Embark on the Life Assessment, a crucial step in the Create Your Dream Plan Action Life. This assessment, which I’ve shared my own version of, serves as the cornerstone for understanding your current life situation and setting your future goals.
A clear understanding of your current situation is the key to unlocking your future goals. It’s like a puzzle, where each piece represents a different aspect of your life. For instance, my accident led me to rely on government financial assistance. But I’ve set a goal to replace this with my own earnings, not just to improve my life, but to gain independence and self-sufficiency.
Having this figure allows me to set smaller goals (milestones), the first of which was to have a Gross wage of $160, and the next milestone will be $200, and then $250, and so on until I reach the magic number of $700. This also allows me to set business financial goals with the target of $850 (The wage is about 82% of sales). But this is just a starting point. Once the business has reached this sales goal, it can switch to the next financial goal.
I want to add that once I have raised my wage to $700, I need to stay there for at least 13 weeks. Another way to look at it is for an entire quarter, plus the partial quarter if the target isn’t reached at changeover. This is to allow me to get comfortable in my new situation before levelling up again. This can also be referred to as reaching an upper limit. You can find more on this by reading or listening to Gay Hendricks’ “The Big Leap.”
You need to ask yourself, where are you now? And where do you want to go?
Want a planner to help you plan and track your quarterly goals? The Quarterly Planner is for you.
I was in a car accident on 1 November 2024. This has affected all areas of my life, and I have had to not take on any new clients in my backup job as a domestic cleaner. I am not sad about not being able to take on new cleaning clients, but I am sad that it has finally set me back about two years.
In the early stages of recovery, I was inspired to start with my Crafty Monkey Creations product range of candles and reed diffusers. You can check them out at cmchgd.com; you can buy them if you live in NZ. This has made me realise that I must change how I do things. I need to sell only the products I already have in stock, not those I INTEND to sell. I do better if I pre-make the product and then sell it. There is too much pressure for me to pre-sell something and meet the demand.
Part of this is that I have a short attention span. I am creative and like to make something once or twice but then get bored or another project catches my eye.
I cycle through projects, which means making products in bulk to sell via the website or creating products that are set and forgotten. I also need to batch-write blog posts so you get one new post from me daily.
Finances: My finances have taken a hit due to the accident. I have not been able to work at all for a couple of weeks and have been working reduced hours since December. All of my savings have been used, and I have unfortunately had to go back full-time on the benefit.
Solution for finances: I need to bring home a Gross wage of $700, which will give me an in-hand amount of $547.49. This doesn’t improve my financial situation, but it gives me independence.
Job or occupation: As mentioned above, I am returning to Domestic Support part-time. I have started a home and body product range via Crafty Monkey Creations, but this is a slow build.
For my passion project, Holistic Goal Detectives LTD, I have started to write a book, Create Your Dream Plan Action Life – Take Your Dreams and Make Them a Reality. I realised I was forcing myself to make a course, and it just wasn’t feeling right for me at this time. Thus, I have gone back to basics and focusing on my writing. And I am committed to writing one blog post a day. Once I get back in the habit of writing daily, I will turn some of my posts into an audio podcast. I just (last night) found out that my web host has a section for setting up a podcast, so look out for that very soon. At this stage, my planners are the final part of Holistic Goal Detectives LTD. I started with The Quarterly Planner, which I updated for personal use. Next will be The Future Plan, which is still in development. I will also make the individual components available for purchase so that you can pick and choose the inserts you want to make the perfect planner for your needs.
The first financial goal for the Holistic Goal Detectives LTD group is $850 per week or $3700 per month.
Friends: I am happy with my interaction with my friend group. It would be nice to have a business friend to bounce ideas off, but that would require me to go to a networking event, so I am not interested in doing it at this stage.
Leisure: While recovering, I have had plenty of downtime. I am happy with the books I am reading and the streaming services I have. OHHHHH and I have started gardening. Rather than failing again at in-ground gardening, I have been trying container gardening and have had some success. It is very addicting, though, but in the long run, it will help with my health because I will eat more fresh fruit and vegetables than snacking on junk food.
Once I have some extra money
I would like to start going to the beach more often to walk the girls (dogs). The cost of extra petrol means I can only occasionally go to the beach at the moment, which is about a thirty-minute drive from home. It is a good way for me to de-stress and find peace.
I want to get a day back and hiking boots and start going on day hikes again. Furthermore, I would like to get a multi-day pack and relevant tools and equipment for several days of hiking. I would like to do more of the Te Aroha track and other Great Walks of New Zealand. It is an amazing way to see the country I live in.
To accompany the multi-day hikes, I would like to get a food dehydrator and dehydrate some of the fruit and vegetables that I grow on the land. I would also like to dehydrate my own meals for when I am hiking.
Once my fitness is better than what it is now, I would like to get a kayak.
Partner or relationship: I am still single; I have been working on myself. As much as I would like a partner, I need to get my financial situation sorted first. By that, I mean I need to get to my minimum wage first. That way, I can feel like I am an equal partner, not a lesser partner in the relationship. I don’t know; this is just how I feel. I miss having a best friend who is a companion, but he needs to be the right person. And if I see a red flag, I need to learn that means stop, not jump in anyway.
Health: Alright, let’s get into it; having to write this section out has held me up writing this post. But here goes. On 1 November 2024, I was driving to Auckland from Whangarei (about 2.5 to 3 hours to get to my aunt’s place from my home). I was driving at the speed limit of just under a few days before I had been given a speeding ticket. I was going straight on the highway, and as I came to the intersection at the Ruakaka turnoff, a car pulled out in front of me. I tried breaking, to no avail. After impact, I tried to get as far off the road as possible.
The impact was on the passenger side bonnet and door. Thankfully, Fluffy, my small white dog, was in her car seat, and I think that cushioned her impact, and she was unhurt. The airbag punched me in the face, but thankfully, I didn’t get bruises on my face. I also suffered from a whiplash from the seat belt and the impact. My injuries were cracked ribs and bent bone in my neck, and I injured my back in new places. I am so very thankful that my injuries were not any more serious. Oh, I did have an MRI after I was ambulance to the hospital. I think it is an MRI, the one where you have to remove all of your jewellery, and you are put horizontally into the machine that takes images of your insides.
Today as I write this, it is Friday, 4 April 2025; my ongoing injuries are my ribs still hurt from time to time, only a mild niggle. My back is excruciating; sometimes, walking is very painful.
I have this week made an appointment with the doctor to see if I can get a pain management plan in place. Because I need some help.
Also, I went from 73kgs to 82kgs.
Exercise: Yeah, exercise. Hmm. My chosen form of exercise is walking. But for a while there, I couldn’t even do that. It was a struggle to walk maybe 50 steps of where my driveway meets the shared driveway. Since “getting better”, I have done a few walks but haven’t done as much as I should. For free exercise, I can walk along the road. There are two problems: I hate walking along the rural road, and my shared driveway is long and narrow. Okay, three points; the third is if my land was shaven, I mean weedeated, then I could do laps on my property. Sadly, it is overgrown with brambles, and I cannot use my weedeater.
Living conditions: Around the time of my accident, I was getting some work done on the lifestyle property:
I got my tiny house turned around, and wastewater/septic sinkhole holes were dug
a flushing toilet was installed and upgraded from a camp toilet
10,000-liter water upgraded from 1,000 litres
To help with all of this, I got some groundwork done.
What’sWhat’s next:
A proper house water pump
A vegetable garden that provides 80% of my vegetables from now on
I need a shed for my laundry to get a proper automatic washing machine with enough space to dry the laundry in winter. And space to operate Crafty Monkey Creations until I can get a building made for my office/crafts/Crafty Monke Creations
Then, a bedroom pod for when my youngest visits on the weekend.
Feeling relaxed: I am a little tense right now because of everything that is going on. I will feel better once I reach my minimum financial goal.
Feeling in control: For the most part, I am in control of my life. I can’t control when people buy from me, but I can do some marketing and advertising to increase awareness, which will organically increase sales.
Planning for the month ahead helps you stay on track with your quarterly focus. It allows you to break it up into smaller, manageable chunks. It also allows you to evaluate what is important to you. By pre-planning, you will be more prepared for the action steps you need to take, and you won’t be surprised by events.
(c) 2025 Goal Detective Cindy and Holistic Goal Detectives LTD
What you will need?
Your Create Your Dream Plan Action Life notebook or planner (Printed or digital copy)
Monthly Task Tracker
Your planner or the full Quarterly Planner with the weekly planner included
Up to an hour for the planning session
Using a notebook or printed-out planner, you will need your writing instruments.
What is the focus for the month?
Is the monthly focus the same as the overall quarterly focus, or are you focusing on one part of the overall focus?
Monthly Action Steps
It is helpful to have a task tracker for the month. This may seem like double handling of the tasks from planning the quarter, but if you get overwhelmed, this step will help.
From your Quarterly Task Tracker, transfer the items you will be taking action on this coming month.
What other action steps do you need to video this month?
In your weekly planner, note any appointments and events that have been pre-booked. Do any tasks need to be completed before the appointment? If so, add the task to the monthly tracker.
Can you think of anything else you need to do this month?
Recording your achievements
We as humans tend not to celebrate our achievements or brush them off as no big deal. I challenge you to record your achievements and go a step further, reward yourself. That is why the Quarterly Planner has space for you to record your monthly achievements. Did you write that blog post? Awesome, record it AND reward yourself. This could simply be doing a little happy jiggle in your seat, making yourself that cup of coffee or tea you have been dying for but didn’t allow yourself until you finished writing the post. Or go for that walk? Or make that hard phone call?
The point is to record what you did and reward yourself.
Another reason to record what you have completed is so that:
You have a list to prove to yourself that you do actually finish things.
For those days you are being mean to yourself, you can see what you have achieved
For the end-of-quarter review
For the end-of-year review
To help you track the progress of more significant projects while achieving smaller milestones
It is time again to check in with your Life Assessment. These quarterly assessments are important to help you see how your life is and if anything has changed. They also allow you to form your plan for the next three months, as you may discover that a particular life area needs attention or that a life area you have been working on is now at a satisfactory level.
When you have your big planning session at the end of the year or the start of the new year, you will do the full Holistic Life Assessment, which involves delving deep into each life area.
First, you will do a quick quiz to determine which life areas you are satisfied with right now and which are important to you. Over three months these can change in value to you. Or you may have done the work required to improve the life area. Another point to think about here is that life can change drastically in 90 days.
In your notebook (or you can use the Quarterly Planner), head up the page “Life Assessment”. Then, you will need three columns, the two on the right to be smaller than the one on the left. Just big enough to write a two-digit number. The image below will show you an example of The Life Assessment.
The column on the left is for the life area, the middle is for Satisfaction, and the one on the right is for Importance. The life areas are:
Job or occupation
Finances
Family Relationships
Leisure
Partner or relationship
Health
Exercise
Living conditions
Feeling relaxed
Feeling in control.
Please rate both qualifying columns on a scale of 0 to 10, where zero is least satisfied or least significant, and 10 is most satisfied or most important.
You finish the life assessment by writing a reflection on what came up for you while conducting the quiz. This should help you clarify where you are right now in your life. It will also help you identify which life area(s) you want/need to work on next.
Hey Goal Investigator, today I (Goal Detective Cindy) will walk you through how I plan out my week so that I am moving forward with my goals. I will also share my weekly planner template with you, a powerful tool that will equip you to plan out your week and move closer to your goals.
The first thing I always do when weekly planning is to fill in the dates the week started and ended. Followed by the weekly affirmation. These are both at the top of the worksheet.
Then, I fill out the focus for the week. This can be a goal or project that you will be focusing on this week or a task that has to be done that week. Remember, this process is flexible and can adapt to your needs.
What does success look like for you this week? Describe some measurable milestones that will help you succeed.
What resources are required for the week? Having them listed here will help with productivity.
If you already know some of the tasks you need to tackle this week, add them now and add them to this section during the week. If the task needs to be done on a particular day, you can add that to the daily to-do’s.
Now, start to add in your appointments for the week.
I like to fill in my daily to-do list the morning of, with the first three being the top priority tasks for that day.
At the bottom of the worksheet, there is space for weekly notes and “wins and achievements.” Recording your achievements is not just a formality, it’s a powerful tool to boost your morale and keep you motivated, especially during challenging times.
The dashboard box is to record items you are tracking each week, such as how many sales you made that week, how many inquiries you received, and how many new enrollments you received. This helps you keep track of your progress and identify areas for improvement.
Weekly Habits is used to help you develop new habits, such as walking 6,000 steps daily, writing 500 words daily, and so on. These can change week to week as your priorities change for weekly notes and “wins and achievements”. Recording your achievements help you to see that you can actually complete things and gives you a morale boost when you are feeling down.
Dashboard box is to record items you are tracking each week, such as how much sales you made that week, how many inquires you received, how many new enrollments you received.
Weekly Habits is used to help you from new habits such as walking 6,000 steps daily, writing 500 words daily and so on. This can change week to week as your priorities change.
Next Steps:
Need help planning your goals? Enrol in Goal Detecting Basics, a free introduction to Creating Your Dream Plan Action Life. This course will provide you with the foundational knowledge and tools to plan and achieve your goals effectively.
Want to learn how to plan your quarter (the next three months)? The Quarterly Plan module is for you.
As you will know by now from the name of my business, Holistic Goal Detectives LTD, I am all about helping you achieve your goals. One of the things I have learnt over the years is that your goals will only be achieved if you schedule them. But how are you going to schedule time for your goals if you are just so busy? That is why, when my life gets busy, I return to the Time Finder worksheet.
Disclaimer: The Time Finder is not my concept, I learnt how to use this tool when I was doing party plan many many years ago. This article just shares with you how I use the worksheet.
The Time Finder, a landscape A4 piece of paper, is a versatile tool. It features a table with the days of the week, and three cells are allocated under each day, which I use to separate mornings, afternoons, and evenings. However, you may have your own unique way of structuring your days, so I intentionally left the rows unlabeled. You might prefer categorising your days by work, appointments, daily habits, or any other method that suits your lifestyle. Please share your approach in the comments, as it could inspire others.
Once you have chosen how you will separate your days, it is time to get into the fun stuff: filling out the Time Finder.
First, add any personal appointments you have for the coming week.
Do you have any work appointments you need to add in now?
Add in your morning routine.
What time do you have lunch?
Do you regularly exercise?
Do you meal prep?
Do you regularly have a date night with your partner?
What time do you like to go to bed?
Do you do weekly planning? If so, when do you do it?
When do you do your self-development?
Do you or your kids/partner play sports? If this affects your time, add it.
Quiz Night? Add that in, too.
Coffee with friends?
You get the point. If it is something you will do this week, then add it in.
Now, it is time to analyse your activities. Have you forgotten anything? Add that in. Are there any tasks that can be eliminated? Can you rearrange some tasks to increase efficiency and free up some time?
Now, let’s focus on your goal. How much time a week do you need to dedicate to it? Or is there a specific day and time you would like or need to work on a task for your goal? It’s crucial to make room for one to five hours to start with for your goal. Remember, your goals are important, and you need to commit time to them to see results.
Now, update your planner/diary with the new schedule, including a time slot for you to work on your goal.
Do you need help with navigating your Crossroads Journey? Book in for a Goal Investigation Session or WhatsApp Goal Investigation Support.
