How writing down goals helped Julia Stewart become a CEO

Early in her career, Stewart’s goals were focused on “getting more responsibility, more accountability” in her job as a marketing executive for restaurant chains like Burger King, she says. Once she became a CEO, part of her focus shifted toward helping others develop their own careers.

“I measure [success] much differently today ... It’s much more about me making certain that, in my day to day, I’m helping others [and] making a difference,” says Stewart. “I’ve been to the mountaintop. It was a nice ride — a good 20 years [as a CEO] — but this is a different mountaintop. And I want to make sure I’m taking a whole bunch of people with me.”

Writing down a goal creates accountability

There’s something useful about writing your goals down, experts say — both the short-term and long-term ones.

Doing so can help you think more strategically about what you want to achieve, and make it easier to track your progress — so you can celebrate your accomplishments and hold yourself accountable when you still have work to do. People who write down their goals are more likely to eventually achieve them, some studies show.

Daymond John, an entrepreneur and investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” started writing down his goals at age 16. That simple act, plus sharing your goals with friends and family, can make you more likely to keep working to achieve them, billionaire Richard Branson wrote in a 2018 blog post.

Three parts of Stewart’s list have always been there, she says: the phrase “take care of my mind, body, and soul” and the ideas of “paying it forward” and “always be learning.” The latter two are lessons from her teacher parents, she says.

All three of them relate to key tenets of success — personal fulfillment and enrichment, career development, physical health and mental wellness. Those aspects have stayed present for a reason, even as her goals have evolved over time, says Stewart.

“I’m at the stage in my life where it’s much more about setting [Alurx] up for the long term, building it out, speaking with people who will probably be involved [for a long time],” she says. “It’s also about my family, and making my family a big part of what I do, and how to give back.”

Written by Tom Huddleston.

Published on cnbc.com on June 4th, 2024.Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.