How an iPad can help you achieve your goals

Setting goals is one of the most important steps in productivity. No matter what area in your life you want to be productive in you need to set goals to become more productive. However setting goals is not enough, you have to actually do them. That does not require an iPad or specific apps, but they can be helpful. In this blog I will cover how the iPad can help, in my next blog I'll cover some specific apps that can enhance it.

Many people think they are setting goals when they simply think in their head "I would like to read more" or "I want to be better at handling email." That, however, is NOT goal setting.  The old saying goes:

"A goal unwritten is merely a wish"

Just the act of writing or typing a goal will make it more real in you mind and more likely to be accomplished. It at least makes you accountable to yourself. Ideally that goal will be written down somewhere you will see it often. That's where you iPad can come in handy, if you happen to see your iPad often, and I'm guessing you do, it can provide an excellent place for keeping your goals.

At its most basic level the iPad is good for goal setting simply because things can be written in it, this in and of itself will move your goals out of the wish category. But I want to highlight several other reasons the iPad is a productive tool for goals:

• Communication: The iPad is, of course, a connected device. Writing down you goal is one thing, sharing that goal is something else. You may want to share it with just one person, like an accountability partner, or all your friends via facebook, or the whole world via twitter. Sharing your goal is guaranteed to make it more likely to happen, and when you accomplish it or make progress you can share that too, yeah, that feels good.
• Tracking: gone are the days when you had to use excel or numbers to set up your own goal tracking method, the iPad contains apps (which we will get to next time) that will track your progress. Tracking your progress will make you more likely to achieve your goal.
• Accomplishing: lastly the iPad can actually be the means, or part of the means, to accomplishing certain goals. For example, one of my goals is to blog at least 2 times every week, the iPad helps me do this by making my blogging tools available everywhere I go, allowing me to take advantage of little moments that can help me towards my goal.

Tweet to @halduauthor which of the three things you are using to iPad to help with, Communication, Tracking, or Accomplishing.

Of course, the most important thing the iPad can do for you goals is help you to remember to live better. The three items talked about above are really just a means to that end.

In the comments below tell me one goal related action you would like to be able to do with your iPad, we'll see if we can find an app for it. You can also tweet it at me Tweet to @halduauthor

In the next post I will get more into specific apps I use for setting and accomplishing goals.

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And remember, live better.