My 2022 Quarterly Planner, Goal Setting, and Why I'm Publicly Declaring *some* of my Goals

Hi friends! I'm super thrilled to be sitting here on my couch and writing this blog post. I guess you can say this is one of my favorite blog posts ever! To be honest, I didn't take life *very* seriously until this year when I quit my teaching job, lost some of the important people in my life due to Miss Rona, and started my TPT business. I was a happy-go-lucky woman living on the other side of the world. But actually, I could be a happier-go-luckier (this isn't a word!!) woman if my life was more organized.

While I was resting in my hostel room last week, I came across this Youtuber (not a TPT seller) who talks about goal settings and why it's important to be financially independent and anything and everything under the sun that makes your life become more organized. After watching A LOT of her videos, I got more inspired to create a quarterly planner and plan my quarterly goals (I decided to set quarterly goals because of Becca Davis).

My quarterly planner is a notebook that my boyfriend gifted me for my birthday since I like to write. It's still a mystery to me as to why he chose this design, but it's cute (and YES, I believe mermaids exist!) and Ariel looks adorable.

When you open my planner (we're going to call this a planner and not a notebook, ok), you'll see a set of stickers and my personal information. By the way, can we talk about how cute these pens are?! I got them at Daiso for $5!

When you turn the next page, you'll see my Goal Setting page. I broke this down into my long-term goals, one-year goals, six months, and three months goals (inspired by Aja Dang, my new favorite Youtuber). Setting goals definitely helped me align my focus in life and my business. It is something I look forward to at the end of the month, and it feels great to tick off what I have accomplished, so I decided to take it to the next level and create a goal-setting page like this!

I just printed the words because I don't have the artistic ability to design the planner the way I like. I have lots of colored pencils, but I still can't make things cute with my own hands (and this is why I don't have a bullet journal and I don't plan on creating one).

You can also see my financial goals on the right side. I actually filled this out today and wow, it felt great just by imagining the things I want to achieve financially in a year's time because I know they will happen and I will make them happen.

My most favorite page in this planner is my sinking funds page. If you're not familiar with the term, a sinking fund is a strategic way to save money by setting aside a little bit each month. (I've also learned about this from Aja.) You can use a sinking fund to buy a car, house, or pay off your student loans. This is very timely for me because it's the start of 2022 and I want to start my sinking fund as soon as I get paid in January (but before you start your own, decide what you're saving up for first. I have written my own example in the latter part of this post). You can find more information about sinking funds here.

I have my quarterly goals page on the right which I won't talk about just yet. I'll share more about it in my next blog post. Now, let's proceed to my own goal-setting page. I have tons of things I want to achieve in my 30's. Yes, I'm 31. Shocking, right?! But it's never too late to plan actionable steps to make my life better and more organized (hehe!).

Before I proceed to share my own personal goals, I want to answer why I'm publicly declaring some of them. I know there's a scientific reason as to why you should keep your goals private, but I am sharing them with you here (in no particular order)...

1.) To help me take them SERIOUSLY.

2.) Because I want to live my life intentionally.

3.) Because I know that if I put good out, good will return to me (and I am already claiming it!).

4.) People (who have acknowledged my goals) will remind me if I am slacking on them 😄

5.) For people to get to know me more and my aspirations in life (maybe we have the same goals?! Let me know!!)

LONG-TERM GOALS

One of my long-term goals is to move to a different house in the Philippines. My family is currently living in Lancaster in Kawit, Cavite. But I want to move somewhere nicer. I actually want to move to Laguna. I want to live away from Manila, but I still want access to things and places that the big city can offer.
I want to live in Europe, USA, or Canada. Oh wait, add Australia, New Zealand, or Singapore. If you're from the Philippines, you already know why. No explanation needed. And this is also why I decided to work in another country.
I want to have a successful TPT business and hire someone for marketing because I have to admit, marketing is not one of my strongest points. My Instagram is a living testament to that and my lacking of pins to post.
Drive a car. Yes, I am 31 and I don't know how to drive a car.... and ride a bicycle. If I didn't come to Brazil, I wouldn't think of learning how to drive a car because everyone here has one. I know my dad asked me to take driving lessons in the past, but I didn't take it seriously. I could also use my driver's license as one of my valid IDs, but at the time I was young and really didn't think of my priorities for the future.
Travel with my family. The last time I saw and traveled with my whole family was from December 2018 to January 2019. I paid for their tickets to fly to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (except for my sister LOL) and we spent Christmas and New Year together!! Good times...
New laptop. I put this in my one-year goal too. You'll know why.....

ONE YEAR GOALS

I am not going to talk about each one of them because they are self-explanatory, but I definitely want to:

Hit the first TPT milestone! I'm far from it 😁, but writing and planning for it make a whole lot of difference! Yesterday I earned $94 on TPT alone. Holy guacamole!!
Move to a different city with my boyfriend and my dog. I'm sick of living here. If you ask me, I prefer to live in Sao Paulo where I have access to A LOT of Asian foods. But the cost of living is more expensive than living in Manila. But you know, nothing is impossible.
I want to be home for Christmas 2022. I haven't seen my family since January 2019 😟
New laptop because I can definitely afford to buy one in the Philippines but not in Brazil where gadgets and electronics are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE!!! If I won't be home in 2022, this will be completely moved to my long-term goals hehe!

I won't discuss my six and three months goals because again, they are self-explanatory. Most of them are my goals for my TPT business. And if you are reading this and you're a TPT seller, you already know what these things mean to us. I don't know why I added the 'Cook more and stop ordering online' and 'Sleep and wake up early' to my three months goal. I guess it's because it takes 21 days to form a habit and I will have 3 months to hit those goals. 😂 It should be a New Year's resolution, but I'm not doing that.

SINKING FUND EXAMPLE

For the sinking fund example, let's say I am planning to travel to Rio de Janeiro in July2022. I have paid for the flight tickets and hotel accommodation, but I need money for my daily travel expenses and for the whole month that I'll be in Rio, I want to spend 5,000 BRL or almost $900. If I start my sinking fund in January, it's going to be:

5,000 BRL / 6 months = 833 BRL. That means I need to save 833 BRL each month to fund my travel expenses

I'll personally use my sinking funds to move to another city and pay for my flight tickets to go back home. And this is why I want to cook more and stop buying food online 😁 Except for sushi, OK 👀 That's a priority. 🍣

Alright, friends. We have reached the end of this blog post. Did you learn something? I hope you did! 😄 I can't think of a better outro, but let's make 2022 the best year ever! And if you have questions or anything you want to share, I'm one DM away on Instagram!

-The Viral Teacher