Introducing the Goal Cycle
Do you feel overwhelmed by all the advice on goal setting? Goal tracking, SMART goals, reverse goal setting, Kolb’s Cycles, Gibb’s Cycles, 1% Gains, prioritization, work-in-progress limits… how do they all fit together?
Introducing the Goal Cycle, a streamlined interface that helps you bring all those complex pieces into your own advanced workflow.
Tracking Goals
In the Goal Cycle we track our goals on a board, where one goal is one of several cards in a column.
The goal tracking board. Each card is a goal.
Move goals left to right: Generally a goal will move from the leftmost column to the right. For example
Todo: When we first think of a goal.
In Cycle: While we are working on that goal.
Monitoring: We’re not actively working on it, but it’s still on our mind.
Out of cycle: If the goal is achieved or we’ve decided to move on.
Limit in-cycle goals: We don’t want the “In Cycle” column to get too full, 1-3 goals in cycle is a good target.
Update progress: Click on a goal to edit the goal and your progress toward that goal. The progress will show in the card’s progress circle.
Customize: We can add, remove, rename, and move columns to customize our workflow. We can also make choose a more compact view for goals by clicking on the ellipsis “…” in the top right of a column.
Planning Goals
We can add text entries or infinite canvases to our goal for planning.
Clicking on a goal in the board lets us focus on that goal. By default the first row is the goal and our progress toward that goal. The last row has buttons for adding an infinite canvas or a text entry.
Reverse Goal Setting: In Ahmni we can use an infinite canvas to do reverse goal setting. One of the best ways to plan the path to a goal is to work backwards from the final result. We can breakdown what it will take to get there and frequently revisit and modify this plan. Click on the “Add Canvas button to open an infinite canvas and begin reverse goal setting.
SMART Goals: Sometimes it is easier to type, like when deciding if our goal is a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound goal. Click on “Add Entry” to add a text entry. Additionally, consider adding your own SMART Goal template.
Templates
A blank text entry can be daunting. We can insert templates into our text entries for improved reflection.
An example of inserting a template into a text entry. The inserted template is the “What? So What? Now What?” cycle from (Driscoll, 1994).
Default Templates: By default Ahmni comes with several templates including variations on the Gibbs’ Cycle (Gibbs, 1998) and the ERA cycle (Jasper, 2013).
Custom Templates: Maybe you’d like to add templates for the Kolb’s Cycle or SMART goals. To do so:
Go to the “Templates” Tab
Click on the “…” button in the top right.
Click the “+ New Template” button.
A “New Template” row will appear at the top of the list.
Click the template to edit it.
An example of adding a SMART Goal Template.
Experiential Cycles
We can create a goal and plan a goal, but how do we work toward that goal?
Reflect: The idea behind cyclical entries is simple. Add an entry and use a template like Gibbs’, ERA, Kolb’s, or your own custom variation to reflect on your progress so far. Then plan your next step.
Next Step Experiment: After reflecting, come up with a short, specific action or experiment that you can perform while working toward your goal. For example in your reflection you may have noticed your bed time is inconsistent, so the next experiment might be going to bed at the same time for 5 nights in a row. Ahmni’s goal cycle provide an explicit text box to put your “Next Step”, and the next step will show up as a checklist item in the cycle, and a checklist item on the board.
Repeat: Continue to add cycles and reflect on your experiments and your progress.
Modify: Don’t be afraid to update your goal or goal planning. Cycling toward your goal is an iterative, flexible experience. Feel free to add more infinite canvases for brainstorming, add more entries for quick check-ins, and update your progress as you go.
Learn More: This is a large field or research, here is a good starting point for learning more: https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/reflectivepracticetoolkit/models
Advanced Workflows
The workflow generally followed above is a great starting point:
Create a goal
Reverse Goal Set in an Infinite Canvas
Check SMART Goal criteria in a text entry.
Use Driscoll Cycles to reflect and experiment toward your goal.
However with the customizations, templates, and infinite canvases that the Goal Cycle provides, consider experimenting and updating your own workflow. Consider advanced workflow items like:
Custom variations of the Kolb’s cycle.
Consolidating experimental learnings into mindmaps.
Adding custom goal setting and 1% gain tracking templates.
Got a cool template or workflow? Join the Ahmni Discord and share!