Dec Tech Tip — Tools for an annual review and planning
So far, we have discussed making time to reflect and review on this current year for a fresh perspective on where you stand heading in to a new year. We have also looked at what steps you can take preparing for finalizing your goals — are you setting yourself up for success? Today, we’ll look at some tools and resources that can assist with your review process, and more importantly with tracking your goals, or the habits needed to bring your goals to life.
Time for Fresh Perspective: On You. Conducting an Annual Review
Tools for an annual review and planning
Set Yourself Up For Success: Planning Your Goals for the Upcoming Year
Building a Winning Year: Completing an Annual Review and Planning Session With Your Team
Different people will need different resources to help them achieve the goals they seek. There is no shortage of options to track goals. Seems like everyone has an opinion on how you can do this (I guess I am no exception). In today’s technology-driven workload, we are blessed to have an array of choices, so we can find a solution that works best for each of us as individuals. I have done some research on a few options that can help you manage activities, your goals, as well as your overall personal life plan. These just scratch the surface, but I hope you can use it as a starting point for finding a good fit for your specific needs.
Personal Task Management Apps
Let’s start with a quick review and look at task management apps. I see these as different from goal planning or tracking tools. Once you have your goals established, and you need to capture what each day’s activities look like, this is where these tools come into play. Earlier this year I shared some thoughts and comparisons for task management apps, and these are certainly helpful in managing your day-to-day activities. What they are not necessarily designed to do is to help manage your habits or your goals specifically.
Moving into more goal and planning applications, there are some different types of applications now available to help you manage your goals or the new routines you’ll need to achieve your goals.
Trello
I discussed how I have used Trello in an article a few years ago. I still use Trello for certain tracking and follow-up items today. It has continued to grow in its uses and sophistication. I would recommend looking further into what Trello has to offer for goal tracking, planning, and even team goals. Trello uses a very intuitive approach through Kanban boards, which continue to grow in popularity. I suspect this is largely due to their ease of use, it is quick to understand conceptually, and it's fun to be able to move your cards around as you make progress. Many, if not most project management, personal management systems, and database tracking applications now offer a Kanban view to your data.
Trello provides an excellent way to visualize your information, see it in one place, maintain a lot of information about every item, and feel actionable, all at the same time. If you or your company are deeply invested in the Microsoft environment, you may also have access to Microsoft Planner. This is similar to Trello in how it works, and it integrates nicely with other Microsoft applications like To Do and Teams.
Trello — FREE (with paid options)
Yearful.io
This is an interesting looking web application. It can be used on mobile devices through the web browser. There currently is not a native application for any specific platform. That keeps it accessible from anywhere, but limits its feature-set. Yearful is essentially a year-at-a-view digital calendar. This allows for longer range planning and I believe would be very helpful in managing goal timelines and key milestones for yourself or your team. It is free to use, but there is a donation option if you want to help fund the developers and building new features into the application.
Yearful.io — FREE
Friday
Friday is a newer app that is arguably more designed for a company or enterprise than an individual. However, It looked intriguing in some of the elements that it incorporates into a single workspace. There is an individual plan for this paid app. It has routine and goal tracking built into it. It connects and integrates with several other company applications (i.e., Microsoft Teams) as well as some of the personal task managers I mentioned above. This allows you to do a lot of your planning and goal tracking in one place, while seeing your calendar and tasks in the same place.
This will likely require some additional research, but I thought it was worth mentioning here as something to explore. There is also an extensive library of videos and articles on remote work, which also includes ideas on staying connected with your team. For many retail leaders who do not work in the same place each day (District/Regional Leaders), there are many resources that I think will be helpful to review for new ways to work.
Friday — FREE to try, $4/month individual pricing
Done
Done is a simple habit and streak tracking application for your iOS device. This isn’t fancy and if you need a way to track new habits and see how you are doing, this could be a good app for you. Set it up the way you’d like, and the rest gets out of your way. It doesn’t try to do more than it needs to. Simplicity is sometimes the best approach to setting up new things.
Done — FREE
ClickUp
ClickUp is another new application that aims to bring many functions into one place. ClickUp is also one that is designed to be used with a team, but has many great features for individual usage as well. Specifically, this has goal tracking and reporting built in. This easily could become a home for your goal and routine capture and tracking, as well as for task management and more in one place. It integrates with many other applications as well, so if you do have your task management in a different app, this can help you connect the two.
There are many great features in this application that I think would work well for managing your goals, updates, and journals, and give you the option to share with others. Much like Friday.app, there are several resources available on using the application as well as use cases that could be beneficial regardless of your use of the application.
ClickUp — FREE (paid options, but free for most individual users)
Goals on Track
This is a complete goal management application. The look and feel of the app is a bit dated, but there is a lot of available functionality. The application will walk you through your gaol setting process and provides tools for updating, tracking, and reporting. There is a lot to like about what this product provides to the end user. If you are seeking something that will guide you through the goal setting process and keep all of your information related to your goals in one place, this may be an excellent option for you.
Goals on Track — $68/year
The old-fashioned way
One final thing to think about for goal and habit tracking to keep you on plan — the old-fashioned way of paper and pencil. There are several paper planners that are designed to help you stay connected to your goals and keep each day concentrated on what will move you forward. A simple wall calendar allowing you to see the full year is a great way to help manage your time, planning, and what needs to get done. Whether used alone or with other tools, don’t look past this simple tool. One of the best year at a glance wall calendars I have found is offered by NeuYear calendars. They are simple, elegant, and have a dry erase option to make it easy to use and update throughout the year.
If you are looking for a system to invest in for goals and tracking, you may want to explore the Full Focus Planner from Michael Hyatt. It is a bit of an investment, but it is a well-designed program that is solidly grounded in goal achievement processes. The Michael Hyatt Company has many supporting elements for this system and is definitely worth looking into for beginners and advanced users alike. I try to incorporate many of the pieces that are built into the Full Focus Planner into the tools I develop and use for myself. There are also some courses available for Free to Focus and Your Best Year Ever are both designed around goal setting and achievement.
Whatever method you choose to track your goals and actions towards achieving those goals, ensure it works for you. These are only some examples, and they can be used individually, together, or in any other function you choose. I use a combination of things to help me with my personal and professional goals. I continue to look for new ways to expand and simplify the tracking of goals. It is not easy, and it doesn’t always feel intuitive (or even necessary). I do find that when I am dedicated to it, I achieve more. Hopefully, one or more of these will resonate with you. And even if it's not one of these tools, perhaps this will help start your journey to find the solution that works best for you.
What tools and resources will you use to help capture, track, and measure your goal achievements?
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