--- title: The Power of Writing Down Your Goals description: An elite trainer explains how it changed her life—and the lives of her clients. canonical: https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/ author: Lacey Stone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-09T08:00:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:59.838Z og:title: The Power of Writing Down Your Goals og:description: An elite trainer explains how it changed her life—and the lives of her clients og:url: https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d6fba5a36b1603e/698878c0bc6cfc6fcb3db33d/pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas-motto-stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Power of Writing Down Your Goals twitter:description: An elite trainer explains how it changed her life—and the lives of her clients twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d6fba5a36b1603e/698878c0bc6cfc6fcb3db33d/pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Power of Writing Down Your Goals > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Some of The World's Most Powerful Women Share Their Best Advice [Watch (HLS stream): Some of The World's Most Powerful Women Share Their Best Advice](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LF8Rmcmf.m3u8) (1:11)  _Published 2016-02-02_ by [Lacey Stone](https://time.com/author/lacey-stone/) ## Lacey Stone Feb 9, 2016 8:00 AM UTC  Molly Cranna for TIME by [Lacey Stone](https://time.com/author/lacey-stone/) ## Lacey Stone Feb 9, 2016 8:00 AM UTC Every time I meet with a new client, I have them do one thing before anything else: Write down their [personal goals](http://motto.time.com/4190933/maggie-murphy-personal-career-life/), their professional goals and their physical goals. I’ve been writing down what I want since the beginning of my career, and honestly, it’s so amazing because everything I’ve written down has happened. I started this habit in college because I loved Oprah, Deepak Chopra, _The Power of Now_. Granted, you have to work for it. But somehow, even if you don’t know _how_ it’s going to happen, knowing what you want to happen and writing it down helps it become reality. Sure, some people roll their eyes. But to them, I say, “Why not give it a try?” It’s worked for a lot of successful people. Here’s how to get started. **Ask yourself** **_why_** **you want your goals** I have one woman who I’ve trained, and she was maybe 30 pounds heavier. She said, “I want to have a body like you.” So I asked her why she wanted this. Because I’m telling you right now: Having a great body or getting rich isn’t going to make you happier. How you feel is what’s going to make you happier—which is why it’s so important to know why you want to achieve your goal. Do you not feel happy in your own skin? If it’s just about the weight, it’s not going to come off. **Get super-specific** It’s really important to be clear because if you’re not clear, you’re going to be going all over the place. See your goal in your head, feel it with your five senses. Close your eyes, and think about what you’ll feel like, what you’ll be wearing, who will be there. What’s it going to smell like? See it happening. I truly believe that if you can see it, you can make it so. Visualize it, and see what it feels like. And don’t worry about how it’s going to happen—just trust that it will. **_Read more:_**[_It’s Time for Women to Take Back the Word ‘Selfish’_](http://motto.time.com/4198454/its-time-for-women-to-take-back-the-word-selfish/) **Put your goals where you can see them** At the beginning of every New Year, I write all of my goals, put them on the wall and look at them pretty much every day. And that helps remind me to say yes to things that will bring me closer to my goals—and no to things that will only leave me further from them. You just have to keep putting it out there and talking about it, and if you’re a good person and you’re not trying to force your way, people will come into your life who will help you get there. No dream is too big. Open your mind, open your heart to the possibilities and trust that, if you write it down, one day you’ll make your goal happen. [_Lacey Stone_](http://laceystonefitness.com/) _is a bi-coastal fitness professional and celebrity trainer._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/"},"headline":"The Power of Writing Down Your Goals","datePublished":"2016-02-09T08:00:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:44:59.838Z","description":"An elite physical trainer explains how putting pen to paper changed her life—and the lives of her clients","url":"https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/","keywords":["motto","Careers & Workplace","How-To"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d6fba5a36b1603e/698878c0bc6cfc6fcb3db33d/pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lacey Stone","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lacey-stone/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d6fba5a36b1603e/698878c0bc6cfc6fcb3db33d/pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas-motto-stock","caption":"pen-notepad-2-advice-success-work-to-do-ideas-motto-stock","creditText":"Molly Cranna for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/","name":"The Power of Writing Down Your Goals"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Some of The World's Most Powerful Women Share Their Best Advice","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/LF8Rmcmf/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-02T13:57:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LF8Rmcmf.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/","duration":"PT1M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4196996/write-down-goals/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```