Most creative way to set & organize goals and keep them relevant?

Focus on one goal at a time. Or set small goals that encourage the success of one larger, overall goal. Goals keep me focused.

In today’s digital world I’d set regular goals on my iPhone’s calendar. It beeps at me; a page in a drawer or on a table top won’t.

Put them on your phone if you use it regularly.

Make the list, the creativity comes with picking things off the list.
At the top of the list, #1 Make the list.
Then as @boxer3 suggests, include every task or step that can be considered a completed milestone. No real piece of work is too small.

Pick a medium for your list that allows you to easily add/insert new tasks/milestones in between other as you discover you’ll need them. I like to use a medium that lets me clearly tag a task done but it remains on the list so I can see the accomplishment.
I just use a clipboard and space the initial items out enough that I can make notes and add new items. When the item’s done I strike-through but I can still read it. If/when the whole thing gets too messy, I rewrite the list on a new sheet, which tends to be a useful means of review and reflection. It’s low-tech I know but it’s so simple I can’t ignore it.

Just make sure that you write them down. Written goals are more likely to be accomplished. Acutally, if you aslo write and actions plan to accomplish your goal, send it to a supportive person, and follow up with progress reports, you are most likely to achice your goals.

A big DO LIST has always worked for me. Do not hide the list, but keep it in plain sight on the fridge or beside a calendar you read everyday. Or, by your coffeemaker, so you will be forced to see the list several times a day.

I’ve used this formula:
Vision Statement – This simply states where you envision yourself in the future. The ultimate outcome.
Mission Statement – This defines what the purpose of the vision is.
Goals – This is where it starts to become a list. They are the necessary outcomes in order to achieve the vision.
Strategy – Each goal will have at least one, and sometimes more, strategies.
Tasks – These describe the steps that need to be taken in order to accomplish each Strategy.
Due Date – The date a task needs to be accomplished in order to successfully carry out the plan.
Responsible Party – Who owns the task and will be held accountable for achieving it by the Due Date? If you are the only person involved, this step can obviously be skipped.

There are several different software programs on the market for project-planning. IMO, it is just as easy to come up with your own on a spreadsheet, which can be printed out if necessary.

Disclaimer: This approach may not work for you..it works for me because I am such a geek…

I use this app – because I liked the idea of giving myself a tangible small reward for completing my to-dos. This works well for generic goals for me..but I do keep work and health goal-setting in separate task-dedicated tracking systems.

For work, I have a series of spreadsheets and time entry systems. I have my own system of tracking my time and my work “to-do” list. Relatively low-tech, but it all works for me.

For health/weight loss/fitness I use a FitBit.
I love my FitBit—and use it plus a handful of related mini-apps to work on goals for weight loss, getting enough sleep and exercise.

I never wrote any goal down. I barely even dared thing of a goal and I certainly avoided putting dates on them. A goal, for me, was almost an anti-goal.

However, over the years, I have found that all those goals I thought of way back when and discarded because I didn’t believe I could make them seem to have come true. I may not have consciously thought about them very much, but they were there and they were, in fact, guiding me. Amazingly, I achieved many really big goals. There’s only one left, and I have to seriously not think about it since it is probably one of the oldest goals and one I believed in the most.

Believing in something is the death knell of that thing, for me. So I have to squelch those ideas if they are to have any chance. One day.