There's lots written about the value of setting goals (here's one of my favorite more provocative ones that disapproves of so-called SMART goals). I have found it handy to have some structure to help me accomplish tasks but.... okay - so I confess  - I don't always practicing what I preach. Guess what - those are also some of my less productive moments!

In getting this new website set up, I found it very helpful to specify my goals and then break each one down into the steps and then tasks, and even sub-tasks, I wanted to accomplish. I used an Excel spreadsheet, which functioned fine, but it lacked flexibility and I had to keep adding rows in the middle of the spreadsheet as new tasks came up. Today I discovered this handy interactive goal-setting tool which looks like it may solve that problem. The coach in me enjoys the challenge of the questions: "Am I totally committed to this goal?" And "why is this goal important to me?" They dare me to stop kidding myself!

To access this tool for your own use, you can save it to your computer by doing the following: Right click on the link above and then click on "save as" to your desktop or a folder. You can also open directly with a left click.

I'll be giving it a run for a month to see if it helps me accomplish more, without fussing with a spreadsheet. I'm planning on adapting the tool somewhat to have it work better for me - instead of My First Action, I'll list all the actions (or tasks) needed to accomplish that particular goal.

Do you have a favorite goal-setting tool to share? Or an opinion as to whether they make a difference?