided,
“Fine. If you want to add hoops, I’ll jump through those too.”
And I did.
And I got there.
Looking back, it wasn’t about writing it down or following some perfectly laid-out plan. It was sheer determination. Grit, if I’m being dramatic.
At the time, I didn’t need a notebook or a vision board. I needed to feel it, to know deep down that I wasn’t going to stop until I got there.
But here’s the thing: that was many years ago. And since then, my path hasn’t felt quite as deliberate.
Getting my current job, for instance, feels like it happened more by chance than design. You know, right place, right time, right person.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done well here, but it’s not something I planned or chased in the same way.
And that makes me wonder: am I coasting?
Knowing as well that what got me to where I am now might not be enough to take me where I want to go next.
And that's where the problem is, I’m not even sure where “next” is.
Do I need to write that down?
Should I be mapping out my goals more intentionally?
Is it okay to trust my gut, to let the direction come when it’s ready?
I think a lot about these things. Maybe too much, to be honest. Maybe there’s already an unwritten goal quietly forming in the back of my mind, waiting for the right moment to come up for air.
Or maybe I’m afraid of deciding on something big and finding out it’s not what I really want.
I don’t know.
What I do know is that this is where I am right now, I am reflecting, questioning, sitting with the uncertainty.
Maybe I’ll change.
Maybe I won’t.
But for now, I’ll keep letting my gut lead, even if it doesn’t write anything down.
