Issa Rae There is a tried and true method for success, he says.
The 41-year-old writer, actor, producer and entrepreneur carefully organizes his goals and ideas in a notebook at the beginning of the year and revisits them six months later to check on their progress, he told CNBC Make It.
Rae is often a busy woman. He co-created, co-wrote and starred in the HBO series Insecure, which premiered in 2016 and ended in 2021. He has acted in several films, produced other films and TV shows and opened several businessesincluding production company Hoorae Media, Viarae Prosecco, hair care brand Sienna Naturals and Hilltop Coffee and Kitchen, a chain of coffee shops in California.
New Year’s Day is “my power day,” Ray says, adding that it’s a plus TurboTax ad on Sunday during Super Bowl 60. “That’s when everything seems possible. Everything is possible. I look at (old) notebooks, gather ideas I’ve written down, decide what’s achievable, what’s achievable, and I set those goals.”
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Ray writes down his personal and career goals separately, he says, and then writes down his resolutions. “I keep three or four resolutions and they’re really general, like ‘read more,’ ‘be better.’ But career and personal life are actually very real.” (Rae declined to share examples of those specific goals.)
If Ray has an idea for a goal or resolution at other times of the year, he prefers to write it down before he forgets it, he says. “The best ideas come when I’m just chilling,” he says. “I always have a notebook with me.”
Ray calls himself “not a good long-term thinker” and says that “having a daily routine and being really, really intentional about my goals” helps him stay disciplined.
The value of writing down your goals
Business lighting fixtures From Daymond John, Founder and CEO of FUBUA longtime investor judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank” to a billionaire Richard Branson He also talked about writing goals. A simple exercise makes it easier to achieve them, neuroscientists and psychologists for example, it helps to create a clear plan and monitor progress.
You can even replace your bulleted list of goals by writing to yourself, neuroscientist and author Erin Klobo. CNBC Make It said On January 27. Exercising can help you instill a sense of motivation and confidence in yourself that you might otherwise lack, she said.
Writing to yourself is usually more effective when you set clear, big-picture goals, Klobo said. A statement such as “I will embrace new, exciting experiences this year” may provide more flexibility and satisfaction than something rigid and inflexible such as “I will visit three countries this year.”
Then, after giving yourself the direction, “do your best every day toward that intention,” Klobo said. “You make progress in that direction, but sometimes it doesn’t go the way you think it will.”
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