7 Free Goal Setting Templates

Goal Setting Templates

Goal setting templates are designed to help you set and ultimately achieve your goals. You can use them to set:

• Personal development goals,
• Financial goals,
• Business goals,
• Educational goals, 
• Health goals, and other types of goals.

Furthermore, you can use goal setting templates to plan both your short-term and long-term goals, depending on whether they require a shorter or longer period of time to achieve. 

To download a Google Docs or Google Sheets version of our templates, click on the link that will lead you to your preferred format, and you’ll see a new tab popping up with the following question:

Would you like to make a copy of the X Template?

Simply click on the Make a copy button, and this will let you copy and edit the template.

To download a PDF version of our templates for easy printing, click on the corresponding link.

Daily Goals Template

If you want to set daily targets so that you can stay focused and motivated throughout the day, the Daily Goals Template may be just what you need.

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Daily Goals Template?

The Daily Goals Template is an easy-to-use goal setting option that lets you:

• Define your daily goals,
• Add a timeframe for each daily goal (from X a.m./p.m. to X a.m./p.m.),
• Add tasks you need to complete to achieve each daily goal, and
• Check off tasks once completed to track your progress and celebrate your accomplishments.

Who and what is the Daily Goals Template best for?

The Daily Goals Template is an ideal solution for anyone who wants to increase their productivity by setting daily targets they intend to achieve by the end of each day. 

Moreover, if you see your daily goals as part of your larger, long-term goal, adding your daily targets to the Daily Goals Template can also help you track progress toward your long-term goal more easily.

How to use the Daily Goals Template?

After you’ve downloaded your preferred template format, you can start filling out your template by adding:

• Today’s date,
• Daily goals that you want to accomplish,
• Timeframe for each of these goals, and
• Tasks you plan to complete to achieve these goals.

You’ll also notice that there are checkboxes for each task, so every time you complete a task, you can check the appropriate box. This way, you’ll be able to track how you’re progressing with your tasks and how close you are to your goal — the more tasks you mark as completed, the closer you’ll be to achieving your desired outcome. 

Life Goals Template

If you want to set goals that will give you directions in both personal and professional aspects of your life, you can use the Life Goals Template.

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Life Goals Template?

The Life Goals Template allows you to:

• Define your personal and professional short-term goals,
• Define your personal and professional long-term goals, and
• Add action steps you need to take to complete each of your personal and professional short-term and long-term goals. 

Who and what is the Life Goals Template best for?

The Life Goals Template will be useful to anyone who wants to set personal and professional goals — whether it’s something they want to achieve in the next 12 months or the next 3 years. 

What’s great about this goal making template is that it allows you to set various goals — from goals related to your health (e.g., keeping a regular workout regimen) to goals related to your professional development (e.g., moving up the career ladder). It is only up to you to decide which goals are most important to you, fill out the template, and start working on your goals. 

How to use the Life Goals Template?

After you’ve downloaded your preferred template format, you can add your short-term and long-term goals (both personal and professional), together with the action steps you need to take to achieve these goals.

You’ll also notice that there are checkboxes for each of your goals, so every time you achieve a goal, you can check it off. This way, you can more easily track how many objectives you have reached and enjoy your accomplishments every time you look at the ticked boxes.

Career Goals Template

The Career Goals Template can help you set and organize your professional development and career goals.

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Career Goals Template?

The Career Goals Template lets you:

• Define your short-term and long-term career goal,
• Set activities you need to undertake to reach your short-term and long-term career goals, and
• Add additional skills you may need to develop in order to reach your goals.

Who and what is the Career Goals Template best for?

If you want to set career goals and grow professionally, the Career Goals Template will help you do it — whether you aim towards achieving short-term or long-term career goals.

With this easily customizable template, you’ll be able to add activities you need to undertake and skills you need to develop to reach your career goals. This will help you create an effective goal setting strategy and achieve your goals successfully. 

How to use the Career Goals Template?

After you’ve downloaded your preferred template format, you can edit it according to your needs. You can add your short-term and long-term career goals and set activities you need to undertake and skills you may need to develop to achieve these goals.

In addition, once you achieve a goal, you can mark it as achieved by checking the appropriate box placed on the right side of the template.

Simple Bucket List Template

The Simple Bucket List Template is one of the simplest-to-use tools to help you plan everything you want to accomplish or experience during your lifetime.

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Simple Bucket List Template?

The Simple Bucket List Template is a perfect solution for setting personal goals and aspirations you hope to accomplish before you die (i.e., “kick the bucket”). 

These goals and aspirations can be anything — from experiences you want to have (e.g., places you want to travel to) to achievements you want to accomplish (e.g., a foreign language you want to learn).

This simple goal list template offers you space to add a total of 50 goals, but you can add more goals if you want. Just click the plus sign next to the last row in the Google Docs template to add more rows (and thus more goals).

Who and what is the Simple Bucket List Template best for?

The Simple Bucket List Template can be useful to anyone who wants to make a record of all the goals they’ve dreamed of achieving in their lifetime.

With the Simple Bucket List Template, you’ll have your goals neatly organized in a list so you can easily keep track of them. 

What’s more, after you fill out your Simple Bucket List Template, you can print it out and display it anywhere you see fit (e.g., you can pin it on a wooden board above your desk). This way, you’ll be reminded of your goals each time you look at them, which will help you stay motivated. 

How to use the Simple Bucket List Template?

After you download the template format you want, you can easily fill in your Simple Bucket List Template by adding as many as 50 goals you intend to achieve. 

Moreover, to keep track of how many goals you’ve achieved, you can utilize the checkbox option provided in the template.

Financial Goals Template

The Financial Goals Template helps you define and reach goals related to your finances. 

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Financial Goals Template?

The Financial Goals Template allows you to:

• Define your financial goals,
• Set the amounts of money you need to save to reach those goals,
• Set the timeframe for each of your financial goals,
• Identify any potential obstacles you may encounter on your way to reaching your financial goals, and
• Add action steps you need to take to reach your financial goals and overcome any potential obstacles.

Who and what is the Financial Goals Template best for?

Whether you want to save money for a future vacation, a business endeavor, or debt payment, the Financial Goals Template will be of immense help to you.

The Financial Goals Template not only helps you create an action plan that will lead you to your financial goals but also prepares you for any potential obstacles you may encounter along the way.

Furthermore, by allowing you to set timeframes for your financial goals, the Financial Goals Template also helps you track the progress of your goals and keep yourself accountable.

How to use the Financial Goals Template?

After you’ve downloaded your preferred template format, you can edit your template as you see fit — define your goals and set the amounts needed to achieve those goals. 

For the sake of tracking your goals and for your personal satisfaction, you can check the appropriate box each time you reach a desired outcome.

Simple SMART Goals Template

With the Simple SMART Goals Template, you can set and achieve SMART goals easier than ever. 

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Simple SMART Goals Template?

The Simple SMART Goals Template helps you set and define SMART goals by providing you with questions related to SMART criteria. 

Once you answer these questions, you’ll be able to transform your initial goal — which may be vague — into a SMART goal that will be more specific. This way, you’ll know exactly what you want to accomplish with your goal, which will help you focus your efforts better. 

Who and what is the Simple SMART Goals Template best for?

The Simple SMART Goals Template is a great goal setting option for anyone who wants to set clear goals that are also easy to track.

Furthermore, this goal setting template will also help you better understand your goals, including whether your goals are attainable or even worth your effort. 

How to use the Simple SMART Goals Template?

When you download the template format you want, you can fill in your Simple SMART Goals Template by defining your initial goal and answering the SMART questions presented in the template itself. 

After you answer these questions, turning your initial goal into a SMART goal will be a piece of cake — just remember to answer all the questions from the template.

Detailed SMART Goals Template

In case you need more pointers to help you create SMART goals, you can use the Detailed SMART Goals Template.

⏬ Download: Google Docs, Google Sheets, PDF

What is the Detailed SMART Goals Template?

Compared to the Simple SMART Goals Template, the Detailed SMART Goals Template includes some additional SMART questions that can help you determine whether your goal is SMART or not. 

This template also includes:

• An action plan that you can fill in with the action steps you need to take to achieve your SMART goal, and
• An additional table where you can list all the potential obstacles you may encounter and potential solutions to overcome those obstacles.

Who and what is the Detailed SMART Goals Template best for?

If you want to do a thorough SMART analysis of your goal, the Detailed SMART Goals Template is the best option for you.

This goal setting template not only enables you to set SMART goals but also devise action steps to effectively achieve those goals. 

How to use the Detailed SMART Goals Template?

Once you’ve downloaded the template format you want, you’re ready to fill out the template. 

To properly fill out the template, you’ll need to define your initial goal and answer the SMART questions provided in the template itself. After answering these questions, you’ll be able to easily transform your initial goal into a SMART goal.

At the bottom of the Detailed SMART Goals Template, there’s also a table designed to help you create an action plan to reach your SMART goals — use it to define your action steps and track your first results.

What is a goal? 

A goal is a desired outcome that a person commits to in order to achieve it.

There are many types of goals that you may want to achieve — from career goals and business goals (which are more oriented towards your professional life) to health goals and relationship goals (which are related to your personal life).

Moreover, goals can also be:

• Short-term, and 
• Long-term, depending on the time span they refer to.

Short-term goals refer to the near future and may include something you want to achieve today, this week, this month, or even this year. 

On the other hand, long-term goals refer to a more distant future and require more planning than short-term goals. They typically take 3-5 years to achieve, or longer. 

What is goal setting and how can it help you? 

Goal setting is the process of taking active steps in order to achieve your goals, that is, your desired outcomes. It includes the development of a plan you’ll need to follow to reach your goals.

Goal setting is important because it lays the foundation for everything you need to do to achieve your goals. It also helps you:

• Measure your progress towards your goals,
• Increase your motivation, and
• Direct your efforts towards what’s most important.

What are SMART goals? 

SMART goals are objectives that are:

• Specific, 
• Measurable,
• Attainable, 
• Relevant, and 
• Time-bound. 

SMART goals are often used as a goal-setting framework because they cover all the essential aspects of a goal you should consider to reach your goals successfully.

What are the 5 R’s of goal setting?

Besides using SMART goals, another way to set effective goals is to follow the 5 R’s of goal setting. 

These 5 R’s describe 5 different goal characteristics you should keep in mind when setting goals, each beginning with the letter R:

• Relevant — your goal should be meaningful to you (or your company if you’re setting company goals). In other words, it should align with your values and aspirations.
• Realistic — your goal should be attainable in the sense that you have a reasonable amount of time, money, and skills to reach it. 
• Results-oriented — when setting your goals, you should focus on achieving specific outcomes or results rather than the process or actions you’ve taken to achieve those results.
• Reviewed — you should review your goals regularly (depending on the goal, you can do it weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, for instance). This allows you to keep track of your progress but also adjust your goals if needed. 
• Responsible — you should consider your goal solely your responsibility. In other words, if you fail to achieve your goal, you shouldn’t blame others for it. Instead, you should stay accountable because that’s the only way to unleash your full potential and successfully reach your goals.

What are the 5 steps of goal setting?

If you need some guidance on goal setting, the following 5 steps are essential for setting your goals effectively:

1. Decide what your goals are — in order to achieve something, you must first understand what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it. This will help you get a clear starting point and focus on what’s most important to you.
2. Write down your goals — if your goals stay only in your mind, you may drift away from them or even forget about your goals altogether. That’s why it’s important to write them down so you can remind yourself of your goals every time you look at them.
3. Make an action plan — to be able to reach your goals, you need to know what actions you need to take to achieve them. If you’re not sure where to start, the best practice is to break your larger goals down into smaller tasks. This will also make your goals feel more attainable.
4. Create a timeline — having a timeline that clearly outlines your tasks and the deadlines you must meet for those tasks is critical to achieving your goals. It helps you see how much time you have to complete each task towards your larger goal, which creates a sense of urgency and keeps you accountable.
5. Track your progress — keeping track of your progress toward your goals allows you to see how close you are to achieving them. It also lets you identify if there’s anything you need to improve in your goal-setting process to reach your goals faster.

Tips for setting and reaching goals 

To easily set and achieve your goals, here are some tips that you may find useful:

• Set SMART goals — as we mentioned in one of the subheadings above, setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound is essential to creating effective goals. This process allows you to set clear and realistic goals that also have a deadline — which will help you stay focused on your way to success.
• Take your passions into consideration — if you want to feel motivated while working on your goals, make sure they include something you’re passionate about. This will also allow you to feel a certain sense of pride once you achieve your goals.
• Prioritize your goals — while you may have a lot of goals that you want to achieve, it’s almost impossible to work on them all at once. That’s why it’s best to focus on a few goals that are most important to you and set them first. 
• Be prepared for setbacks — even though you may falter on the way to achieving your goals, that doesn’t mean you should give up on them. Instead, try to treat setbacks as learning opportunities and use them to see what you could do differently the next time you try to reach a particular goal.
• Celebrate your achievements — giving yourself a pat on the back after you achieve each goal motivates you to continue taking action towards reaching more difficult to attain future goals. It also increases your satisfaction and helps you build self-confidence.

Set and track your goals with Clockify

Whether you want to achieve personal, career, or financial goals, goal setting templates can help you define your goals and plan the action steps you need to take to achieve your goals.

However, to make sure you’re getting closer to your objectives, you’ll need to track your progress toward your goals, and that’s where a goal tracker app, such as Clockify, comes in handy.

With Clockify, you can:

• Set your goal as a project and break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks,
• Track the time you spend on your tasks via timer or timesheets, and
• Set estimates for your tasks so that you can track your goal progress more easily.

To check the progress of your project (that is, your goal), you can select your project and click on the Status tab in Clockify.

If you want to better understand where your time is going, you can analyze your tracked time in Clockify reports. You can also export your time reports as Excel files or PDFs and share them with others.

By examining your time tracking data in Clockify reports, you can see if you are working on your goals productively enough.