Issa Rae She said she has a proven method to help her succeed.

The 41-year-old writer, actor, producer and entrepreneur explicitly organizes her goals and ideas in a notebook at the beginning of the year and revisits them six months later to check in on her progress, she told CNBC Make It.

Ray was often a busy woman. She co-created, co-wrote and starred in the HBO series Insecure, which premiered in 2016 and concluded in 2021. She has appeared in several films and produced other films and television shows, and Conducted multiple businessesThese include production companies Hoorae Media, Viarae Prosecco, hair care brand Sienna Naturals and California coffee shop chain Hilltop Coffee and Kitchen.

Ray said New Year’s Day is “my superpower day” and she will also appear on Advertisements for TurboTax during Super Bowl 60 on Sunday. “That’s when everything becomes possible. Everything gets done. I’ll go through my (old) notebooks, organize the ideas I’ve written down, decide what’s achievable, what’s achievable, and I’ll set those goals.”

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Ray said she jots down her personal and professional goals separately, then writes down her resolutions. “I only have three or four resolutions, and they’re very general, like ‘read more books,’ ‘do better.’ But professional and personal are actually very specific.” (Ray declined to share examples of these specific goals.)

She said if Rey had an idea about a goal or resolution at other times of the year, she would write it down before forgetting it. “The best ideas come to me when I’m relaxed,” she says. “I always have a notebook with me.”

Ray describes herself as “not a good long-term thinker” and says “having a routine and really focusing on my goals seriously” helps her stay disciplined.

A wide range of business celebrities From FUBU Founder and CEO Daymond JohnLong-time investor judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank” on billionaires Richard Branson Also talks about writing down their goals. Neuroscientists and scientists believe simple exercises could make achieving these goals easier psychologist For example, helping you create a clear plan and better track your progress.

You could even try replacing your bullet point list with writing a letter to yourself, neuroscientist and author Erin Crabb Tell CNBC it did January 27th. This exercise can help instill motivation and confidence in you that you might otherwise lack, she says.

Crabb says writing a letter to yourself is often most effective when you set big, open-ended goals. A statement like “I will embrace new and exciting experiences this year” may be more flexible and satisfying than a rigid and maladaptive statement like “I will travel to three countries this year.”

Then, once you’ve given yourself an instruction, “do everything you can to live up to that intention every day,” Crabb says. “You make progress in that direction, but sometimes it doesn’t do it the way you think it does.”

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