There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.
~ Zig Ziglar ~
Let's cut to the chase, setting goals is hard work. Sticking to your goals is even harder. And, what — we have to keep track of our goals and progress too?
For many students, the last thing they want to do at the start of the year is give themselves extra work to do. Surely they'll be getting enough homework from their teachers in the coming weeks?
The thing to realise, though, is that the work given to you by teachers, the assessments, the tracking of student progress and the grading all only contribute to one small part of your personal growth and development while you're of school age.
When it comes to breaking bad habits, management of time, working in a team, personal productivity and so on, the help your teacher can give is, at best, limited — it's really up to you.
So, let's get working. Once you know how to set goals and track your progress, you'll wonder why you ever hesitated.
Setting Meaningful Goals
As a child, your life is essentially under someone else's control. Your parents and teachers largely determine the management of your day to day life and the tasks you must complete. It's only when you start getting older that more and more of the decisions are left for you to make.
If you spend your life waiting to be told what to do by external forces, you really won't get anywhere or make very much progress. At some point, you must take the reins and this time is when you're still at school. Although the adults in your life may still be there to advise you, the onus for achieving the level of success you want to achieve is totally on you. And this means you have to start setting some goals and tracking progress towards them.
But how do I achieve this?
Start by asking yourself what you want out of life. Where do you see yourself at this time in five, ten or twenty years? What will you be doing? Who will you be working for and what will your personal life look like? Even if you're not sure, or if you change your mind on a daily or weekly basis — remember it's okay to discard, tweak or completely flip your goals — you can still imagine certain features like whether or not you want a family, where and how you might like to live and so on.
Once you can picture yourself in your future, you can start setting some goals that are meaningful and relevant to you and the life you want to lead.
Let's say you plan to travel the world before working overseas. One of your goals, then, might involve learning a language or two.
Perhaps you plan on setting up your own company? You might decide to choose subjects related to small business management and from there your goals might involve working effectively in teams, strategies to encourage productivity or how to set your pricing to be competitive.
The goals you create should lead to your dreams — when they do, you are automatically more motivated to achieve each goal, create new habits and attain success.
Using Goals to Create New Habits
The ultimate aim of many goals is to create new habits.
Tracking progress with your goals is affirming and motivating — well worth the daily time and effort you put into it. A visual image of your progress allows you to see where you're at and what you have left to do.
This image could be as simple as a tick sheet or crossing off each day on a calendar.
Let's say you know you have difficulty with time management and productivity when it comes to revising for a particular class. This lack of productivity affects your grades and one of your long term goals is to improve your grades from a C to a B by the end of the term.
Set yourself a short term goal: I will schedule time every day to revise the content of my lessons by getting up an hour earlier than normal. Create a simple chart or list to track your progress with this goal.
| Revising Small Business Management lessons | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | X | X | X | X | ||
| Week 2 | X | X | ||||
| Week 3 | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Week 4 | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Looking at this chart over a four-week period helps you not only see the progress you're making with respect to your goal but also helps you analyse the day or days you are more or less likely to be productive — enabling you to further manage your time and other tasks around these days. It's all about building habits, in this case turning your procrastination or avoidance habit into a productivity and time management habit.
The proof of success with this goal will be reflected in your grades and feedback from your teacher. The other proof is the development of these new habits, which eventually no longer need tracking as they happen automatically. Goal achieved!
Of course, not all goals are as easy to achieve as the description above — so what happens if you start to feel yourself falter and get off track?
Most importantly, don't beat yourself up about it. Accept that you're human and you had a slip and then get right back to it. Revise your plan slightly if needed. Alternatively, build in smaller milestones and celebrate these along the way. There's nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for your efforts, especially if it helps keep you positive and motivated to continue.
If the calendar idea above isn't working for you or doesn't suit your particular goal, what are some other ways you can ensure you are accurately tracking the progress of your goals?
The Best Ways to Track Your Goals
Some people prefer the tactile or creative approach when it comes to tracking progress. There is something powerful about taking pen or pencil to paper and recording your progress manually. A couple of ways you might want to try include:
Checklist
Essentially a list of each step or component of your goal, a checklist serves as a basic map of the path to success. When you create the list in the first place, it helps cement each of the steps in your mind, which is one of the best ways to ensure clarity and help with the overall management of your goal.
Each of the steps act as reminders of different tasks and ticking them off once you've done them serves as a motivator.
Diary
Some people find journaling about their goals to be a great way to reflect on their progress. Re-reading journal entries can also be rewarding as they are all reminders of the progress you've made. A diary is particularly good for long term goals, as you can plan ahead and then reflect back later.
Vision board
This is a bit of a buzz word but a vision board, for the more creative and artistic among us, can be an effective (and fun) way to track your progress. Colours and symbols can be used to mark off and reflect on different tasks and reminders can be symbolic images, making the board very personal.
If you prefer to circulate in the world of technology, you may be surprised (or not) to know just how many goal tracking apps and software packages are out there. Many of these, particularly the apps, are free, although some are via subscription or a one-off payment.
On these digital goal trackers, you will often find a range of features, including data reports, templates, reminders, management tasks and daily motivations. Of the hundreds of these apps that seem to be available when you search the internet, here are a few to get you started:
Clickup
Apparently the world's leading productivity and management app, Clickup is also free! It's a fairly heavy-duty app, with reminders, reports, sharing between users on the same team, goal folders and other features. The mobile version is available on iPhone and Android.
Done
A simple habit tracker app, Done uses colour-coded interfaces and is one of the best for new users of productivity apps. Features are basic, limited to visual reports and the ability to track up to twelve habits (or three if you are using the free version).
Dreamfora
One of the best free Android (only) apps, Dreamfora features one-tap goal setting, a plan and track wizard, a daily checklist and an analysis of progress. Other features include daily motivation tips, tasks, habits and milestones.
Some of the other tracking apps recommended in Australia in 2022 are: Strides App (like a pocket-sized Excel productivity sheet), LifeTick, Way of Life App, Streaks, Atracket (with a focus on time), Habitica, Goals on Track and Toodleoo. Most apps have free (limited) versions and paid versions, with pricing ranging from $1 to $60 for a year, or $80 for lifetime access.
If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.
~ Zig Ziglar ~
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