Goal-Tracking Tools

I have found that water is a big goal I was failing on, & also was often eating when I actually was thirsty; so now I keep a big bottle of water (one of those orange juice containers) with the day's water in it, right near wherever I'm spending my day, like at my desk; then just enter into spark when I do my food, & star in star tally. But the goal tracking is the water sitting there, right in my face, waiting to hydrate me!

I have learned to keep a log, not only written, but on the computer. I find out that I'm not doing bad or that I've hit the end of the rainbow, you see my mind can dream up anything.

Sometimes it is very hard to do these kind of things as depression has me in its hold. I am still trying to do healthy but it is hard!

Love these ideas...especially the habit enhancing chart, goal calendar and emailing encouragement to self. I just purchased the goal calendar from Amazon and will be creating the habit chart in the next few days.

No need to get fancy. I just got a notebook and each morning write my thoughts and goals for the day. Easy to spot trends and to keep on track.

I started bullet journaling to track my food, water intake, workouts, chores that need to get done, appmts, etc. It is better than a planner and is shorter and more concise than than a regular journal. You can find all kinds of ways people Bullet journal on line, I use a moleskin, it fits in my pocketbook and I can carry it everywhere. It helps me keep track of everything in one place. I have found to be helpful in organizing my life. I have accomplished tasks around the house, I put exercise in as an important part of my routine - I have lost 13 pounds since using the bullet journal and Spark People together.

I made myself a star chart. For every good behavior, I give myself a star. For example, I give myself a star for every day that I drink 64 oz. of water. If I get a star every day for a week, I get a bonus star. Stars can be redeemed for rewards that I've chosen for myself. I use it to track my chores, fitness, nutrition, sleep, and even work goals.

I highly recommend goals on track. For just over $5 a month, at $65 you get a years subscription. Also, setting goals and enhancing ones optimism, success and happiness can be done for free at happify. There are 12 free tracks and for $12 a month you can attain all 30 lessons. Thanks for the great article.
Sincerely,
Wes

Loooked up Mindbloom it is awesome
going to download it to my phone and Ipad
I love it
Mahalo
Meleana

Here's a great, free, holistic goal setting site and game: Mindbloom--Life Game. http://www.mindbloom.com/lifegame .

It has categories for all major aspects of life to keep in balance (finance, spirituality, relationships, etc.), it has a customizable goal board, it incorporates to-do lists that get points when marked off, points taken away when scheduled but missed, a social component to encourage others, and if you go to their page on your smartphone and click on "add app" then you can keep track of everything via phone. You can also "buy" things with your points/seeds similar to how SP allows you to use points to give goodies.

Here's a great video they made to show how it all works:

vimeo.com/30401872#

Fantastic ideas here I will incorporate many of them

Grest article because it's great when you can talk with others going through the same thing you going through.

Here is a good FREE Goal Sheet that I downloaded

http://www.mygoalworksheets.com/My_Goal_
Worksheet.pdf

Hope it helps you too
BLESSINGS !

PS- just copy and paste into your browser

Great article, very down to earth and achievable no matter if you are a beginner or veteran. I especially like the annalogy of planning a trip. I know how to plan a trip-we drove to Yellowstone National Park 2 years ago! We were gone 2 weeks. Without planning this would never have happened. I know how to track, but my fitness goals need the same kind of planning to be acheived. Right now they arent much more than wishes.

I actually incorporate 2 of these ideas. I journal daily. I call it my mood journal, but really it's to track any fluctuations in my mood. I think I might be bipolar, but first I want to try this type of therapy before I resort to other things, like meds. And my journal, is actually a Daily Planner. I plan on getting another one at the beginning of the year to track Nutrition and Fitness Goals, after the baby is born. But for right now, I'm just trying to track my moods. I also track exercise and fitness, although on a different site. I think I will start back tracking on Spark at the turn of the year as well, though.