Achieving Personal Goals

I’m always on the lookout for any tool, device or aid (no matter how simple) that can help me stay productive, focused and get the most benefit out of each day. The items listed below, including some useful goal setting software, are a few of the items I’ve settled on as my favorites. Anything recommended here is something I’ve purchased and that I believe in.

1. Goal Tracking Software

1. My favorite is a slick application called Lifetick. It’s simple, easy to use and best of all it’s free for a limited use account. It supports the proper model for pursuing goals, which is to first define the areas of your core values, then determine which area the goal(s) you have identified pertain to. It’s a simple process of defining the goal, identifying the tasks necessary to reach the goal, assigning deadlines to each task and selecting what reminders you’d like to receive. As I said, simple, easy, effective – and free! Oh, it also has an iPhone app!
2. Second best would be Goals on Track ($10/month). It’s also an easy to use, simple web-based goal tracking software that has what you need, but no more. It allows you to set up multiple goals, to list the specific tasks is designed the way I would design goal tracking software. It’s affordable ($10/month) and if you don’t care for Lifetick for any reason this is a good alternative.

2. List software

1. Anyone who has read David Allen’s best seller “Getting Things Done” (GTD) knows that if you want to become an expert at managing productivity (i.e. achieving your goals) in your life, you can follow that desire to a fanatical level with his method. The good news is that you can also utilize his approach to a lesser degree and still gain tremendous benefits. You can find out more about the GTD methodology here.
2. For me, Vitalist (free) is an outstanding tool to implement GTD methodologies and I use it every single day, for both work and personal tasks, to keep my day-to-day productivity on track. It has a good blend of simplicity, features and ease of use, and is one of the best of the tools I’ve found to implement the GTD approach. There are definitely plenty of good ones out there (Remember the Milk, etc) but I prefer Vitalist.

Two of the key tenets of GTD are the ideas that

1. lists are essential to capture everything you need to do, and
2. some tasks are best done in Context, i.e. at a certain time, place, etc.

With Vitalist you can create multiple lists, and add a Context to each, e.g. @Work, @Home, @Phone,@Weekend, etc. No matter where you are or when it is, you can pull up the list of things you need to be doing in that time/place. It can also show your tasks on Google Calendar, which I’ve just discovered and love.