A goal template will help you automatically create the main goal, subgoals, tasks, and even habits. This is a great way to reuse any short term and recurring goals that you may find yourself work on weekly or monthly. Here is a few instructions on how to make use of this new feature.

1. Create a Goal Template

Go to “Goals” page. For each goal, there is a new button now called “Create Template”. Click on it and you will see the template creation form. Remember that every template must be based on a goal, so if you delete that goal, the template linked to it will also be deleted. Once you have created some templates, they will be displayed on “Goal Templates” page, which can be accessed from the “Templates” button on the top title bar of the “Goals” page.

Weight Loss Goal Template

2. Use a Goal Template

To create goals from a goal template, simply click on “Use Template” button for that template. You can specify the new start and end dates for the goal you want to create. Please note that once a goal is created from a template, it then becomes a separate and independent goal and will have nothing to do with the template anymore. Changes to either the template or the created goal will not affect neither of two.

How to Use a Weight Loss Goal Template

When creating goals from templates, the task and subgoal dates will be automatically adjusted according to the main goal, based on its original goal structure. You may change them anyway you like, or change the original goal so that these changes will be seen from future goals created from the template.

Hope you enjoy and find this new feature useful. As always, please let us know if you have any feedback or find any bugs. Also we’ll be adding some sample goal templates to help you set certain goals or create action plans more easily. Stay tuned.

People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not. The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do.

I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn’t matter.

If I had to sum it up, I would say what I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. Six years later, I’m a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the government and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy things.

In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should, can be summed up in a single word: neglect .

It is not the lack of money - banks are full of money. It is not the lack of opportunity - America, and much of the free World, continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand years of recorded history.

It is not the lack of books - libraries are full of books - and they are free! It is not the schools - the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors and advisors.

Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply, neglect.

Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.

Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more … and on and on it goes.

So my suggestion is that when giving the choice of “easy to” and “easy not to” that you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, “easy”; but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines.

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The new update can be downloaded at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goalsontrack/id494953613

To accomplish that, a simple yet often neglected method is to form the habit of prioritizing your daily to-do list. I’d like to share a quick prioritization method I learned from a Brain Tracy’s book that has at least doubled my productivity.

Simply put, given any number of daily tasks, before we do anything about them, we first give each task or to-do item a tag, such as A, B, C, D, or E. Here is what each of them represents.

A - means this is a “A-list” task. It’s the most important thing for our goals, especially for the long term.

B - means “better get it done”. It’s something we should do, things other people or circumstances depend or wait on us. Or, if not done, it will surely cause us trouble or take more time to fix later.

C - means “carry on” task. It’s what we normally do to carry on with our life, to continue our work or projects, or routine tasks that we need to do, or daily chores etc.

D - means “delegate to someone else”. It’s for things that really should be given to someone else to do, and they also include things that we should check on others for status or results.

E - means “eliminate it”. This is something we simply shouldn’t do at all.

Once we have prioritized our tasks with these tags, sort them out and we will have a list starting with A tasks, then Bs, Cs, etc. With GoalsOnTrack, you simply give each task a Tag “A”, “B”, etc. Then on Dashboard page you can easily sort them by the tags.

Here comes the most import part of the whole idea. The real trick is to never work on B tasks, without first finishing A tasks. Never work on C tasks, without first completing both A and B tasks. So on so forth.

The benefit of working your daily to-dos this way is that you will get the most important things done first, when you are most energetic (because you haven’t wasted your energy on other less important or unimportant things yet). What’s more, if you happen to only complete half of your list, you still end up having the more important half done.

By routinely following this method, and making it a habit, you will immediately find your productivity and meaningful results you get at least doubled, if not more.

Discipline is freedom. You may disagree with this statement, and if you do you are certainly not alone. For many people discipline is a dirty word that is equated with the absence of freedom. In fact the opposite is true. As Stephen R. Covey once wrote, “the undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions”. And in the longer term, the undisciplined lack the freedom that comes with possessing particular skills and abilities - e.g. to play a musical instrument or speak a foreign language.

Self-discipline involves acting according to what you think instead of how you feel in the moment. Often it involves sacrificing the pleasure and thrill of the moment for what matters most in life. Therefore it is self-discipline that drives you to:

• Work on an idea or project after the initial rush of enthusiasm has faded away
• Go to the gym when all you want to do is lie on the couch and watch TV
• Wake early to work on yourself
• Say “no” when tempted to break your diet
• Only check your email a few of times per day at particular times

In the past self-discipline has been a weakness of mine, and as a result today I find myself lacking the ability to do a number of things which I would like - e.g. to play the guitar. But I have improved, and I can say that it is self-discipline that got me out of bed this morning at 5am to run and then write this article. Believe me, I would love to be curled up in bed right now, but this desire is subordinated by my inner sense of purpose.

If you struggle with self-discipline, the good news is that it can be developed. For example, it is only in the past two years that I have trained myself to wake early. The following are what I have found to be the five traits of self-discipline:

1. Self-Knowledge

Discipline means behaving according to what you have decided is best, regardless of how you feel in the moment. Therefore the first trait of discipline is self-knowledge. You need to decide what behavior best reflects your goals and values. This process requires introspection and self-analysis, and is most effective when tied to written expression. I highly recommend taking the time to write out your goals, dreams and ambitions. Even better, write out a personal mission statement. I found that writing such a statement gave me a greater understanding of who I am, what I am about and what I value. Dr. Covey has an excellent Mission Statement Builder on his site.

2. Conscious Awareness

Self-discipline depends upon conscious awareness as to both what you are doing and what you are not doing. Think about it. If you aren’t aware your behavior is undisciplined, how will you know to act otherwise?

As you begin to build self-discipline, you may catch yourself being in the act of being undisciplined - e.g. biting your nails, avoiding the gym, eating a piece of cake or checking your email constantly. Developing self-discipline takes time, and the key here is you are aware of your undisciplined behavior. With time this awareness will come earlier, meaning rather than catching yourself in the act of being undisciplined you will have awareness before you act in this way. This gives you the opportunity to make a decision that is in better alignment with your goals and values.

3. Commitment to Self-Discipline

It is not enough to simply write out your goals and values. You must make an internal commitment to them. Otherwise when your alarm clock goes off at 5am you will see no harm in hitting the snooze button for “just another 5 minutes….” Or, when initial rush of enthusiasm has faded away from a project you will struggle to see it through to completion.

If you struggle with commitment, start by making a conscious decision to follow through on what you say you’re going to do - both when you said you would do it and how you said you would do it. Then, I highly recommend putting in place a system to track these commitments. As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets improved”.

4. Courage

Did you notice the sweat dripping from the man in the picture at the start of this article? Make no mistake, self-discipline is often extremely difficult. Moods, appetites and passions can be powerful forces to go against. Therefore self-discipline is highly dependent on courage. Don’t pretend something is easy for you to do when it is in fact very difficult and/ or painful. Instead, find the courage to face this pain and difficulty. As you begin to accumulate small private victories, your self-confidence will grow and the courage that underpins self-discipline will come more naturally.

5. Internal Coaching

Self-talk is often harmful, but it can also be extremely beneficial if you have control of it. When you find yourself being tested, I suggest you talk to yourself, encourage yourself and reassure yourself. After all, it is self-talk that has the ability to remind you of your goals, call up courage, reinforce your commitment and keep you conscious of the task at hand. When I find my discipline being tested, I always recall the following quote: “The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret”. Burn this quote into your memory, and recall in whenever you find yourself being tested. It may change your life.

There are six disciplines you must develop if you want to achieve all that is possible for you. You can learn these disciplines through practice and repetition until they become automatic.

Goal Setting

Every morning, take three to five minutes to write out your top goals in the present tense. Get a spiral notebook for this purpose. By writing out your ten goals at the beginning of each day, you will program them deep into your subconscious mind.

This daily goal writing will activate your mental powers. It will stimulate your mind and make you more alert. Throughout the day, you will see opportunities and possibilities to move more rapidly toward your goals.

Planning and Organizing

Take a few minutes, preferably the night before, to plan out every activity of the coming day. Always work from a list. Always think on paper. This is one of the most powerful and important disciplines of all for high performance.

Concentration on your Highest-Value Activities

Your ability to work single-mindedly on your most important task will contribute as much to your success as any other discipline you can develop.

Exercise and Proper Nutrition

Your health is more important than anything else. By disciplining yourself to exercise regularly and to eat carefully, you will promote the highest possible levels of health and fitness throughout your life.

Learning and Growth

Your mind is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

Time for Important People in Your Life

Relationships are everything. Be sure that in climbing the ladder of success, you do not find it leaning against the wrong building. Build time for your relationships into every day, no matter how busy you get.

These six disciplines will ensure that you perform at the highest level and get the greatest satisfaction and results from everything you do. Study these six disciplines and then make a plan for how you can incorporate each of them into your daily life.

First of all, what exactly is a goal? A goal is the result toward which effort is directed; in other words, a goal is the outcome of a period of directed activity. Goals can be over any timeframe: for example, I often set very short term goals, such as finishing my grocery shopping in thirty minutes with no extra items in the cart beyond what’s on my list. I also have very long term goals, such as writing a check for my dream home at age 45 and retiring several years after that.

Goals are great because they put a carrot at the end of the stick, guiding you down a path that leads to something you truly want to accomplish. However, the truth is that we often set goals we cannot meet - and the result of that is not only the lack of reaching a goal, but the sense of failure that comes along with it. We beat ourselves up over the fact that we can’t lose that extra twenty pounds and keep it off and our sense of self-worth goes down.

Why does this failure happen? Obviously, there are as many causes for failure as there are grains of sand in the desert, but the root causes generally boil down to several groups, three of which I’d like to focus on:

A goal that isn’t clear Setting a goal of “saving money” or “losing weight” merely sets you up for failure because it isn’t clear what success actually is.

A goal that’s overly optimistic Optimistic goals are great, but setting goals like paying off your home in a year when you owe more than your annual income is probably not going to happen unless you’ve got some sort of trick up your sleeve.

A goal that’s too distant Again, distant goals are wonderful, but they require diligence. Merely setting a goal isn’t enough.

In each of these cases, you can head off potential challenges to reaching the goal by putting in extra effort when you define the goal right off the bat. Let’s work through an example to see how you can do this in your own life.

Let’s say your goal is to save money for a house; a fine goal, indeed. However, it has some problems that make it difficult for anyone to achieve.

It’s not clear and specific Whenever you define a goal, you should make sure it answers a few basic questions with as much specificity as possible: What? When? How?

What is the goal? Obviously, to save money for a house. But what kind of house? What will it cost? Where will the house be? Will it be pre-owned, or will you build your own? How much of the down payment do you plan to cover?

When is the goal? When do you want to be moving into that house? One year? Five years? Ten years?

How will you get there? Where will this money for savings come from? Right now, you’re not saving, so you have to define what exactly will change in order for you to begin saving at the rate needed to meet the specifics you’ve already set.

Using this process will transform the goal into something specific, ideally with specific savings goals each step along the way (weekly or monthly). These sub-goals are typically called milestones and can often be thought of as goals themselves: my goal for this month is to save $X, for example.

It’s too optimistic Is it within the realm of reality for you to meet the goal you set? This is more of a balancing act than anything - you want to make it so that you’re accomplishing something, but you also don’t want to make it impossible. For example, going from barely breaking even each month to saving 40% of your paycheck will be extremely difficult for much people, so set the goal lower.

It’s too distant Obviously, the best way to handle this is by setting milestones, particularly ones that at first give you a little bit of room to figure out how it’s going to go. For savings goals, I generally find that a gently graduated approach works well: saving $X the first year, then saving more the second year and so on. This way, you find success at each point along the way.

So, using these tips, you can change your goal to something much more specific and tangible: “I am saving money for a $200,000 house in Iowa. I want to move in in five years and I want to have a 10% down payment in hand, so I will need to save $20,000 in five years. That breaks down to $4,000 a year, or $333 a month. For the first year, I’ll save $300 a month, then add $20 a month each year after that. I will put this in a savings account that earns 5.05% APY interest.”

This time around, you have a goal that’s clearly defined, with specific action points for you to follow. You can now start working towards this goal immediately, instead of it being nebulous and easy to postpone and forget about.

If you’re one of the millions of people who set financial New Year’s resolutions only to lapse a few days, weeks, or months later, now is a perfect time to reboot.

The process of setting and reaching financial goals should be something we practice year-round, not just at the beginning of each year. Yet in our busy lives, it takes determination and focus to take time out to think about our ambitions and how we’re pursuing them. Perhaps that’s why so many people plan and set goals only at the beginning of a new year — because the holiday season offers more downtime to think about the big picture and our life’s direction.

When it comes to planning, the time you spend can pay big dividends. It could become your down payment on a first-class ticket to greater financial security, better health, closer personal relationships, a more satisfying work life — and even (for those of us pressed for time now) greater chunks of leisure time.

Students learning a foreign language must learn, forget, and relearn words three to six times before they permanently commit the translation to memory. Setting financial goals is much the same. Most people set a goal, fail to reach it, and somewhere down the road try again. Success is most likely to come after a series of false starts.

Why does that happen? We all learn from our past disappointments, so we come better prepared to succeed with each new assault on the goal. Timing also plays a part. The Buddhist proverb, “When the pupil is ready, the master will appear,” seems to apply here. There are simply times in our lives when we are better prepared to incorporate our past experiences and ongoing motivation into a winning formula for success.

Have your financial goals been derailed because you were blindsided by the stock and real estate market crashes? When picking yourself up after missing a goal, there are five basic tools — the “5 P’s” — you’ll want to use to improve the odds of victory on your next attempt:

1. Passion — You’ve got to want the goal badly enough that you won’t allow yourself to become discouraged when the finish line proves hard to reach.
2. Persistence — Cliché as it may sound, if at first you don’t succeed, you have to keep trying. Any goal worth attaining is worth pursuing even through repeated setbacks.
3. Planning — If the road to defeat is paved with good intentions, the road to success is smoothed with actual planning. Successful businesses begin with a well-thought business plan. Successful goal setters likewise require a carefully considered plan to reach their goals.

   Each plan should include:

   • Ways to break the main goal into smaller, easier-to-accomplish parts
   • A realistic timetable
   • Strategies and resources (including mentors) you can utilize
   • A system for tracking your progress
   • Fallback positions for when you encounter potholes and detours
4. People — The Boston Marathon attracts 25,000 participants and roughly half a million spectators each year. The number of qualified entrants and the large, cheering audience handing out cups of cold water do not make the 26.2-mile race any shorter. But the support and enthusiasm of the crowd and the momentum of the pack do provide most runners an extra boost on their journey to the finish line.

   Family, friends, and coworkers can likewise give you the extra boost you require to reach your goal. Whether they are running alongside you, cheering you on from the sidelines, or handing you advice based upon their own scrapes and triumphs, enlisting the help of others dramatically increases your chances of success.

5. Positivity — Mental attitude can carry you forward even when circumstances aren’t breaking your way. Is reaching for a goal a burden, a responsibility, a sacrifice, even a punishment? It can be, if you decide to think of it that way. But you can also picture your path as an adventure, an opportunity, a competition, and a growth experience. The task is the same regardless of how you view it. The outcome, however, is far more likely to be positive if you remain upbeat and optimistic at each step along the way.

Let me pass on to you these four simple steps to success:

Number one is good ideas. Be a collector of good ideas. My mentor taught me to keep a journal when I was twenty five years old. I’ve been doing it now all these years. They will be passed on to my children and my grandchildren. If you hear a good health idea, capture it, write it down. Don’t trust your memory.

Then on a cold wintry evening, go back through your journal, the ideas that changed your life, the ideas that saved your marriage, the ideas that bailed you out of bankruptcy, the ideas that helped you become successful, the ideas that made you millions. What a good review. Going back over the collection of ideas that you gathered over the years. So be a collector of good ideas for your business, for your relationships, for your future.

The next step to success is to have good plans. A good plan for the day, a good plan for the future, a good health plan, a good plan for your marriage. Building anything is like building a house, you need to have a plan. Now here is a good time management question: When should you start the day? Answer: As soon as you have it finished. It is like building a house, building a life.

What if you just started laying bricks and somebody asks, “What are you building?” And you say, “I have no idea.” See they would come and take you away to a safe place. So, don’t start the house until you finish it. Now, is it possible to finish the house before you start it? Yes, but it would be foolish to start before you had it finished. Not a bad time management idea. Don’t start the day until it is pretty well finished — at least the outline of the day. Leave some room to improvise. Leave some room for extra strategies, but finish it before you start it.

And here is the next piece that is a little more challenging: Do not start the week until you have it finished. Lay it out, structure it, then put it to work. Then the next one is a little tougher yet; do not start the month until you have it finished.

And finally the big one, don’t start the year until it is finished on paper. It’s not a bad idea, toward the end of the year, to sit down with your family for the family structure plans, sit down in your business for the business plans, sit down with your financial advisor for your investments and map out the year… properties to buy, properties to sell, places to go with your family, lay out the year. I finally learned to do that. It was also helpful for my family to show them where they appeared on my calendar. You know I used to have my business things on there and I used to have my lectures and my seminars all laid out on my calendar, and guess what the children said, “Where are we on the game plan, please show us our names on the game plan.” So you need to do it for your children, for your spouse, for your friends.

Now, here is the third step to success, and it can be really challenging.Learning to handle the passing of time. It takes time to build a career, it takes time to make changes, so give your project time, give your people time. If you’re working with people, give them time to learn, grow, change, develop, produce. And here is the big one, give yourself time. It takes time to master something new. It takes time to make altered changes and refinement in philosophy as well as activity.

Give yourself time to learn, time to get it, time to start some momentum, time to finally achieve. It is easy to be impatient with yourself. I remember when I first tried to learn to tie my shoes. The shoe strings, it seemed like it would take me forever. Finally I got it and it didn’t take forever, but it seemed like for a while I’d never learn, I’d get it backwards; the bow goes up and down instead of across. How do I straighten that out? Finally I got it, it just took time.

Mama taught me a little bit about playing the piano. “Here is the left hand scale”, she’d say. I got that, it was easy. Then she said, “Here is the right hand scale.” I got that, that was easy. Now she said, “We are going to play both hands at the same time.” I said, “Well, how can you do that?” Now one at a time was easy… but at the same time? Looking at this hand and looking at that hand, finally I got it. Finally I got where I could play the scales with both hands.

Then I remember the day she said, “Now we are going to read the music and play with both hands.” I thought, “You can’t do all that.” But you know, sure enough I’m looking at the music, looking at each hand, a little confused at first, but finally I mastered it. It took a little time to read the music and play with both hands. Then I remember the day she said, “Now we are going to watch the audience, read the music and play with both hands. I thought, “Now that is going too far!” How could you possibly do that?

But see adding them one at a time and giving myself time to master one before we went to the next one; sure enough I got to where I could watch the audience, read the music and play with both hands. So the lesson here is: Give yourself time, you can become a better pro, you can better master the art of parenting, you can better master the art of managing time, conserving resources, working together as a partner. Give yourself time.

And here’s the last one; learning to solve problems. Business problems, family problems, financial problems, emotional problems, etc. — challenges for us all. Here’s the best way to treat a problem: As an opportunity to grow. Change if you have to, modify if you must, discard an old philosophy that wasn’t working well for a new one. The best phrase my mentor ever gave me was when he said, “Mr. Rohn if you will change, everything will change for you.” Wow, I took that to heart, and sure enough the more I changed the more everything changed for me.

So learn to master good ideas, have good plans, handle the passing of time and solve problems, and you will be on your way to more success than you could ever imagine!