Today, I have a goodie for you that’s a handy record-keeping/note-taking tool to make keeping track of project goals a little more convenient. It’s “The Project Planner” and it comes with a page for your goal-setting needs, where you can list out the major goals or “Big Steps” toward getting your project completed. And, the planning sheet allows you about 5 lines to break down your major goal into mini goals (“Little Steps”) that will need to be completed in order to accomplish the major goal.
In my self-published book, Playground Instruction for the Growing Adult, I actually refer to this process as one of the “Keys to Productivity”. As “Key #4: Break down tasks into smaller activities to tackle”, I note that “tasks are less intimidating (especially the undesirable ones) when you can view them in more manageable, bite-sized work items that are easier to digest than trying to swallow the oversized task as a whole.”
So, now you have a worksheet that can act as your record of what goals you’ve set toward completing your project, what individual tasks make up the goals toward completing your project, and the timeline or “Due Date” you’ve assigned to each task to stay on track in accomplishing your project goals. (I even included a little checkbox so you can check off the task as being completed once it’s done.) I don’t know how you feel about checklists, but there’s something therapeutic about marking off a task as being completed. In other words, updating a record of progress made provides a visual representation that I’m GETTING THINGS DONE. And, who doesn’t like to see their progress officially on paper?
Oh, and I’ve included a second sheet for you that will allow you to jot down any notes, regarding your goals, or steps, for your project. If you’re like me, the first page to “The Project Planner” doesn’t allow for enough room to cover all the little details involved in my project planning effort, so I need additional room to record all the particulars.
I hope “The Project Planner” keeps you on track with the goals you’ve set for yourself. By downloading this form, you’ll have access to print off as many sheets as you’d like and use them for all of your special projects now and going forward. Access your project planner by clicking the link below:
