I try not to do things that are not certain and expect them to work as if they were certain. Like, sure, you can aim for things, but then you shouldn’t call it “resolutions”. That’s why I focus on the “aim” instead of setting strict goals. Let me show you how I do it!

Planning on paper vs digital planning

I use both paper planners and digital planning tools to organize my life. I think better on paper, although it’s much more convenient to plan digitally… So I do like a hybrid system, and I’m trying to stick with what works and not change things up if not necessary.

So I have four types of paper planners:

• An academic planner

• A memory-keeping planner

• A journal following the bullet journal method for productivity

• A “thinking-planner”

I also have an extra illustrated journal and a bunch of other, more niche journals.

I have the following digital tools for planning:

• My dashboard in Notion

• My digital planner in iPad (using the GoodNotes app)

In my bullet journal, I tend to set aims, track my projects, and all of that bigger stuff. The digital version of that is my Notion dashboard.

In my memory-keeping planner and my academic planner, I set aims for every week, and, similar to in the Notion pages, I set the values I want to live by and the vision I want to have.

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How I plan

For me, Aims, Values, and Vision set up my life purpose!

Let me go over each with some bite-sized information:

Aim

Aim is what direction you want to go with your life. You aim to do these things, for example

“I aim to do meditation three times a week.”

Instead of

“I’m going to meditate three times a week” as a goal and stick to it for some time, and then get discouraged because you missed a week…

With aims, you are not as restricted, and it’s more about what direction you want to take right now and without caring about if you’re in a “current streak” of a strict goal. With aims you can always start over without guilt.

Values

What are your values? Mine are inclusion, lifelong learning, spiritual growth, and kindness.

These are the things you want to live by and are the “why” behind your aims. Your aims should always have a value behind them.

Vision

Maybe you have done a vision board before? A vision is how you want to do things, your vision and ideas that aid in achieving your aims.

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Resources

If you want my Notion template or see me going through my Notion setup for 2026 you can follow the links below:

Notion setup on YouTube:

Get my Notion template for free: http://trixjoyce.link/lifeos2026

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Much love,

Trix