I’ve expanded this one into a step-by-step post – check it out here if you want to learn more about it.

Grab a stack of post-it notes and a pen, set a timer (normally I start with 30 minutes), and commit to writing down goals or wants on them for the allotted time, as many as you can come up with.

Hit the countdown and don’t filter what you’re writing – you’ll do that later. For now, pour as much as you can out there.

I normally have a few categories in mind to help me if I’m getting stuck (i.e. health, family, work, growth, finances, romantic relationship, friendships, others) but the key is to keep at it for the entire time. You might be surprised at what crops up!

Once the time is up, I group the goals/wants by theme or area, and do a first pass to identify my top ones, remove any that on further thought don’t feel right, and see whether some of them are part of a different goal (i.e. learn Spanish may be part of the goal Move to Spain). I also tag them by whether they’re short, medium, or long-term goals. At this point I normally move them to Trello, where I can do the tagging and have them easily at hand, but you can do this by simply writing an “s”, “m” or “l” on the post-it.

This exercise is similar to Ximena Vengoechea’s life audit, which I recommend checking out if you want a more guided experience.

I do this exercise with my husband every January to set our goals for the year, and it’s been a game-changer – I’ve gone from having projects that languish in my “I’d love to one day…” pile to actually doing things I love and I’m proud of. If you pair it with calendar planning you can even avoid burning out due to putting too many things on your list (but that’s a topic for another post…).