Here, you’ll learn everything you need to know to start setting goals in your own Impossible List.

What is an Impossible List?

An impossible list is a place to keep everything that you want to achieve or do. It is split up into different aspects of your life (from studying to travelling) and enables you to keep track of your longer-term goals.

I first created my own Impossible List in 2012 and have been using it ever since to set and achieve my goals. I discovered it thanks to the wonderful Thomas Frank, and adapted it to form the killer system you’ll discover in this post 😀

An Impossible List is kind of like a Bucket List. However, there is one really crucial difference between the two…

It constantly changes as you change. So, when you achieve one goal, you set a new, even more ambitious one!

An Impossible List is supposed to be made up of longer-term goals. By that, I mean that the following should not go in your Impossible List.

Doing well in your end-of-topic test next week

That does not mean that “doing well in your end-of-topic test” is not an important goal. It really is! However, that sort of short-term goal is probably part of a much longer-term goal, such as:

Getting an A in History in your end-of-year exams

… and that is exactly the sort of thing that should go on your Impossible List.

Now we know that your Impossible List is for your longer-term goals, we surely still need somewhere to put shorter-term goals?

Yes, absolutely!

So, here is a step-by-step walkthrough the whole system (it contains the answer to where your shorter-term goals go!)…

Step 1: Impossible List

Create an Impossible List for longer-term goals across different aspects of your life.

Step 2: Focus Goals

Each month, decide on your ‘Focus Goals’. As you will see at the top of my Impossible List below, I have selected a number of longer-term goals from my Impossible List that I am working towards this month.

Step 3: Action Plan

Each month, create an Action Plan. This Action Plan breaks down your Focus Goals for the month into a series of short-term steps. So, if your one of your Focus Goals for this month were “get an A in History in my end of year exams”, one of your shorter-term goals in your Action Plan would be “revise for and do well in my end-of-topic test next week”.

Where do your shorter-term goals go?

… So, the answer to this question is that shorter-term goals go in your monthly Action Plan.

To learn exactly how you can start using my system (Impossible List, Focus Goals & Action Plan), check out my post Set And Achieve Goals: My Tried-and-Tested System.

There are a few key principles:

1. You have a few focus goals each month that you specifically work on achieving / getting closer to achieving.

2. You cross things off when you complete them, adding a date and explanation of how you accomplished the goal.

3. Where applicable, when you complete a goal, you readjust and set a new, more ambitious target.

4. You try to enjoy the process of getting to the goal at least as much as achieving the goal itself. Remember: the route to the top is often more fulfilling than the view when you get there!

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The Ultimate Goal To Never Forget

Want to create your own Impossible List?

Why not Download my word document template (including some examples from my list above) so that you can quickly get started yourself?

It’s definitely worth taking a little bit of time to make sure you set yourself really positive, stretching but also possible (in spite of the list’s name) goals.

In my post, Set and Achieve Goals: My Tried-And-Tested System, I take you through exactly how to choose your Focus Goals for the month, to break those goals down into manageable chunks and to start to really feel like you are making the impossible possible!