[Chrissy Scivicque]

Using the Goal Tracker template helps you:

1. Define clear goals
2. Breakdown your goals into specific actions, making sure they support the “roles” you define as being important to you
3. Visualize your goals by creating affirmations
4. Track your progress on a goal by noting each day an action is completed
5. Visually interpret where you are on track to achieve goals and where more work is needed

To download: Please double click on the document thumbnail and select “save file.” Once the document has been saved to your computer, you can open it with Adobe PDF Reader. If you do not have a PDF reader, you can download it for free here.

Many people have written about the positive impact of putting goals in writing. Further, it has been proven time and time again that everyone loves getting those little gold stars. Similar to the satisfactions of checking off an item on your “to do” list, marking when you’ve completed an action that supports a goal provides a motivating sense of achievement. It also gives us visual learners a clear illustration of how we are doing in each category.

How do I use the Goal Tracker? Using the Goal Tracker couldn’t be easier! I’ve been using it for about a month now and I love it. I’ve made several adjustments to it along the way, but this is the final product (for now). If you choose to use it in some other way, I’d love to hear about it.

The only thing I ask is that you do not make multiple copies and pass them out to all your friends. If you’d like to share it with others, please give them the website address (The Executive Assistant's Tool Box) and they can download a copy themselves. Also, please do not post a link directly to the template on your website without my permission. It’s fine to post a link to this article though.

You’ll notice that the Goal Tracker is broken out into 6 sections. Above each, there is a space labeled “Role” followed by a number. You don’t necessarily have to use all 6 sections; just use what you need. You’ll want to consider each “role” you perform for which you would like to set goals. You don’t really have to give them labels in the form of roles though; I usually just use this as a way to set categories: work, home, health, blog, relationships, etc. Under each role, there is a big blue arrow with blank space for you to write in an affirmation – a positive statement of how you’d like things to be for that role or category. Example (for “work”): I am highly organized and recognized for my ability to juggle various complicated tasks”. Or (for “relationships”): My boyfriend and I spend a lot of quality time together and feel closer now than ever before. Or (for “health”): I am fit and energized and looking forward to getting even healthier in the future.

As you can see, the affirmations for each role can be fairly general. They are just intended to be used as an overall positive statement to keep you focused on the end result for that category.

Next, you’ll see a space with lines for Actions. This is where you will define the specific tasks that will help you achieve the affirmation for each role. Tasks should be clear and concise. There is space for 6, but again, use only as many as you want. Don’t force yourself to come up with more if you can’t think of 6. It would be a lot to have this whole sheet filled!

So, here is an example of the tasks I have under my “Health” category are:

1. Go to yoga 3 times per week
2. Follow set meal plan
3. Walk on 30 minutes on my lunch break 4 times per week
4. Drink 8 glasses of water per day
5. Take multi-vitamin 2 times each day

Next to the Actions list for each role, you’ll see a breakdown of boxes for each day of the week. Whenever you complete a task on your Actions list, put an “X” in the box for the day. This makes it very easy to look at my Goal Tracker and see that, if there are only 2 “X’s” for yoga, I need to make sure I go again before the week is over. It’s very motivating to see how many boxes I can fill up! At the end of the week, you can sit down and review the sheet in its entirety. You’ll be able to see quickly which category needs more attention. It may also help you plan your schedule easier in the future. For example, when I first started, I was trying to go to yoga 3 times during the work week so I could take weekends off. I quickly saw that this was pretty much impossible for me. So I realized that I could move some other things around and do it on a weekend day instead. That ensured that I was able to always meet my goal of 3 times per week.

[shaubold]

The double click did not work for me at first. I was able to open it by right clicking on the thumbnail and then selecting "open link" at the top of the menu. Hope it works for others.

[Edie]

Unfortunately, I cannot use this template on my computer. It appears to be locked for editing.

[bear1912]

What a fantastic tool! It will be so useful with my students! Thanks you!

[ericrvigil]

Excellent document, it will be used. Thank you.

[michelemorales]

This is great. Can't wait to use!

[EileenOR]

Thank you so much!

[Starplayer]

Thanks. I will to use this tool today.

[cestmon]

I'm looking for chances in my life and I didn't where to start. This is great!!! I also recoment to read Creative Visualization by Shankti Gawain.