Achieve Your Goals! (with Goalscape)
How can you give your goals more meaning? How can you improve the odds of achieving goals? And how can you track progress along the way?
I use Goalscape. Here’s why...
Goalscape is an innovative new ‘goal management’ application. The software is designed specifically to help people set, inspire, and reach goals: more easily & elegantly than ever before. And it’s surprisingly useful - because it visualizes your goals in an utterly simple, yet profound way...
Above: Goalscape organizes your goals in a dynamic pie chart.
Goalscape starts with a central main goal and a set of sub goals. Jumping in is as easy as clicking any goal, changing the name, and then adding extra goals as you map out your epic quest to success (and whatever that may consist of). The whole process is very intuitive - and you can make any given project as simple or as complex as necessary.
The real magic behind Goalscape; it’s biggest advantage - is that each of your goals have a ‘visual context’ based on the adjustable sliders in the properties window (shown below).
By sliding the Importance property of a given goal the size will increase in proportion to the corresponding importance of all other goals in the pie. This is a great way to visually see how much more important one goal in comparison to everything else. Relative importance is one of those things that is difficult to do in a traditional task list or 'linear' project management tools.
And by adjusting the Progress slider, the software creates a visual cue within your pie so you can see how close you are to completing any given goal. Progress is visualized with a ‘blue fill’. And in the case of sub-goals, the blue fill will transcend multiple levels so all goals are equally contributing to achieving the main central goal. This is really cool to see in action!
These dynamic features, combined with the simplistic architecture of a multi-level pie chart - makes Goalscape a really intuitive, visually pleasing, and meaningful way of planning, prioritizing, and achieving goals.
Why I think Goalscape is Awesome
I really like Goalscape for managing projects. Because it puts you in a goal orientated focus. And when you can view all elements of a project within the boundary of a single circular shape... something striking occurs. You get inspired to bring everything to completion.
There is harmony in this ‘radial paradigm’ unlike any other. In a typical linear workflow you will have a pen & paper (or page in a word processor). Here you will write down a few key goals. And then perhaps a list of tasks that need to be done to achieve those goals. Yet the endless white space is daunting. It’s hard to put anything into a visual context. And it seems there is an unlimited number of tasks that can be constantly added to your list.
In the radial paradigm of Goalscape the project focus is central, not external. You can see the boundaries. And everything has a proportional context that together balance the project as a whole.
My favorite philosophy of space and time is that the universe is not infinitely large, but rather, it is infinitely small. So I believe that when you define a boundary to work within you can unleash your full potential to create all of the success you need.
The harmony you will witness as you use the program is a testament to how well the Goalscape team has really hit the mark. No sales fluff here: Goalscape really does have a motivational impact that will help you achieve your goals. A level of clairvoyance that is impossible to see any other way.
Goalscape for Notes and more...
Goalscape is new. The purpose is simple. Yet it is clear the Goalscape team has an even more elaborate vision for the product. And this is reflected by a number of cool features - like file attachments, a note entry system (complete with Tabs), and responsibility management.
Plus, an ever growing list of new features is in development. Things like context tagging, calendar integration, and other treats are all on the way (updates are automatic and seamless, so there’s no need to get them manually).
It will be exciting to witness the evolution of this innovative application. I encourage you to try it out for yourself by downloading Goalscape today.
Goalscape includes a 14 days free trial. To buy a license, the price is only 45 euro (about $62 as of today).
Since Goalscape runs on the Adobe AIR platform, it's compatible on PC, Mac, or Linux.
Out of 10 ?
At only version 2.1, the software has huge potential. The ability to keep notes on each individual goal really expands the scope of what you can do with Goalscape. And although at this stage the program is rather basic, it's easy to see how the Goalscape team could make this application a full fledged project management tool. Real time collaboration, extended diagramming features, and enhanced graphics are just some of the directions they could go. For now, in it's current form, Goalscape is certainly a better at 'macro management' than it is with 'micro management'.
Regardless, the Goalscape team has achieved their primary objective of creating an intuitive goal visualization tool. There approach was unique. And the implementation is rock solid. Goalscape is software innovation at it's finest!
Download my Goalscape Template
After you've had a chance to install & play around with Goalscape, I might suggest you try out my Project Vision template. It is in this file, that I've shared my cherished model of vision & strategy: all contained within the Goalscape. Feel free to try and use this as a foundation to reach your epic vision.
