Did you ever have a sticker chart when you were younger? To track progress on your piano lessons, reading log, etc.?
Well, I’ve started the tradition again, and the results have been exciting, so I thought I’d write up a little post explaining how I did it.
Back in February, Eric and I attended a business conference together, and there was one phrase that really stood out in my mind. It was something like this:
“If you actually believe something is possible, you will unlock the energy required to make it happen.”
At the time, there were several big goals I had in mind for myself, our family, and our business, and I felt a little frustrated by my lack of progress.
It seemed like I was moving so slow and that the goals I wanted to achieve were so far away.
But then I got an idea.
What if I created a poster with the words “You’ve Got to Believe” written on it?
And what if I added a sticker to that chart each time I did something out of my comfort zone to move me towards the goals I had set?
The vision inspired me. I could just SEE that poster getting filled up with dots—and my goals being achieved (almost on autopilot).
When I got home from the conference, I asked our daughter Grace to make the poster for me—because she has the best handwriting.
Then I ordered a package of stickers from Amazon—featuring our LearnDoBecome colors (plus yellow!).
Next, I created a note in Evernote—in my “Spiritual Creation” notebook—called “You’ve Got to Believe.” I put my first photos and a list of my goals into the Evernote, and the foundation was set!
The only other things I had to figure out were how to record the goal-oriented tasks that were beyond my comfort zone and how to remember to put the stickers on the chart.
It seemed natural to use the original Evernote to record the goal-oriented tasks I completed, so each week, I would write the date (“Week of September 7th” or something like that) at the top of the note and then include a bulleted list of everything I had done that deserved a sticker.
Writing articles, recording podcasts, attending meetings, working on social media, reading/researching helpful material, making big decisions, etc. all earned stickers. Some hard conversations earned three.
And if I ever forgot to record as I went along, I would simply look back at my calendar and fill in the gaps. (No stress.)
To remember to put the stickers on the chart, I enlisted Asana (my favorite project/task management tool) and created a recurring weekly routine to pop up each Monday and called it “Sticker Chart.” (I know…super fancy, right?)
After filling in the appropriate number of stickers, I took a photo and added it to my Evernote.
At the beginning, it felt like nothing. Sure, I earned a few stickers here and there, but the momentum was slow, and I felt a little silly even attempting to fill in the whole thing.
But something started happening over the course of a few months. Instead of adding just 3-5 stickers a week, I was adding 20-25. I started building momentum, getting braver, putting better habits in place, and seeing RESULTS.
I look at the goals in my Evernote now, and they aren’t “pie in the sky” anymore. They’re my reality…or close to it.
And the chart wasn’t “magic” or anything, but it was a consistent reminder that I was making progress toward the goals that really mattered to me.
Here’s a video showing the week-to-week progress.
If you want to make your own chart (which I highly recommend), here’s a quick review of the steps:
- Make a poster with a phrase that inspires you. If you like my phrase, we have a printable version for you.
(There are two pages–one with the lines pictured below to color in as you go, and one with white circles for you to put stickers on as you go. Just click the image below for the PDF. Enjoy!)
- Decide if you want to color it in or use stickers. If you’re using stickers, find/order them and have them ready.
- Create a space (like an Evernote or a Google Doc) to hold your goals, progressive photos of your chart, and a record of the tasks you’ll complete.
- Then inside that space/note, add a photo of your blank chart and write down the specific goals you want to achieve.
- Create a recurring weekly routine (inside your calendar, routines list, or a task-management app like Asana) to remind you to record any out-of-your-comfort-zone tasks you completed to work toward your goals AND put the corresponding number of stickers on your chart. Don’t forget to take a photo each week and add it to your Evernote/Google Doc! 🙂
- Then when the chart is full, come back and tell us about your progress. Or just give yourself a huge pat on the back.
I want you to believe…
- that good things are in your future
- that even though life can feel hard sometimes, if you keep moving forward, things will work out
- that you are being lifted and guided by a power beyond that which you can see
- that you have the capacity to make a real difference in your life—and in the lives of others
Of course you don’t have to have a sticker chart in order to make progress in your life, but sometimes having a visual reminder of the beautiful work you are doing will give you a little lift.
And just for showing up here today, I’d love to give you your first sticker. 🙂
LearnDoBecome Challenge: We would either love for you to make your own sticker chart (or color-in chart like the one provided above) OR find some other way to track your goals and the efforts you are taking to achieve them. Good luck!!!
Love this so much! I need to do this! I might change mine to some phrase to do with consistency since this is my biggest hang up to achieving my goals! Thank you April and Eric for the encouragement you offer 💖
Dear April! Thanks for a super idea! I’m so glad I found you!!! My chart is being created now!
I just started a new job, lots of tasks in my new role. I’m going to be leading a team, so I’m going to be sure to bring this to them.
On a cute note, have you read Max Lucados books You Are Special and You Are Mine? Stickers don’t stick unless you want them to…,
Thanks for my first sticker 😇
Good luck with your new job, Ceci! And YES! I love Max Lucado’s books! You are so right about the stickers. What I like about this process is that I am giving them to myself. 🙂
I love that book! 🙂
Excellent & inspiring! Thank you!
You’re so welcome! Thanks, Sylvia!
I really miss your Podcasts!! What happened??
Oh, thank you, Valerie! I hope to resume them soon. 🙂 I got sick for a few months, and raising teenagers/distance learning/managing life had to take priority. Thanks for being part of our community!
April,
Sorry to hear that you were ill. I have an autoimmune disease and life can be really hard. Hearing you say that you took care of yourself and put a lid on stuff that wouldn’t matter at the end of the day, gives me hope that one day I can be better at that too. I feel overwhelmed and don’t have the strength to accomplish basics these days. Your posts give me great hope. Thank you for sharing.
Kimberley, I am sending you a huge hug! Oh my goodness, when you don’t feel well, your priorities quickly become VERY focused. I discovered that I could only feel calm and relaxed if I got enough rest, focused on nutrition and basic exercise (walks!), and focused my limited additional energy on my family’s needs, my church volunteer position, and the basics of our business. All the extra things I want to do had to go on hold for awhile. But while I was sick, I listened to lots of audiobooks and Great Courses, and I made some good decisions on how to focus my energy once I felt better. There are so many things that are “nice to do”, but when you are limited on health and energy and you really ask, “What do I want to say with my life?” it’s pretty amazing to see what answers come. Take good care of yourself!!
Thanks for the HUG!😁 God bless you April💕
I love all of your ideas, but this may be my favorite!! I absolutely love it! I believe in writing things down, making lists so I can see the progress as I scratch one off!
Of course, putting them into practice, is always the tough part of anything! On second thought, getting out of my own way is hardest for me! It’s the same fir all of my dis-organized, unmotivated friends. If only I could get them to do your suggestion about doing “round robin” organizing/cleaning projects. My Mom was the cleanest, most organized person I will ever meet! I’ve shared a lot of her tricks and they’ve helped several friends. Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit those genes from her! One of these days, I’m going to send them to you. I’ve seen a lot on your posts!
Thank you for your kind words, Nancy! And thank you for helping to spread the word about LearnDoBecome. 🙂 Sending a huge hug!
What’s Round Robin? I need help with motivation. 🙂
Thanks April! Great idea, love it!!! Going to make one now!
Wonderful! Enjoy!
OOH I love this! So simple, so fun, but I can absolutely see how it can be very effective. Implementing it now, and can’t wait to share it with my coaching clients and in my blog! Thanks!!!!
Awesome, Jenny! Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Very nice. This is so inspiring. I’ve been feeling at a dead end in locked down France.
This really helps me avoid the noise and worry and try to keep on or get on track with my goals. Thank you very much.
Sending lots of love! So glad we can support each other from other sides of the world!
Aww love this ☺️ Thank you for all you do. Changing lives around the world. 🌎 Elbow bump from the UK!
Thank you, Claire! Elbow bump right back at you. 🙂
Love this! It’s so positive…more so than my color-in-the-box thing I have going right now – since the boxes that don’t get colored in by the end of the week kind of bum me out. This is 100% positive!
Yes! A celebration each week. No stress or getting bummed out. 🙂
My goals are all changing since being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes a week ago. I’m going to use my first chart to get on track with creating a new lifestyle.
Thank you for this post and the chart.
Wishing you the very best as you take care of your health, Reba! You’ve got this. 🙂
Thank you April this is such a fun idea that I BELIEVE is going to work for me!
Yes! Go, Roberta!
Oooh. I know what my phrase is going to be!!!!! “Turn Try to Triumph!!!”
I’m struggling to keep my household going while I am doing online school with my two oldest. Then I have a toddler on top of it, so I barely get dishes and laundry done each week. I’m hoping this chart can encourage me to make the most of the very few minutes I have for other chores I need to do.
I know how you feel, Lynette! I started online school because my baby was going to be going to school, and I was going to be at home alone. Ha. Ha. Ha. I might just do a regular chore chart for myself lol
Thank so much for sharing this April. It is such a good idea. Specially for us visual people. I was inspired and will be doing this myself and also sharing it with my students in my Financial Coaching sessions.
Thank you so much April for this wonderful idea to keep on track with my business and being consistent. I have always had a hard time staying focused on my next steps and going out of my comfort zone. I can’t wait to get started and get organized not only with my business but also keeping my home clean and organized. Thank you so much!
So fabulous! Not sure whether it is one I will implement – but I am working on your “how to build a command center”, in bits and pieces. I really enjoy your writing style, too!
This was an inspiring post! My chart will say. “Actually, I can!” I’m excited at the thought of seeing my progress as I “reclaim” my basement! Thank you, April, for being such an inspiration!
God Bless You!
Never had stickers or goal accomplishment anything when growing up. This is a good idea though. I may just use color checkmarks! My phrase might be It’s Done!!!
I took drawings from granddaughters off my refrigerator because I haven’t seen them since COVID. That’s a space I can use!!
I’m starting a Program to help me with my business and I’m forcing myself to be brave and step out of my comfort zone to build my business. There’s homework, so I’ve got plenty of opportunity to fill i with lots of stickers in the next 7 days!
I love this. And thank you for giving me a sticker. It made me smile. I cannot wait to try something like this at home, and maybe also for my son who wants to earn an electric toothbrush. I have a goal for him of showing me his sparkly teeth for thirty days before I buy him one, but how much cuter it would be on a chart like that!!
That’s an amazing idea! I love that he can earn that special toothbrush by taking care of his teeth with the tool he already has. Way to teach him how to uplevel! 🙂 Excited for you, Desiree!
Absolutely loved the idea…I was looking for such an idea and you absolutely nailed it…thank you so much for all the genuine encouragement.
I’m not one to post comments after reading a post but this one was really inspiring to me and will be implemented by the end of the week. I must say thank you for this and I will be using this Kind-of-Silly but Effective way to do Better!
Thanks!
Love it! So excited for you, Michelle!
This is awesome going to try it with my 2 daughters and one for myself.. thank you..
Definitely silly! But I bet it would be effective to see it getting filled in. Thanks 4 sharing!
Help! I got overwhelmed just reading this. Open docs, Asana, so many more things to learn or check out which just adds to the list of “ to do.” Your ideas sound great but so overwhelmed on where to even start.
Oh, I totally get it, Sue. As I was reading over the post, I thought, “This probably needs to be more visual.” The key idea is that you want a place to keep track of the progress you’re making–and a reminder in place so you don’t forget to give yourself stickers. If you print out our color-in chart and then create a recurring/weekly reminder on your phone to track all the things you did that week, that would be an easy way to get started. Hope that helps!
Same! Thanks for saying that!! I’m thinking to stick with my paper n pen lists and print the sticker chart and just start. I have SOOOO many things started and dropped the last 4-5 wks! Ugh.
April,
I am a long time member of STEP. I have started and stopped many times… I think your poster and sticker idea is awesome. It may be just what I need! I am not tech savvy, I want to make it on a smaller scale, so I think I may be playing around for a while… But I have some ideas… When I finish I will try to remember to post it here or in in the Facebook Group…
Dana Miezio Gass
So happy this was helpful for you, Dana! And yes–even just a notepad where you track your out-of-comfort-zone tasks and then a simple sticker chart or color-in chart could work beautifully! So excited for you!
I’m thinking to make a chart for a few different areas in my world. Work, personal for starters. However, I have a tendency to automatically over complicate things. So, maybe I just have one chart with different sections in the same chart, like one word for Business and one word for personal, etc.
Sammie, that’s a great idea! You could also consider using different colors for each area of life. Either way, we hope you have fun with this!
I designed (with help from MS Word) two sticker charts: “I can do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:13) and “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9). I would be happy to share them, but I’m not sure how to do it, since I can’t post photos or .pdf files to comments.
Beautiful!! If you upload them as PDFs to your google drive, you could create a shareable link and post it here. 🙂 Way to go!!
I like the idea of using a different color sticker for each area of my life: decluttering / downsizing, yard / garden, etc.
Brilliant!! Love how that can help you see how balanced your efforts are. Thanks, Kathy!
Great idea!! I love everything I’ve learned from you guys, but I must admit to falling off the wagon more than once. I get caught up in something and then head off on a tangent and down a rabbit hole. 60 years of piles and still plodding through is a lot to unlearn. But I am so much more productive and my work is so much better when I follow all your steps.
This is a great fun way to help keep on track. Thanks for all you do and all the inspiration.
You’re so welcome! Thanks Heidi!! (And there’s no “wagon,” so you are all good.) We all keep working and improving. 🙂
OK . . . here’s a link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14AcLUs7qtPjxNCi4IwxIyjW3FVVlHJ0U/view?usp=sharing
Since this is on 8 1/2″ by 11″ paper, instead of large poster size like you have, April, I would suggest using 1/4″ stickers instead of the larger ones. You can get them here: https://www.avery.com/products/labels/5795
Love this, Kathy!! Thanks for sharing this with our community. (And for our community members reading this, LearnDoBecome is for people from all walks of life, from any–or no–religion, but we love when members share things that are working for them, and we hope you enjoy seeing how Kathy applied this to her personal goals!)
One of the best things I’ve done with my goals is tracking any progress made when I do my weekly reviews. I’m so slow to complete goals (because kids) and so seeing little reminders of what I HAVE done really helps! I just jot down a note for whatever I did that week. It’s so nice to see progress. I love your poster idea because it is even more visible and visual.
I made my chart! And gave myself a sticker for making it and a sticker for hanging it up. The sentence that is my call to action: “Someone needs what I create.” Here’s a link if anyone else wants to use it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/188CacoamTtrtPrXD2gizm7pCR0GKwE6c/view?usp=sharing
Thank you, April, for a great, simple, powerful (NOT silly) idea to help me step into the action that my business (and those whose LIVES WILL CHANGE because of it), needs me to take!
I love this, Jennifer! Thank you for sharing your chart and your thoughts. This is beautiful!
I like what you came up with, too, Jennifer! Thanks for sharing it!
Thank you, Rachel, I used to use a start chart but stopped for some reason. This sounds like fun and something that might help me. I have depression and often I have the feeling that I’m not going anywhere. I think the poster idea is great. (I kept the star chart in my Bujo and frequently forgot about it.)
I went a step farther (following April’s example), and put 1/4″ circles in the letters on my two charts for the stickers. It was much easier to figure out where the stickers need to go on my computer (using Windows Paint, which is all I have) than to try to “guess” where random stickers should go (and still come out evenly balanced) when I’m actually putting them on. Here are the links, if anyone is interested:
My grace is sufficient for thee: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ebLOM6EV-6UrX-L90__7d26B9n109GSf/view?usp=sharing
I can do all things through Christ: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FkcCtuueFqnNQJHMxTRXNkJFcnqYWon3/view?usp=sharing
I still need to get the stickers, but I can put a small pencil check, and / or color initial and / or date (haven’t decided which yet) in the dots until I get the stickers.
Thank you for your idea April! When I first read it, I KNEW that I wanted to do it. It took me a little while to get it implemented, but when I had marked off about 40 things from my TO DO list, I knew I HAD to take the time to make it, so I could commemorate it all! So mine says, ORGANIZATION & DECLUTTERING. I have sooo many address labels and won’t use them all, so I just cut the address part off, and use the pictures. The sign is a great reminder to me that I am striving towards these two goals, and every small step/task moves me closer. Hugs to you!
This is awesome!!! Any chance you could take a photo and send it to us (that we could share on social media/the website)? This is so fun. 🙂 You could send it to care (at) LearnDoBecome.com, if you get a chance. But no stress! xoxo
Love this!!
me too
I decided to order a sticker by number book to implement this idea. You can get them at Amazon, but I am sure they are also at places like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. My order will come in tomorrow, so I am excited to get started right away. It will be fun to see the mosaic come together as I add more stickers for my accomplishments.
Love that idea!! Way to go!