7 Steps of Tracking Progress Towards a Goal

      1. Define your goals

Of course, the first step to tracking your goals is to define exactly what you want to achieve.

I find this is most easily accomplished through a vision boarding activity, which I’ve discussed at length in my post about how to make a vision board that actually works. Since this concept is covered completely in that post, I won’t go into depth here.

Other resources for creating a vision board:

• How to Create a Gorgeous Vision Board Using PicMonkey
• How to Create an Eye-Catching Vision Board in Canva

After completing this activity, take a piece of paper and write out your goals. You’ll need this list for the following steps.

       2. Separate Your Goals From Your To Dos

Your dream board may represent a mix of your goals for the year and your to-dos (which you can just cross off the list when you are done with them).

To-dos will be one-time achievements, which are very simple to track. When you’ve done the action associated with the to-do, you’ve achieved your goal. Some examples of to-dos:

• Attend a music festival
• Go hiking on my favorite trail
• Go to the beach twice this summer

You can see that these are often experiential goals that are achieved by doing one thing that doesn’t require a lot of intermediate steps.

Goals are often more complex than to-dos, or they’re habit-based. For example, while running a marathon can seem like a to-do, it is actually a goal because of the amount of training that is required to be able to accomplish it. Other examples of goals are:

• Drink 8 glasses of water each day
• Practice meditation daily
• Earn $80,000 this year
• Start my own business

Split your list from step 1 into a list of one-time achievements (to-dos), and more involved goals.

      3. Make your goals S.M.A.R.T.

So now you have a list of goals. To track your goals, you first need to be specific if you want to be able to measure your progress towards them.

To make sure your goals are clear and achievable, they should be S.M.A.R.T. This means your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.

• Specific. If your goal is specific, you will have a much greater chance of accomplishing it than a general goal. In order to set a specific goal, you should be able to establish specific reasons, benefits or the purpose of accomplishing the goal. For instance, “to get in shape” is a general goal. A specific goal would say “workout five times a week.”
• Measurable. Establish solid criteria for gauging progress toward the completion of each goal you set. Ask yourself, “How will I know when my goal is accomplished?”
• Attainable. Your goals should be reachable. That means you should be able to figure out the methods by which you can achieve your goals.
• Relevant. Is your goal worthwhile? Is this the right time to pursue it? Make sure that your goal matters to you and it also aligns with other relevant goals.
• Time-bound. Your goal should be grounded in a time frame. If you don’t have a time frame, there will be no sense of urgency.

Read these posts for additional guidance on setting SMART goals:

• Conquer Your Goals: How to Set SMART Goals That Will Help You Get Shit Done
• 6 Simple SMART Goal Templates to Make Goal Setting Insanely Easy (and Effective!)
• SMART Financial Goals You Need to Set Right Now

     4. Set milestones

Setting milestones is an important aspect of tracking your progress. This process allows you to create a clear and attainable plan while allowing you to see and monitor your progress. I like to set milestones as it increases my focus. Having milestones displays the urgency of each step of your goal ahead of you.

On your spreadsheet or in your planning binder, set monthly milestones for you to achieve on the path towards cultivating a habit or achieving a specific task. This way, when you review your goals at the end of the month, you can check off whether or not each milestone has been reached. You could also consider breaking your yearly goals up into quarterly milestones.

     5. Keep your goals together in a visible place

Goals are intangible. They exist in your mind and wherever you wrote them down. Keeping your goals together in one place will make tracking them so much easier. And keeping your goals visible will make sure you don’t forget about them.

Place all your SMART goals for the month or the quarter in a spreadsheet, then print it out and keep it in your planning binder. This way, you will see your goals daily. You should be able to see at a glance what your goal is, including the metrics that indicate your progress and next action for pushing things forward.

Hang a copy of your vision board in your cubicle at work, in front of your desk at home, or on the fridge. You could also include a copy in the front of your planner, planning binder, or journal so when you go to make plans for the day or the week you have a reminder of your goals right in front of you. Looking at your vision board every day will keep your goals in the front of your mind, and you will subconsciously start working towards them.

If you see your goals every day, this gives you a chance to work consciously towards your goals on a daily basis. And consistent, daily action towards you goals is what is going to make them happen.

       6. Review your goals regularly

It is important that you review your goals at least once a week – if you can do it every day, even better. The more regularly you review your progress towards your goals, the better it will be. This will help you keep your goals in your mind at all times. If you only do it once a month, you won’t remember to keep working towards your goals on a daily basis.

Next, review your progress towards those goals using milestones once a month, once a quarter and at the end of the year. After each review of your progress, set action steps for getting to your next milestone. If you fall off your scheduled review, just re-focus yourself and start again. Don’t let small slip-ups stop you from achieving your goals.

       7. Use a goal-tracking app

If you’re like me, having a notification pop up on your phone reminding you to track your progress towards your goals will make remembering to track SO much easier. Not everyone needs to use an app to set and achieve their goals, but most people will benefit from it.

Luckily, there are tons of goal-tracking apps available you can choose from.

For Android, I use an app called Streaks. It’s best for daily habit goals, since it visually represents (on a calendar) the days in a row – your streak – that you’ve performed a certain task. The notifications that ask me “have you journaled today?” are very helpful in reminding me to track my progress. This app is based off the Jerry Seinfeld method of “don’t break the chain.” The longer your streak gets, the more you are motivated to maintain the streak (and therefore the habit), so you’ll push yourself to take that run on a Sunday, or wake up early when you want to press snooze.

If you have an iPhone, you could try out Strides, which allows you to set SMART goals, or Productive which I find is similar to Streaks for Android. Both apps let you add your habits or goals and then track your daily progress. Plus, you can add reminders for tasks so you never forget to do them.

For your computer, there’s GoalsOnTrack which bills itself as “goal software for high achievers”. I like this software as it empowers its user to create S.M.A.R.T goals and offers a lot of useful features that will help you stay on track.

Final Thought

Being persistent and staying focused on tracking your progress is what separates people who achieve their goals from people who forget about their goals. By focusing on your progress towards your goals, you will motivate yourself to work harder towards them, you will make consistent and measurable progress, and you will always know exactly how far you’ve come and how far you have left to go. When you focus on progress, you will be more productive than ever.