How Cultivate What Matters Powersheets Have Changed my Perspective on my Life

So I’m writing this just after the launch of the 2025 power sheets, and I was doing some reflecting on my thoughts and patterns over the last twenty years or so. I have only been using the Powersheets system for the last four years, and before that I have no idea what I did in the goals department. This is exactly why - I HAD NO goals. Like every other person, I coasted through life just trying to get by.

Let me rephrase: I did have goals and ideas, but I didn’t think about my life changes in terms of goals. For example, I quit my job because it was utterly depressing - not because I wanted to be happy. I had a baby because I wanted a bigger family, but I didn’t make it a “gaol” - it’s just something that happened. Does that make sense?

The only reason I kind of fell into the realm of Cultivate What Matters Goal Planning is because I watched a video on YouTube by Cindy Guentert-Baldo and Laken; “Plan With Laken”. I was so intrigued. A lot of times, companies will make a planner and convince you somehow that you need it in your life, and I thought this was the same thing. I didn’t think I was convinced at that point, so I ended up waiting another year before I decided my money might possibly be an investment and not a waste. (Let’s be honest - we always try to convince ourselves of this, and technically, it wouldn’t be a waste as long as you actually used the planner!) I find that we buy all the things and then get overwhelmed with it all and none of it gets used.

At the beginning, I was very interested in such a well-designed system that guided you to a point where large goals become smaller goals and smaller goals then became tasks. The system starts by gently guiding you to what you think is important in your life, although you still have full control over what you write.

To this day, even though I already know what to expect, I really enjoy using the system. Even more, I enjoy helping others by guiding them through the power sheets prep work at the beginning of the planner. Every December, I break my own prep work down into four or five videos and post it on my YouTube channel, Sandra Dahl and we go through the work together. It does seem overwhelming at first, but in the end, it’s so worth it. There have been times that I’ve uncovered things I didn’t even think I cared about.

Sometimes throughtout the year, I do have goal setbacks. For example, a couple of years ago, I was underwhelmed with my goals. However, I feel that it’s important to see something through and stick with it - I’m like a dog with a bone and I won’t let something go until I know for sure that I’ve really tried my ultimate best. However, this one year, I ended up brainstorming a ton of ideas for the next year and then fell back into a pattern that I was happy with.

My goals usually aren’t huge. They’re usually pretty manageable within the year. Though, in the back of my mind, my yearly goals might add up to something big. Say for example, I have a yearly goal of saving up $20 each week to yield a result of $1040. In two or three years, if I continue this goal each of those years, I could buy myself a new computer or a new camera.

As Cultivate What Matters puts it, each small thing adds up to something big. They also like to say “Progress, not perfection”. There comes a point where we can ask too much of ourselves and I believe this is where a lot of people get discouraged. It’s easy to quit when we think something is too hard or too painful to accomplish. The trick is to keep going, but don’t beat yourself up over the little things along the way. For example, one of my business goals is to write a blog once a week. I do this for three reasons: to keep my writing current, to keep up with the habit of writing, and not to put too much pressure on myself to write more than I can handle in a given week. I might be extremely busy one week, and then I’ll schedule myself the week before (or after) to write two blogs to make up for a missing week. If I decide to do this after the missed week, I tend to feel more pressure (because now I realize I’m behind and I start to freak out). This anxiety does nothing good - I tend to break down and I can’t think straight - the flow doesn’t happen and then I’m back to square one: freaked out and behind in my writing. To prevent this snowball effect, I always schedule myself ahead of time to write two blogs. (One for the current week and one for the missed week).

I can’t even begin to tell you, especially if you have never tried Powersheets before, how wonderful it feels to have your life together. To know what you want out of life, and to know what you’re working for. You might not know where exactly you want to be in five years, but at least you’ll have a good sense of what the next year holds!

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!

Sandra