Creative & Goals
Mandalart for Beginners: Goal Setting Sheet That Turns 1 Goal into 8 Themes and 64 Actions
Beginner | 2 whiteboard pages · Task board: 4 columns (4 parent tasks, 12 subtasks)
Beginner: No technical terms. Just answer the whiteboard's questions, following the examples, and it takes shape.
Students and working beginners who are writing a Mandalart for the first time use this goal setting sheet template to turn one central goal into 8 themes and 64 daily actions. The whiteboard runs on two pages; on the left a Will / Can / Must trio for choosing the single goal, the 3x3 core with the goal in the center and 8 themes around it, a four-step writing order and a frame for the 3 actions of this week, on the right the 8 themes x 8 actions grid of 64 cells and a weekend YWT review (did, learned, next). The task board has four columns, Brain dump, This week, In progress and Weekly review, and holds 4 parent tasks with 3 subtasks each, 16 cards in total, all not started. If the 81 squares of a 9x9 sheet make you freeze, fill the 3x3 core first, then write 8 actions per theme, and the sheet is finished without a blank page. It is the same structure as the goal setting sheet a famous baseball player wrote in high school.
Once you have a free account, you can copy this template from the marketplace
Whiteboard preview
Read the whiteboard text as plain text
Mandalart Goal Setting Sheet
How to use: (1) Pick one goal with Will, Can and Must → (2) Put the goal in the center of the 3x3 core and 8 themes around it → (3) Write 8 actions for every theme in the 64-cell grid → (4) Choose the 3 actions you run this week → (5) Swap them on the weekend with YWT
1. Choose the goal for the center (Will / Can / Must - the overlap is your axis)
Will (what you want)
- Write what you want to do or keep doing, money and profit aside. Adding the scene on the day you reach it fixes your axis.
- e.g. I want to speak up in meetings in English. Next April I am giving my own opinion in English. e.g. I want a personal best at the race in June.
Can (what you can do)
- Write the skills you already have and the time and tools you can use.
- e.g. I can take 20 minutes every morning. My commute is 40 minutes each way.
Must (what is required)
- Write what your company, school or family expects of you. Anything that already has a date or a number becomes the deadline of your central goal.
- e.g. I was told to show proof of my English level before the placement talk next April.
- Once the three columns are full, write the 3 candidates where they overlap and move the one you can give the most time to into the center of frame 2.
2. The core of the Mandalart (3x3, center is the goal / example is B2 in a language in 1 year)
| Left | Center | Right | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top row | Vocabulary | Grammar | Listening |
| Middle row | Reading speed | B2 in 1 year | Speaking |
| Bottom row | Study habit | Sleep and health | Study space |
3. The writing order (center, then 8 themes, then 8 actions each)
- 1. Write the goal in the center Write one goal with a date and a number in the center of the 3x3. e.g. B2 in 1 year. Until this is fixed, neither the 8 themes nor the 64 actions can be decided.
- 2. Fill the 8 squares around it Write the 8 skills and conditions the goal needs. If nothing comes to mind, think of time, money, body, people, tools, place, mind and information.
- 3. Copy the 8 themes outward Move the 8 themes of the core straight into the row labels of the 64-cell grid. Keep the names and the order. Change them here and the two sheets become two different plans.
- 4. Eight actions per theme For every theme write 8 actions you can do today or this week. e.g. 20 words every morning, listen on the commute. Put a count and a place in each one.
4. Three actions for this week (pick them out of the 64)
- The three for this week e.g. 20 words daily / Listen on commute / Lights out at 12 Copy over only the 3 you will run this week out of the 64 cells. Tally each time you do one and carry the count to Y in frame 6 on the weekend.
- Why only three Start 8 at once and all 8 stop. Three of them last a week. This week you touch nothing outside these three.
- Actions that stopped, and where e.g. Listening on the commute stopped after 2 days. I never open it on days with two changes. Write the likely cause and the next move in W and T of frame 6.
5. 8 themes x 8 actions (64 cells / example is B2 in a language in 1 year)
| Action 1 | Action 2 | Action 3 | Action 4 | Action 5 | Action 6 | Action 7 | Action 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | 20 words daily | Read aloud on bus | Word app 10 min | Review at night | Weekend recap | Learn in sentences | Error notebook | 400 words a month |
| Grammar | 2 pages a day | Weekly recap | Analyse mistakes | Spot word classes | Read aloud twice | Write examples | 3 weak items | Test once a month |
| Listening | 15 min daily | Listen on commute | 1.5x speed | No subtitles | 2 shows a week | Replay 3 times | Catch the numbers | Mock test monthly |
| Reading speed | 1 long text a day | Time yourself | Questions first | Guess new words | 3 drills a week | Read aloud fast | Get used to charts | Log your score |
| Speaking | 1 lesson a week | Talk to yourself | Record and listen | Learn 10 patterns | Prepare questions | Present on Sunday | Fix pronunciation | Monthly check-in |
| Study habit | Wake up at 6 | Sit at the desk | Use a log app | Start with 3 min | Keep it 5 days | One day off | Tell a friend | Total at month end |
| Sleep and health | Sleep 7 hours | Lights out at 12 | Morning sunlight | Move twice a week | Drink 2 L water | 15 min nap | No phone at night | Log your weight |
| Study space | Clear the desk | Turn off alerts | Only 3 books | Use the library | Take a quiet seat | Charge at night | Fix the time slot | Hide distractions |
6. Weekend review (YWT = what you did, what you learned, what to do next)
Y (what you did)
- Write the 3 actions you chose for the week as facts, down to how many times you did them.
- e.g. 20 words on 5 mornings. Listening on the commute only twice.
W (what you learned)
- Read the reason you managed it or did not as time, place or amount.
- e.g. Mornings last better than evenings. At the library I actually sit down.
T (what to do next)
- Pick next week's three from the 64 cells again. Swap only one of them.
- e.g. Drop listening on the commute and add the review before bed.
Task board contents
Brain dump 16 items
Set your core goal
The starting point of the goal setting sheet. Until this is fixed, neither the 8 themes nor the 64 actions can be filled in. Put down one goal with a date and a number.
Add date and number
Write by when and how far in numbers. Get better at English is not a goal.
Pick 1 of 3 options
Fill the three columns Will (want to), Can (able to) and Must (should), take 3 candidates from where they overlap and keep the one you can give the most time to right now. Leave the other 2 under frame 1.
Write the end scene
Write in one sentence what the day you reach it looks like. Going past the number keeps you from wavering halfway.
Split into 8 themes
Building the 3x3 core. Sort the skills and conditions the goal needs into 8 themes, and use them as the row labels of the 64 cells.
List what you need
Write everything the goal needs, as much as comes to mind. If you get stuck, think of time, money, body, people, tools, place, mind and information.
Narrow down to 8
Choose 8 from what you listed and place them in the 8 squares around the central goal. Never stretch it to 9 or more.
Check for gaps
Test whether these 8 themes alone reach the goal. If they do not, swap the weakest one for what is missing.
Expand to 64 actions
The stage that turns themes into actions. A theme left abstract cannot be started, so bring it down to something you can do today or this week.
Write 8 per theme
Write 8 actions under each of the 8 themes and fill all 64 cells. A theme you cannot fill is a sign to choose it again.
Make them doable
Instead of study, write 20 words every morning, so that the size is small enough to start without thinking.
Add numbers to each
Give every action a count, a length or a place. Make it something you can judge done or not done on your own.
Run it every week
The mechanism that stops it from being written and forgotten. Pick 3 of the 64 for this week, look at the result on the weekend and swap them.
Pick 3 for this week
Choose only 3 actions from the 64 cells and copy them into frame 4. Never start 8 at once.
Count what you did
On the weekend, count how many of the 3 you managed and write it in the Y column (what you did) of frame 6. Two out of three counts as keeping it up.
Fix stalled actions
Write the reason it stopped (time, place or amount) in the W column (what you learned) of frame 6, loosen it one notch in T (what to do next) and try it again next week.
