Who of us doesn’t want to meet our goals effortlessly and realize everything planned without much trouble? Yet, for the majority of people, goal-reaching often turns into an insurmountable task. The problem starts with inadequately formulated goals: they are either fairly unrealistic, too vague and not specific enough. Hence, to help yourself be more accomplished and successful, always start out by setting Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals (aka SMART goals).
If the art of SMART goal setting is new to you and you need some assistance while defining and tracking your objectives, be sure to make use of a software tool that will provide you with that necessary support in SMART goal management. Explore this list to learn about some of the best options suitable for work in teams and personal use.
Best Software Picks for Setting SMART Goals
1. actiTIME
actiTIME is a straightforward time tracking tool with some handy functionality for task management and in-depth performance analysis. When it comes to setting SMART goals, the main actiTIME feature that you’ll find particularly helpful is Work Scope Management. Use it to create a goal-associated project in your account, break it down into smaller tasks to boost attainability and add such details as estimates and deadlines to make your SMART goals more specific and time-bound.
Consequently, you’ll be able to monitor progress and evaluate your goal-reaching success with the help of the Kanban board, comprehensive time tracking reports, in-built automatic reminders or the visual estimate and deadline tracker located right on your actiTIME timesheet.
Without a doubt, SMART goal setting and tracking become a breeze with actiTIME. Sign up for a free online trial to make sure of it yourself!
2. Ally.io
The second piece of software on our list follows the OKR framework – a goal setting system that lets one plan and track desired performance objectives and key results. Ally.io provides simple-to-use OKR templates where you can write down multiple objectives for your team or individual employees and add a couple of measurable key results you want to observe as the work on tasks advances.
This way, Ally.io allows you to communicate your performance expectations to team members with ease and guarantee that everyone stays on the same page in terms of project delivery and business development goals. Plus, the tool includes a set of easy-peasy progress reporting features, such as visual and data-driven charts, that let you keep tabs on how efficient your team is in meeting the formulated objectives.
3. ClickUp
ClickUp is a multifunctional work management tool that includes such valuable features as to-do lists, spreadsheets, event scheduling and file sharing. As for ClickUp’s goal tracking functionality, it helps to create multiple universal performance goals with smaller quantifiable and time-bound targets. Besides, it automatically updates you on ongoing objective progress as your staff works on the assigned tasks and closes them successfully.
With ClickUp, you can align individual employee objectives with broader strategic SMART goals to develop a comprehensive work management picture. Therefore, this tool is of tremendous support not only in team collaboration but also in project and business planning.
4. Engagedly
This one is a robust performance management solution that allows you to set SMART goals for employees, track their achievements and provide informative feedback promptly and efficiently. Engagedly is designed to foster a productive dialog between managers and their team members and promote ongoing analysis of individual performance outcomes.
As a top-notch SMART goal setting software, it lets you align strategic business goals with personal work objectives for every employee. And if you’re worried about your team’s commitment to performance improvement, Engagedly has you covered! It uses highly motivating gamification principles and Social Praise to keep your people uplifted and interested in continual improvement.
5. Trakstar
Trakstar is on the mission to assist you in the development of a highly engaged, motivated and focused workforce. It offers space to set SMART goals for each employee on your team and track their ongoing progress without a hitch.
Trakstar not only gives you an opportunity to explain to your staff members what specific work results you expect them to show but also improves the quality of regular performance reviews since SMART goals created in Trakstar render a clear structure to guide the employee appraisal process. Plus, the tool infallibly supplies you with real-time data on employees’ work outcomes and thus lets you provide more objective and evidence-based feedback.
Goal Setting Software for Personal Use
6. Goals.com
Whether one needs to develop some healthy habits or take a genius maneuver to advance in a career, this feature-rich online platform has everything necessary to set and track any personal and professional SMART goals.
Define your larger-scale ambitious objective in the app, and then proceed to write down a weekly list of tasks that will bring you closer to that objective. Next, use the habit tracking feature to record and review your progress over time or take notes and write daily journals to register your self-improvement experience in greater depth. Lastly, don’t forget to check some of the countless inspirational quotes and articles readily available to Goals.com users – they will keep you motivated and ensure you don’t go astray from the outlined path to success.
7. Lifetick
The app’s robust functionality enables users to organize and manage any personal or work-related objective, regardless of how big or small it is. With Lifetick, you can categorize and color-code different SMART goals, set due dates for them, take brief progress notes or write more extended daily journals, set task reminders and run informative reports.
The app follows the SMART goal setting principles and provides you with a clear-cut template during the goal creation process so that your objectives are 100% specific, measurable and in line with your core values. Using Lifetick, you will be able to record all daily achievements in an intuitive and simple manner and then check your progress on a chart or in a table.
Besides, you can invite your friends or family to review your SMART goals in the app or plan something collaboratively – big dreams are always more comfortable and fun to accomplish in the company of like-minded supporters.
8. GoalsOnTrack
With GoalsOnTrack you can think through everything you need to deliver on the desired life objectives and keep track of your daily progress.
Every target you set in the app falls under the category of SMART goals just naturally because you have to configure preferable timeframes and measurement criteria for them during the creation process. Additionally, in the description section, you can attach a vision and purpose statement to your goal, write down which obstacles you may encounter on the way and which resources are required for better outcomes. You may also pin an inspirational picture to your goal to visualize what success means to you and motivate yourself to work diligently and consistently.
Thanks to the app’s straightforward yet insightful reporting functionality, results tracking and analysis are bound to be effortless too. You always have a chance to review your current achievements in the Active Goals interface, where the % value of your ongoing progress is depicted on colorful bar graphs.
9. Goalscape
Goalscape is a straightforward goal planner. The app’s distinctive feature is the visual goal map – a configurable circle interface with one main goal in the center and multiple subgoals and smaller tasks surrounding it.
Just type the name of your primary goal by clicking on the center of the map. Define its importance, set deadlines and attach any critical information to it via goal settings. Then, proceed to formulate your subgoals in a similar manner – by clicking on the areas around your major goal. This way, you can make your goal map as detailed as you wish, breaking it down into multiple sublevels.
Overall, if you’re looking for a tool to create a readable and well-structured plan to reach an objective, Goalscape is precisely what you need.
10. ATracker
Compared to paper to-do lists that tend to get lost way too often, this smart and easy-to-use app will always be at hand when you need it most. Besides defining your own daily objectives in ATracker, you can run automatic one-click timers to keep a precise record of time spent on every task. Your productivity statistics will be readily available via beautiful charts. Plus, you may share them through your social media to get that extra influx of support and recognition from friends and peers.
ATracker’s goal setting functionality lets you create specific and time-bound aims by defining how frequently you need to commit to different tasks and for how long. You can assign estimates and deadlines for all SMART goals of yours and enable the app to remind you of regular to-dos. This makes ATracker a perfect helper for everyone how wants to enhance productivity, build healthier habits or get rid of the negative ones.
