If you need the instructions that came with the 2011 Roadmap Planner, a copy can be viewed here. (PDF 112 KB).

Another useful page is the list of blog entries containing tips.

I’ve made an example Goal Constitution (PDF 690 KB) that also includes an example week of the Roadmap Planner.

Also, see the Roadmap Planner YouTube Channel for videos on instructions and tips.

I’ve created a spreadsheet version of the 53 Week Goal Tracker available here.

If you have a question not answered here, please submit it at the RoadmapPlanner.com Forums so everyone can benefit.

Ben Franklin said regarding his 13 Virtues:

“I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it;”

Daily Dats™ works a little bit differently than Benjamin Franklin’s original concept of a little book that tracks his thirteen virtues, but the concept is very similar. Just like he defined his virtues, first, we create a Goal Constitution which explicitly defines our goals. Our goals can be as broad as Mr. Franklin’s or as specific as you care to be. But remember, if a goal isn’t measurable, it’s a wish; therefore, if my Personal Mission Statement includes something about being healthier and more spiritual, then some of my four goals in the Goal Constitution should have “Health” and “Spirituality” topics, but then under each goal insert specific, measurable Daily Dats™ that you feel would help you arrive at your broader goal. For example, if my goal is to be healthy, I could define specific Daily Dats™ that measurably track my health like weight, body fat percent, caloric intake, vitamin usage, flossing and fluoride, exercise time, etc. If my goal is to be more spiritual, I can define and track Daily Dats™ relating to personal prayers, family prayers, scripture study, church attendance, etc.

The Daily Dats™ (measurable goals) are assigned a number from 1-12. The reason I recommend you start with 12 is because too many goals are laborious to track and difficult to focus enough attention on achieving. (If you really feel you need one or two more goals to track in the Daily Dats™ System, try drawing a diagonal line in each box of a row, e.g. diagonals in row 12 now tracks goal 12 on top of the diagonal and goal 13 on the bottom.) I originally started my planner prototype with twenty goals, but it was actually demotivating. I tried backing down to ten, but found myself creating diagonals in the boxes. Ben Franklin had 13 virtues that he tracked daily, but the number twelve has mathematical, historical, and religious significance, so give it a try.

To help you remember which Daily Dat™ is assigned to what number in your goal constitution, do what Ben Franklin did: abbreviate it. Weight becomes “lbs,” or personal scripture study becomes “PSS.” Write your abbreviation on top of the number in the Daily Dats™ “#” column.

On Sunday night, have a planning session with your Roadmap Planner for the coming week to fill in your calendaring items and set your goals for the Daily Dats™. If you like to exercise 30 minutes per day, but you know you won’t exercise three days during the week, then make your goal 2 hours of exercise. When you know your exercise goal, you should plan the exact days and times in your Roadmap Planner for your exercise sessions. Likewise, if you know you want to read your scriptures 15 minutes per day, schedule the time slot for when you will read.

Depending on your Goal Constitution, a lot of your Daily Dats™ goals will seemingly be the same every week. For example, I want to floss, read scriptures, and take vitamins every day, so my goal on all of these for each and every week will be a “7,” marking a “1” for each day I achieve it. The reason I’m focusing on these goals is because, in the past, they have been difficult for me to do everyday. When week-after-week I achieve my goal 100%, then I can revise my Goal Constitution and begin tracking something else that needs work. We should do this whenever a Daily Dat™ becomes a habit that I do automatically without needing the motivation of marking my Daily Dats™ grid.

You need a weekly planning session on Sunday night, but also at the end of each day, you need to review your Daily Dats™ and mark whether you got a zero, one, or whatever number pertains to your goal.

At the next Sunday planning session, review the Daily Dats™ for the last week and either sum or average your weekly results for each goal. Copy the week’s total to the corresponding week in the 53 Week Dats Tracker. (Alternatively you can download a spreadsheet version (.ODS) complete with graphing capabilities at RoadmapPlanner.com.) With this information you can track over time how close you are to achieving your measured goals. When you come to the realization that some goals are being achieved 100% regularly and easily, then consider replacing that numbered spot with a different goal that you feel you should work on.

So, Ben Franklin stated his 13 virtues, briefly defined them, emphasized one virtue each week but daily tracked them all and noted with a black dot if he failed that day. He also outlined his ideal schedule for the day.

With the Daily Dats™ system and Roadmap Planner you are identifying your personal goals in a Goal Constitution, defining measurable goals to achieve the broader goals, focusing and tracking all twelve measurable goals daily with a number, and scheduling your weekly calendar to make time to achieve the stated goals.

There are subtle differences between the two systems, but the Daily Dats™ System that comes with your Roadmap Planner is a close cousin to Franklin’s simple, effective system.

For future reference, you may want to read about Benjamin Franklin’s system in his autobiography at ushistory.org and look up pp 38-42, his writing at Passy, France in 1784)