Using Twitter for Goal Setting and Tracking

As you can tell from my previous post, I’m using Twitter with a passion these days. So the next logical step is to find other useful things for it to do. With it just turning 2009, and new resolutions in place I thought to myself “Why not use Twitter to track these new goals?”

Of course I don’t want the whole world to know every single one of my goals but one that I would like a little help on is in the area of fitness. My goal for 2009 is to jog at least 100 times throughout the year – this equates to around 2-3 times a week which is realistic for my busy schedule. If you haven’t set any goals or don’t know how to, click here for my post on 5 Tips on Goal Setting.

How to Use Twitter for Goal Setting and Tracking
Once I set my goal, I turned my attention towards creating an identifier that:

1. Explained what my goal was about
2. Easily remembered for search purposes

In Twitter, you can define events or topics with a “#” in front of keywords. Try these out in Twitter Search and you’ll see what I mean #happy09, #gaza and #haiku.

So in regards to jogging, I decided on #2009Jogging. Here’s what it looks like:

I’m 2/100 yay! Even picked up another person who was inspired by the idea.

For each #2009Jogging, I want to include useful information to help me track this goal and give readers visibility of my progress. I’ve decided to include number of jogs out of 100, distance run, any additional exercise and weight. By using the #2009Jogging in Twitter Search, I’ll be able to get a good summary of my ability to reach my goal.

Hope this provides you with another handy way to use Twitter. Feel free to add me if you’re on (mr_gadget).

Even better, who’s going to join me for 100 jogs in 2009?!

Share and Enjoy:

January 4, 2009 · Filed Under Social Media

Comments

5 Responses to “Using Twitter for Goal Setting and Tracking”

emaster_blog on January 6th, 2009 10:28 am

Man, that’s really a cool tip!
Especially for a relative twitter newbie like me.
I think it’s useful and so simple…

This rocks
Arnold Aranez on January 6th, 2009 11:43 am

Thanks
Amanda on March 3rd, 2009 2:08 am

Thank you for this article. after I read, I get the benefit

Regard
Jed Rose on June 6th, 2009 12:06 pm

Hate jogging, but love learning something new about twitter! Thanks.
Harry Che on August 26th, 2009 10:14 pm

Thanks Arnold.
You may also want to check out a dedicated goal tracking application at http://www.GoalsOnTrack.com