I love to make goals and I love to read books about goals, but sometimes the process of making a goal is harder than the goal itself. How many push-ups am I supposed to do? What food can I eat? I am always looking for the simple solution. One could even say I’m looking for a Mickey Mouse solution.
Saying something is Mickey Mouse has not always been a complement. It has been thought of as cheap, or shoddy, or small in importance. When I think of Mickey Mouse I think optimistic, dream catcher, and go-getter. As Walt Disney said, “…it was all started with a mouse.” Could my goal planning start with a mouse, too?
I was reading a great book on self-motivation called 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself
Draw a simple Mickey Mouse face. We all know how to do this. Draw one large circle for his face and two smaller (not too small) circles for his ears. They don’t have to be perfect. Just make sure you have three circles.
Above the left ear write, “This year.” Above the right ear write, “This month.” Below the face write, “Today.” Okay, now you have your Mickey Mouse goal planner. You may want a calculator also. Let’s have some fun.
Pick a goal you are working on. It could be weight loss, or saving money, or paying a debt. Just pick one thing. My goal is to go to Disneyland this year. I need to save $1200 to do that. So my goal is “Save $1200 for Disneyland trip.” I write that in the left ear labeled “This year.”
Wow, that sounds hard to do. How am I ever going to save $1200? Well, if I want to go to Disneyland in December then I have six months (May through November) to save $1200. So I divide $1200 by 6 and I get $200. That sounds better. I write that number in the right ear labeled “This month.”
$200 is still a chunk of change. Let’s divide it again. When I divide $200 by 30 days I get $6.66 a day. I write that number in the face circle above “Today.” Wow. All I have to do is save $6.66 each day and I will be able to go to Disneyland in December? I can do that. That is a Mickey Mouse goal. Plus, it is fool proof. If I meet my daily Mickey Mouse goal I am guaranteed to meet my monthly goal and if I meet my monthly goal I am guaranteed to meet my yearly goal. Disneyland here I come!
Try this out yourself. Below I provide a few more examples. Some goals may be multi-year goals, like paying off a mortgage or student loan. Decide what you want to do in 2013 and worry about the rest later. The beauty of this goal planner is it focuses on what you can do today and usually it is very doable. You don’t have to wonder about next month or next year. Just reach your daily Mickey Mouse goal, mark it off your list, and get on with your day. Happiness squared.
5 Mickey Mouse Goals
1) Read the unread books on my shelf. 30 books a year, 4.2 books a month, 1/6 a book each day
2) Pay off a $600 debt to a friend. $600 a year, $86 a month, save $3 a day
3) Lose 30 pounds. 30 pounds a year, 4.2 pounds a month, 1/6 pound a day or a deficit of 600 calories a day
4) Write a 300 page book. 300 pages a year, 43 pages a month, 1.5 pages a day
5) Complete 5 scrapbooks (each scrapbook has 40 pages.) 200 pages a year, 28 pages a month, 1 page a day
Goofy Quote: (I love this quote. I think it goes great with Mickey Mouse goal planning. Perhaps you could write it below your face to remind yourself to focus on the “Today” circle, and not worry about the month or the year.)
“Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.” Walt Disney