This may not be the first time you’ve heard it but goal setting is important for anyone (or any business). In fact, setting goals is the ultimate motivator. At Symph, we are always pushing for growth (whether it’s work or personal growth) and we believe goal setting isn’t just about creating lists, plans and holding yourself accountable, it is also about giving the inspiration necessary to aim for things we never thought possible.
Trying to set goals and keeping them can get overwhelming, sure. There are a lot of tools out there to help you track your goals. We can list plenty and yet finding the right one can get overwhelming, too. So, we’ve asked our team around on the tools they use. It works for them, so feel free to explore what works for you too!
Trello is mainly a project management tool that makes organization, productivity, and communication easier for a team. With its Kanban boards that provide a good visual, Trello isn’t just for work. It can also be a helpful tool to keep your goals on track.
Our operations lead, Nikki, uses Trello to jot her ideas down, and the same goes with Franchette, one of our Full-Stack developers:
“I use Trello for my personal goals. I like how I can visualize it and label different types of things so I can break down long term goals to short-term goals.”
Here’s what Franchette’s board looks like!
and we thought Trello was only for “finish freelance project” and “submit output on deadline” s.
If your life is literally in a Google Calendar, like Ashley’s, you can also easily integrate Trello with Google Calendar to keep you notified (and bugged that you should stop binge-watching that series and start working on that illustrate concept you keep putting off for “later”).
Evernote has been on our team’s home screens since Symph’s early days. Each has their own purpose of using the app — for archiving, note taking, and yes, even goal setting and tracking.
Rosie, Symph developer and designer, uses Evernote because it enables her to create checklists, easily group, move things around, and sync all those to her preferred devices.
If staying focused is more of a challenge for you especially when you spend a lot of your productive time on the computer, take it one day at a time with Effortless. This is a simple and straightforward app for Mac users.
Our Master Francis’ pen and paper tools for setting gameplans. ;)
Writing things down using a pen and paper has its own unique flair and a greater sense of accountability as compared to typing on our phones or computers, right? Right?
If you prefer the old-school route, keep life and career goals in a small notebook that you can bring with you everywhere.
You may also want to try bullet journaling with the general idea of things you plan to do for the day. Here’s a nice guide to follow from which you can customize and tailor depending on your goals.
And of course, in true developer fashion, Sublime Text makes it to our list. If you’re going to make a list of personal goals, might as well do it in a platform that you’re most comfortable with, yes?
Take it from Jermaine, one of our mobile developers:
“I only create a short-term-goals list per day- basically, just tasks that are needed to be done on that day, and if I cannot finish it, I carry it over for tomorrow’s list.”
Jermaine adds that he loves using Sublime Text because it has dark background. Night-mode devotees put your hands up!
If there’s anything we learned from this list, it’s that we don’t need anything fancy to keep ourselves in check through tools and apps— it only needs to be something we’re comfortable with using, something that feels less of a chore, and more of a seamless part of our everyday lives.
How about you? What are the goal setting tools that you find effective? Share it to us!
