My Favorite Goal-Setting Exercise

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to four quadrants: <i>3 months, 1 year, 3 years, and lifetime</i>.</p><figure id="d9b0"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*3jjHKl4f7rHi5f2sa7VaQA.png"><figcaption>The first page of the <a href="https://passionplanner.com/products/passion-roadmap">Passion Roadmap</a>.</figcaption></figure><p id="522c">In five minutes, you pour out on this piece of paper <i>all</i> of your dreams and aspirations, in as much detail as possible, without worrying too much about whether or not they’re realistic or attainable. Imagine that this piece of paper is magical, and that everything you write on it has the chance of becoming a reality. It’s like the exercise says:</p><p id="5170" type="7">If I could be anything, do anything, or have anything, what would it be?</p><p id="5554">I usually start by filling out the “lifetime” section and then work my way back. My lifetime goals are usually too general or too fuzzy — things like “lead a life surrounded by friends” or “leave a legacy I’m proud of”— but they get more specific as I move on to the shorter-term sections.</p><h1 id="22e9">Your game-changer</h1><p id="d481">Once you’ve filled out your passion roadmap, take a minute to choose the one thing from each section that would have the most positive impact on your life. These are the four goals you need to prioritize. In particular, the three-month one is your <i>game-changer</i>: the most important short-term goal that has the potential of turning your life around.</p><h1 id="d813">Your passion roadmap</h1><p id="1e93">Now that you know your game-changer goal, take five minutes to write out all the steps you need to achieve this goal, aiming to be as specific as possible.</p><h2 id="bd61">Distinguish between tasks and habits</h2><p id="e39c">At this point, I find it useful to go off-script a little bit and d

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ivide my steps into <i>tasks</i> and <i>habits</i>. For example, if my game-changer goal is to learn a new language, then a <i>task</i> could be to find a new podcast to follow in that language or to sign up for a language-learning app. A <i>habit</i> could be listening to that new podcast every day while doing the dishes, or practicing on the app every day during my daily commute.</p><h1 id="b189">Now what?</h1><p id="2941">You have your passion roadmap — a set of tasks and habits to help you towards your goal. Now what?</p><p id="93e9">In my experience, habits are a lot harder to keep up with than tasks. It’s easy to sign up for a gym membership — it’s much harder to develop the habit of going to the gym every day.</p><p id="71f9">The book <a href="https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits">Atomic Habits</a> by James Clear is an excellent guide on how to develop good habits, or break bad ones, in a sustainable way, using the philosophy of “Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results”. I recommend following the advice in this book to stay on track with your passion roadmap. I also have <a href="https://noranazmy.medium.com/getting-started-with-habit-tracking-20367da7e302">five more tips for building and tracking good habits</a>.</p><div id="31c3" class="link-block"> <a href="https://noranazmy.medium.com/getting-started-with-habit-tracking-20367da7e302"> <div> <div> <h2>Getting Started with Habit Tracking</h2> <div><h3>10 essential habits to build each day</h3></div> <div><p>noranazmy.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*TeDh5bPOCDu14maG)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Getting your life together in 15 minutes

Download a free PDF of the Passion Roadmap here.

Almost a decade ago, 23-year-old Angelia Trinidad launched the Passion Planner — a weekly planner designed to help you get your life together and achieve your goals. I remember buying the Passion Planner that very first year it launched, and I’ve been a proud member of the #pashfam ever since.

The planner starts with a 15-minute goal-setting exercise called the Passion Roadmap. To this day, years after I’ve stopped using the planner itself, the Passion Roadmap is still my go-to exercise for goal setting. Every time I feel the need to hit reset, to manage my anxiety, to reassess my life and my goals, I print out this exercise sheet and go through it with a nice cup of tea and some background music.

You can get the Passion Planner as a physical book or as a digital planner. They have a Buy One Give One model, so for every planner you buy, one is donated for free to someone in need. However, all planners are also available as a free download on their website.

Your wishlist

The first step towards your passion roadmap is creating your wishlist. In this exercise, you are given five minutes and a piece of paper that’s divided into four quadrants: 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, and lifetime.

The first page of the Passion Roadmap.

In five minutes, you pour out on this piece of paper all of your dreams and aspirations, in as much detail as possible, without worrying too much about whether or not they’re realistic or attainable. Imagine that this piece of paper is magical, and that everything you write on it has the chance of becoming a reality. It’s like the exercise says:

If I could be anything, do anything, or have anything, what would it be?

I usually start by filling out the “lifetime” section and then work my way back. My lifetime goals are usually too general or too fuzzy — things like “lead a life surrounded by friends” or “leave a legacy I’m proud of”— but they get more specific as I move on to the shorter-term sections.

Your game-changer

Once you’ve filled out your passion roadmap, take a minute to choose the one thing from each section that would have the most positive impact on your life. These are the four goals you need to prioritize. In particular, the three-month one is your game-changer: the most important short-term goal that has the potential of turning your life around.

Distinguish between tasks and habits

At this point, I find it useful to go off-script a little bit and divide my steps into tasks and habits. For example, if my game-changer goal is to learn a new language, then a task could be to find a new podcast to follow in that language or to sign up for a language-learning app. A habit could be listening to that new podcast every day while doing the dishes, or practicing on the app every day during my daily commute.

Now what?

You have your passion roadmap — a set of tasks and habits to help you towards your goal. Now what?

In my experience, habits are a lot harder to keep up with than tasks. It’s easy to sign up for a gym membership — it’s much harder to develop the habit of going to the gym every day.

The book Atomic Habits by James Clear is an excellent guide on how to develop good habits, or break bad ones, in a sustainable way, using the philosophy of “Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results”. I recommend following the advice in this book to stay on track with your passion roadmap. I also have five more tips for building and tracking good habits.