I always start thinking about what the upcoming year holds for me as the current one draws to a close. Last year, around this time, I started looking for a yearly planner. Since I didn’t want just any planner, I asked, “What is the best yearly goal planner to help me slay my goals?”
I knew I needed to set some goals for the upcoming year, but I didn’t exactly know where to start. That’s when I found the Slay Your Goals Planner. I’ll share with you how it has helped me over the past year in a minute, but first I’d like to take you through an in-depth look at the planner itself.
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Why Do I Need a Yearly Planner?
There are many choices for yearly planners. They range from very cheap to rather expensive. People buy yearly planners to help them organize their life better. Yearly planners usually have some sort of an organized calendar component and help you keep track of appointments, to-do lists, and anything else that you need to remember. Some also have specialized functions as well. Planners help you bring your life from chaotic to more orderly and productive.
Why Do I Specifically Need a GOAL Planner?
Setting goals improves your focus. You are much more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. However, it takes more than just writing your goals down to actually achieve them – you need a solid plan for HOW.
This time last year, I knew that I needed goals, but I wasn’t sure exactly what they should be. When you just know you need goals but are lost in starting, you can’t even think about breaking them down. How can you break down what you don’t have?
That’s where the best yearly goal planner came in, which for me was the Slay Your Goals Planner.
I needed a goal planner that would walk me through the process of narrowing down my focus and setting not just any goals, but the goals that were right for me. I needed goals that challenged me but were still attainable.
Related: What is a Future Goals List and Why Do I Need One?
Slay Your Goals Planner
I’ve always been a person that likes pencil and paper and a physical product when it comes to things like planners. However, I also want to know that I have made a mindful purchase and have spent my money well. Yearly goal planners have a pretty large price range from $5 to $50. The more that I researched the best yearly goal planner, the more the Slay Your Goals Planner jumped out at me.
It’s a digital product, so it was not a physical object, unlike most of the others that I was looking at. However, I liked the fact that it walks you through how and why to set your goals in the first place. Additionally, it also includes sheets to set your goals, calendars, planners, places to write to-do lists, and sheets to break down big goals into smaller goals.
The Best Yearly Goals Planner is More Than a Planner
I mentioned that I liked a physical product, so I did print the Slay Your Goals Planner – at the library. Don’t print this thing at home unless you have a monster printer and lots of ink! I went to the library and printed mine. It was originally 78 pages. However, I recently just received an update this year (at no additional charge) and the new version is 101 pages. I just it in a binder that I already had with dividers at each of the chapter breaks. This year, instead of printing the whole thing, I plan to print just the pages that I need since I now have more direction.
Getting the updated version this year for no additional cost was very nice. It was like getting a whole new planner for the new year!
Slay Your Goals Planner – Getting Started
Purchasing a 101-page yearly planner that’s totally focused on goal slaying may sound a bit intimidating at first. However, the table of contents organizes it very well. Additionally, the friendly introduction video in my email helped me to not feel overwhelmed by it. As Nadalie walked me through the table of contents, I realized that I had indeed purchased the best yearly goal planner for me because it was more than a planner – it was a miniature course and walkthrough on how to not only set my goals but to make sure they were the RIGHT goals for me.
Slay Your Goals Planner – Not Just for One Year
Most of the yearly goal planners that I looked at were for a year, or maybe 2 years. I realized another of the many perks of buying a digital planner: not only is it accessible from anywhere and form fillable if you have a pdf editor, but I could print out as many of the un-dated pages as I wanted – forever! It dawned on me that I had been looking for the best yearly goal planner for the upcoming year, but what I had actually gotten was a yearly goal planner that I can use for as long as I want to. I just need to print off the appropriate pages and I can theoretically use it indefinitely!
Why I’m Glad that I Chose the Slay Your Goals Planner as my Best Yearly Goal Planner:
- Useable for many years to come, not just for one or 2 years
- Detailed table of contents for easy navigation
- Slay Your Goals personalized mini-course/coaching in the beginning so you know you have the RIGHT goals for you
- Pages to break down big goals into mini-goals with a time frame
- Undated Calendars
- To-Do list pages
- Journal Pages
- Goal Review Sheets
- Digital, so you can have it with you anywhere
- Form-fillable if you have pdf editor.
- Access to future updates
Walk-Through of The Slay Your Goals Planner:
This is a video walk-through that I did right after purchasing the Slay Your Goals Planner in December of 2018. The text and pictures are from the updated 2020 version. (3.0)
Table of Contents and Chapter 1
The table of contents is very well divided into small manageable sections with checkboxes to track your progress. Additionally, it also explains why each step is important. The first few chapters felt like tools for personalized coaching. It gave me the clarity I needed for the goals I wanted to pursue. Chapter 1 is all about setting your intention. For me, this is the hardest part – figuring out what the goal should be.
Chapter 2 – Choosing Your #1 Goal
Chapter 2 further narrows it down into choosing your #1 goal to focus on, building from the intention you identified in chapter 1. It includes sheets to narrow down your goal ideas to your number 1 goal as well as systems to check your goal to make sure that it’s both S. M. A. R. T. and R. I.G. H. T.
Chapters 3 and 4 – Setting Mini-Goals, Calendar, and Planner Pages
Chapter 3 helps walk you through the process of breaking down your big #1 goal into mini-goals. This section also includes the quarterly goals forecast and yearly goals tracker. Chapter 4 is where the calendars and planners start because, in chapter 4, Nadalie guides you through the year with a strategic road map.
Chapter 5 – Crushing Your To-Dos
This is one of my favorite chapters because it helps you take your goals that you just set in a timeline and break them down into actionable to-dos. This section also comes with monthly, and weekly calendars, daily planners, and a daily reflection page.
Chapter 6 Monthly Reviews, Goal Checkers, Quarterly Review Questions, and Yearly Review
Chapter 6 is all about reviewing and evaluating our goals. It goes by the month and the year. It’s a great system to hold yourself accountable. Additionally, I love the reviews because they help me to determine if my goals are still on track and if the goals I’m currently pursuing still align with my overall #1 goal.
Who The Slay Your Goals Planner is Recommended For:
Not all yearly planners are equal. I wanted to be super focused on my goals. In order to achieve that, I needed a bit of guidance to define, set, and carry through with my goals for the blog this year. If you are just looking for a daily planner to jot down random to-dos, errands, and life in general, then you might be better off with a different planner. The Slay Your Goals Planner is my top pick for the best yearly goal planner because it’s so focused. It meets the needs that I have. If you also need to define and focus on your goals, this is my top choice. Look at how it takes your intention, turns it into your #1 goal and then breaks it down into smaller manageable chunks and actionable steps.
My Results After a Year of Using the Slay Your Goals Planner
I am going to preface this section by saying that even the best planner in the world will not do anything unless you use it to plan out your goals and your time and take action based on your plans. One thing I really liked about the Slay Your Goals Planner was that it highlights the intention that should drive your goals and has monthly, quarterly, and yearly review sheets.
My intention was good at the beginning of the year, but my #1 goal was way off. I had bought a bundle of courses and originally my goals was to work my way through all those courses in order to grow the blog. As I started, however, I found some of the courses in the bundle were not a great fit for what I was needing at the time.
However, my intention was true, so that steered me back on course, as well as the review pages. There is nothing wrong with changing a goal as needed. With the action plan in place and my goals clearly defined, I achieved all but one of my goals, and I am significantly farther along on that one than I was when I first started. (If you would like to see my goals in detail, you can look at The Best Of Contentment Questing – Year 2.)
Other Good Yearly Planner Alternatives
Just setting your goals does not mean that they happen. It takes work to carry out goals. You can have all the tools in the world, but nothing will happen unless you carry through and use them. Achieving your goals takes conscious effort and commitment from you. If you are needing a general yearly planner, you may want to consider other options. You can look at this review of the unbound planner or I have also heard good things about the Panda Planner and the Erin Condren Life Planner, both from Amazon or maybe just a bullet journal if you would like something more flexible and customizable.
If still want a planner that’s goal-oriented, but a year is too long, I also have a 12 Week Planner. I developed it based on the book “The 12 Week Year.”
The Last Thing You Need To Know About the Slay Your Goals Planner
The Slay Your Goals Planner is my pick for the best yearly goal planner. As the name suggests, it’s goal-oriented. If you are needing to define your goals, map them out, and slay them to rock your year, the Slay Your Goals Planner is a huge toolbox for helping you do that.
If your goals are to start living a happier life, then look for my book, “The Pearl Perspective: How Changing Your Perspective Can Change Your Life.”
What are your current or future goals? Leave me a comment below!