Making the most of 2024: How to make your 2024 Bingo

By Serina DeSalvio

At the start of 2024, I found myself oddly excited about making big plans for the new year. I think 2023 was the year I really solidified the idea that I could do hard things- so 2024 felt like a good year to put myself to the test.

However, if you’re anything like me, you might have a lot of goals- across diverse parts of your life. I had goals for work/school, personal development, fitness, mentality, traveling… you name it, I had an idea of how I wanted to push it this year. And I wanted a way to make it exciting, but organized, where I could see all my goals laid out for me at once.

Then one night I was on Instagram and one of my close friends from high school posted her “2024 Bingo Card”, and I knew I had found my answer.

The idea is that your 2024 bingo card lays out your goals so you can see them all at once, and also keep track of which ones you have down and which ones you might want to keep working on! You can see the one I made for myself at the top of this post- let me break down how I decided to build mine.

First, you have to have a “free” space- what is bingo without a little cheat spot right in the middle?!

Second, you have to fill in the squares- you can make yours as big or small as you would like, I went with a 5x5 design so I had 24 squares to fill in other than my “free” space. Is tarted with fitness goals- I knew I wanted to prioritize flexibility and some of my more niche athletic endeavors, like ice skating. I made one a stretch (lol)- nailing my front splits, on both sides. The other, getting a figure skating spin down, was much more realistic. I tried to pick goals that both seemed impressive for me, for where I’m at, but also achievable given the time I have to devote to things outside of work/school.

I also knew I wanted to travel more, so I dedicated 4 squares to these goals- some are to see specific people, others to see places, but I figured since they were equal parts far and near travel, setting four goals in this area was reasonable.

Lots of the other squares had to do with simply getting a little better at things I’m already doing, like ID-ing birds or cooking gluten free foods. These little goals were ways for me to push myself while also trying some new things that I know I’ll enjoy. I also use these as a sort of list when I’m feeling uninspired or unsure of how to spend a weekend- I’ll start tackling one of these more seriously and feel super excited by the end of the weekend by what I’ve managed to accomplish.

Finally, I put some work-related goals on there, including some that I know will happen (this year I graduate, so the dissertation draft and defense are just to help me stay on track for those deadlines!), and some non-work goals that I also already knew were happening. I did really want to see Hozier and Noah Kahan in concert- I just happened to buy tickets to both in 2023. But the concerts are this year, so it counts!

In summary- this is a really fun, cute way to display your goals for the year and keep yourself on track to achieve them!