Make Plans for the Future

When you think about becoming happier in your normal life, what do you think about? 
Chances are, you think about what you can change. Not necessarily what to change 
about yourself – though that is definitely part of it – but what you can change in your life.

Journaling is a wonderful tool for this, because not only are you learning more about 
yourself and how to make positive changes and work on a more positive mindset for 
happiness, but you can also identify and achieve your goals.

Don’t Think About it as Being Better – But Happier

There are some mindset tricks that can make you feel better or worse about yourself. 
You shouldn’t think of yourself as flawed in a negative way. Don’t tell yourself you want 
to be a better person, but just a happier person. Someone content and more fulfilled in 
your daily life. Someone who has found peace in who you are and what you do and the 
people you surround yourself with.

This mindset shift is very important moving forward.

Personal and Work Goals

This is an easy place to start in your journal, since you probably already have an idea of 
some of your goals. However, just journaling every day can help you really delve into 
this and find new goals you didn’t even know you had. 

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself here – just write in your journal daily, and you 
will most likely have a long list of things you would love to accomplish.

How to Start with Your Goals

If you are having trouble knowing where to start, just start small. Think of what your 
current goals are. You can mix and match personal and professional, or just do one 
category at a time.

Do you want to go to college?
Are you looking to advance your career?
Is there something in your personal life you want to achieve?
Looking to start a business? 

List any and all goals you currently have on your mind, no matter how big or small they 
seem. Remember they might seem inconsequential, but even goals like completing a 
home renovation project or calling a long-lost friend are something to strive for.
Once you have listed your current goals, you already have a better picture of who you 
are and what types of aspirations you have in life. As you begin your journaling every 
day, you will start to add to this list, and possibly even modify other goals you thought 
were important, but are now overshadowed by something more important in your life.

Improving Yourself

This can be a tricky one, because there is a delicate balance between accepting who 
you are, and wanting to change. There is definitely a middle ground where you fully 
accept and acknowledge all of your traits, but still want to work on yourself.
Think about it like this – you want to be come the best version of yourself. Not 
different, not better. You still want to be you, but at the peak of who you are and what 
you can accomplish.

How to Do This

This requires a lot of self-reflection and clarity, which is what you are going to get from 
journaling. It is also not something you will learn the first day you write in your journal. 
This is more of the long-term process of journaling, where every day, you understand 
more about yourself, flaws you don’t like, things you love about yourself, and things that 
you believe changing will improve upon your life.

Set a 5 or 10-Year Plan

Now for the fun stuff – long-term goals! While short-term goals are great, don’t forget 
about things you want more in the distant future. Creating a 5 or 10-year plan lays out 
everything for you. You begin by setting the main goal, which is what you want to 
accomplish in a certain amount of time.

Ask yourself this question – Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What about 10 
years? 

Once you can answer that question with certainty, you can start working on your 5 or 
10-year plan right in your journal.

Write down your goal, what it would take to achieve, and always have realistic 
expectations about it. Wanting to be a millionaire in 10 years is a lofty goal, so try to be 
a bit more realistic given the time period you have for whatever goal it is, going step by 
step with choices to make in your life in order to achieve it.

Every time you make a step toward that 5 or 10-year plan, write it down in your journal. 
This not only helps you with mindfulness and keeping on track, but you can look back at 
your older journal entries and remember your progress.

