Why I love Level 10 when goal setting

Howdy,

Woo this week I am tired D: when I am feeling down or unproductive one of my goto methods of helping myself relax is reviewing my goals. I usually do this by mind mapping out level 10 and reviewing where I am in each goal, how I feel about it in the moment what I am or working on in each section. It helps me realize I am on track. I don’t have anything on fire. It’s fine if I am tired.

What is level 10 Life, and where does it come from?

Level 10 Life is a personal growth strategy that comes from Hal Elrod’s book, My Miracle Morning. Hard to believe it has been so damn long since this book came out. So much bullet journalling has happened since this book was released.

In general, the idea behind Level 10 Life is to work on these specific 10 sections of life. You rate how you feel about that section of your life – for example how happy are you in your “home”. There is no quiz, just internal thinking about it.

After you reflect on each, you then set goals to move the needle closer to 10. The goal being 10/10 for each life zone. A lot of people, including people, swap out the zones to what works for them – but this is the source for all that.

I actually struggle with looking deep within for emotions on things, which is why my zones are probably rated so high – I have like 3 emotions for the most part. Okay. Not Okay. And Angry. It has it benefits >>; but I always try to mention it now as I don’t want someone to look at my ratings and be like, damn she’s happy. I just have a harder time rating things, so mine tend to lean higher when in a good mood, and mid when not.

Anyway, this week is mid. I am just feeling down so I rated my areas lower than I think I should have. After further review and reflection I would rate them much higher. Things are on track for me, as I said, just need a reminder everyone in awhile and this is how I reassure myself.

These are the 10 categories I use:

1. Family & Friends – I include family here, so trips, events, family guilt >>; stuff like that. Then Social events and things I try to (force) myself to participate it.
2. Personal Development – learning and working on new skills. I put my reading goal here, as well as anything new I might want to learn. I keep job ones under job, however.
3. Spirituality – witchy things for me. I believe its religious for most people. This for me is how connected I feel to my spirituality and craft in general.
4. Finances – Money, of course. Spending and earning, debt and goals, etc. If it cost money, I usually tag it here. I am not the best example of a budget person, as I live pretty ‘willy nilly’ and am okay with that.
5. Marriage – or partnership, or if you are seeking one. For me I always include communication and anything we might need to work or discuss on here. Do we need more date nights? etc
6. Career – I put all job related items here, not Etsy stuff or things I want to make, etc. Just focus on my Marketing day job and things I might want to learn.
7. Fun & Recreation – outside activities, as well as free time together. I add games, wants, etc here as well. I try to remind myself to take x days off, plan me time and nature things too. I like routine, alot >>; so I have to remind myself to take time off or break out of it occasionally.
8. Eco/Charity – I included eco here for myself. What can I do that could be a better switch and be better for the planet?
9. Home – For me I treat this as physical house, our apartment. I think others include their environment which my include the vibes more. If I need a new dish, or organization somewhere. Decluttering every year regularly ><; etc
10. Health & Fitness – Health of course. So any mental, physical, etc appts. Dental.

As an example, I recently added one that might not come to mind for everyone. I need to make a mini bag of supplies to start taking with me places – medicine and inhaler, etc those types of things I keep running into forgetting to grab and I am not a purse person, so I plan to make a mini health travel pouch. Grab n go deal. I would consider this health related and will make my life immensely easier >>;

I love using this system to sorta figure out where I am. It does have some short comings. You will notice no side hustle goals or things I want to buy or make in here. I treat those as their own section. I usually have a wish list section, for items I want to purchase. Then I also create a ‘I’d like to make’ section for ideas and collections I have in mind for the year.

Side hustle goals are harder for me, as I am so sporadic and I don’t really have a goal here to make money…more like entertainment hobby. I just can’t push myself to sell a course or say my planner is better than anything and be CONSISTENT enough to make that work for me.

I do have improvement goals for those things – such as I want to start adding in goal setting text pages to my planner. I just usually put them under ‘to make’ or if I am doing it for profit only, I toss it under money. To be clear, I think there is value in this stuff, I just can’t manage myself well enough to push those things right now.

I’ve used this for a long time, since I discovered planning in like 2016, and enjoy using this method. It helps me focus those goals on things I might not always think about – i.e. fun and recreation, home or family time >>;. It gives me a clear association to the groups which allows my brain to decide if that area needs work.

I will say as I’ve reached my current spot in my life, I am pretty content overall. So I struggle with making goals that feel challenging right now. It’s part – I am content (which of course means why do something harder than needed if not needed?) and part – I don’t think I wanna do the same things I see all the time as goals (like travel, or do something very specific). Having to really dig emotionally deep to things I might actually want to do or see, is a pain. But working on it. It’s good to get outside of your comfort zone.

Any who, Happy planning,