Also see:

• 7 Awesome Uses of Evernote for Travelers
• 26 More Awesome and Creative Uses for Evernote

The first of the year is always a good time to reassess everything in the FF universe. All the clocks have just been reset to zero and we hang onto our statuses until the end of February. I’m going to lose Platinum with American. It’s my first time in a few years not having status with any airline.

I also have to decide whether or not I want that British Airways Travel Together certificate. I’ve been weighing the pros and cons – and as of right now, it’s not looking so appealing just due to the dang fuel surcharges. I’m also not sure if I want this year to be as Europe-centric as last year. My travel goals are pulling me to Asia and back to South America, although there are still many European countries I’d love to visit.

With all this in mind, I’ve begun the process of writing down my goals for the year.

I have four categories that I set up for goals:

• Personal
• Career/Business
• Health
• Travel

I set up a file in Evernote and type everything out, stream-of-consciousness style, in no order at all.

Then I go through and polish it up a little, connect the dots, expand, and refine.

I also did something this year that I’ve never done before: I wrote a letter to my future self, with a reminder set for one year from now. This is my way of holding myself accountable for the goals I set, and it gives my subconscious something to strive toward. It was also surprisingly cathartic.

I find that writing/typing out a goal is much better than keeping it in “the back of my mind.” If you don’t have Evernote, it’s a great thing to have even if you just use it for this one purpose.

Travel goals

My travel goals are in simple list form. This could be more specific. It will become more specific as I start to figure out what points to use/routes to take. But for now, it’s a list. And it looks like this:

Some of these are easy (West Virginia, Barcelona) while others will require intense planning (Antarctica, NWT). The ultimate end goal will be to put a check mark next to each one of these – and of course to always add more!

Bottom line

Goal-setting is a very powerful tool, and now is the absolute best time of the year to set travel goals and perhaps write a letter to yourself with a reminder to read it in one year.

I’m using this to set up my own groundwork for travel plans, status acquisitions, credit card spend, and points earning for the year.

Do you set goals in January AKA have New Years Resolutions related to travel? Is there a method you use to set it all up?

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