Annual Goals
Planner

GOAL SETTING TOOLS

Organize the year ahead across six dimensions
of intentional change.

About This Planner

Annual goal-setting tends to cluster around addition. More accomplishments, more skills, more things acquired or checked off. The six categories here push against that default. Two of them - "stop" and "change" - require subtraction or transformation rather than accumulation, and those are often the more impactful moves. A habit that ends, a pattern that shifts, can create more space than a dozen new intentions.

The other two categories that tend to get underused are "give" and "visit." These connect the year ahead to relationships and experiences rather than outcomes, and they tend to hold meaning longer than achievement-based goals. Completing a skills course fades from memory quickly. A trip taken, a person supported - those tend to remain.

Use this planner at the start of the year or any time you want to reorient. Work through all six sections rather than picking the comfortable ones. The sections you skip are usually the ones worth examining.

How to Use This Planner

Work through all six sections. Each covers a distinct dimension. Skipping one narrows the picture before you have seen it.
Write what comes to mind first. Editing comes later. The goal of the first pass is to surface what is already there.
Identify your single most important commitment. After completing all six sections, choose one item across the whole planner that matters most this year. Write it in the field at the bottom of the next page.
Set a review date. Planners that are filed away stop working. Choose a specific date to revisit - mid-year or quarterly works well for most people.