A trick I've learned on achieving goals

This year I've made more progress on achieving my goals that I have in the past, and I think it is partly due to a very simple idea.

I wrote out all my goals for the year in a Powerpoint slide, saved it as an image, and then made this image the desktop image on my laptop.

Now, I see this image several times a day, and this constant reminder helps keep me focused on the goals.

One of my goals, for example, is to get out and run 100 times. For about two months I wasn't running, but faced with this daily reminder, in early March I got my sneakers on and hit the streets. Since then I've run 16 times, and now I'm on track to meet that goal.

Another goal has been to read more fiction. I originally set my goal as to read 6 novels over the course of the year. Not very ambitious. For a couple weeks, I made no progress. Then I started listening to audiobooks, and I have already met the goal of 6 books, so I upped to goal to 20 for the year.

Technically, it is simple to do. I show here the image as it appears on my desktop, and I've also included a downloadable PPT file that you can use as a template. To make it fit your own screen size, check your screen resolution, and then adjust the size of the PPT page to match that ratio. (Go to Design/Page Setup and play with the margins. If your screen is 1200x800, for example, you could make the page 12x8 inches.) Then save the PPT, but "Save As" a jpeg. Then go to your desktop: Right Click / Personalize / change desktop background.

From Personalized desktop

Goals template -