Strategic planning and goal setting may sound scary, but they don’t have to be. In fact, when done thoughtfully, they are the secret to success. If you want to calm the crazy and live your best life, becoming a goal planner is key.

Being a goal planner is simply another way of thinking about approaching your life with purpose. Strategic planning and goal setting starts with careful consideration. You need to have a clear picture of where you want to go. Once you have a destination in mind, then you can reverse-engineer the steps along the way to get to your goal.

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Goal Setting Exercise #1: What are my Goals?

The first step in strategic planning and goal setting is to articulate your goals. This may seem obvious and sound easy, but it can be harder than you think.

Becoming a goal planner isn’t what we are taught. Many of us live lives according to other people’s thoughts and expectations.

When goal-setting, it is critical that you haven’t lost sight of yourself in your dreams! Make sure you are working toward goals you really want, not just goals you think you SHOULD want. Or, even worse, goals other people want for you.

If you find that you have tried to set goals before and failed to reach them, do not rush this step! Chances are your goals aren’t really your own. You are, therefore, unmotivated to reach them. When you come up with goals that inspire you, you become unstoppable.

For example, if everyone you know is training for a marathon, you may think “I will run a marathon within the next year” is a great goal. But what if you hate running? What if you have bad knees? What if your work and family life don’t leave you with hours and hours of free time to train? This is not your goal!

Goal Setting Exercise #2: Goal Setting Activities

If you have never really thought about what it means to live intentionally, give yourself time and space to connect with yourself in this new way. Setting meaningful goals that align with your intentions is a powerful act of self-care.

There are several easy goal setting activities that can help you brainstorm.

First, give my Drops in the Bucket List activity a try. In this goal setting activity, rather than list out all the things you want to do in life (a bucket list), make a list of all of the things you have already done or achieved.

In doing so, you can get a sense of the types of things that motivate or excite you. What have you done that is particularly meaningful? How can you set a goal that allows you to leverage that experience?

Another goal setting exercise is to think small. Rather than tell yourself “I’m going to run a marathon this year” when you haven’t ever run a mile before, set a smaller goal. There is nothing wrong with your goal being “I will learn to run for 10 minutes straight.” These small goals can be building blocks to larger goals.

Small goals can also be standalone items that add up to make up a healthier, happier you. So instead of saying “I will never eat sugar again” a small goal could be “I will eat desserts only on the weekends.” Combine that with “I will learn to run for 10 minutes straight” and you’ve made small goals that can deliver big results.

Finally, put it all together and envision your perfect day. No, I’m not talking about a day on the beach in Hawaii with warm breezes, a cold drink, and lapping waves.

Is it being awakened by puppy kisses, then heading out for a brisk morning walk? Does eating a nutritious, fresh lunch make you feel cared for? Maybe it’s walking in to a home that was cleaned by a housekeeper.

The goal setting activity of envisioning your perfect day is the first step in figuring out how to make it happen more often. You’ve given yourself a destination, so now you can lay out a road map to get there.

Way to go, you goal planner!

Goal Setting Exercise #3: Identify Goals for Different Aspects of Your Life

Developing goals for each of the different parts of your life helps to keep you balanced. It is valuable to come up with goals that challenge you to grow in your physical wellness, mental wellness, and spiritual wellness. This holistic approach to goal setting addresses the entirety of your personal development.

As a virtual health coach, I work closely with people trying to balance their fitness, nutrition, and self-care needs. I work with them to develop realistic goals and a practical plan to achieve them. Helping people build sustainable healthy habits puts them in a position for success in all parts of their lives.

Many people also set goals related to their professional life. Whether it is taking on more responsibility at work, landing a new role, or starting your own business, knowing what motivates you work-wise is part of your strategic planning. Having the large goal in mind will help you break it up into smaller action items.

Using strategic planning to lay out your goals allows you to plot a path to achieve them. When you are willing to take a deep dive into your process, you can break up the goal-slaying work into manageable chunks. That’s what becoming a goal planner is all about.

Goal Setting Resources to Guide You to Success

While some people prefer habit tracking online apps to help them reach their goals, using paper goal setting resources gives a more tactile experience. And when you add in the opportunity to use brightly colored pens and motivational stickers, strategic planning and goal setting suddenly goes from a boring process to a creative endeavor.

Paper goal setting resources work best when they are in a format that is easy to carry with you. The Erin Condren Petite Planner line offers a goal setting journal, wellness log, and gratitude journal– all of which are beautiful and practical tools to help you achieve your goals. Their slimline, modern design aesthetic invites you to dive deep into your goal setting process. Because they fit easily into your purse or work bag, you can goal-slay on the go.

The Erin Condren Goal Setting Journal not only helps you lay out your goals, but it helps you break down the goals into small steps. You can then write tasks that will help you achieve these small steps, and check off the tasks as you go. Having a way to see your accomplishments will keep you motivated.

With space for six discreet goals and the action steps to reach them, this handy purse-sized journal is small but mighty. Add in the fun motivational stickers, and you will actually want to plan the work and work the plan.

If you have goals specific to fitness and health, the Erin Condren Wellness Log can help you track those. With room to record your daily water intake, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can hold yourself accountable to better nutrition. Add in your daily activity and how you felt, and the wellness log gives you a good picture of your overall health habits. Judgement not included!

In the busy-ness of life, many people set goals to become more aware of the good things happening every day. Another goal setting resource can be a gratitude journal. It helps you track the wonders of every day. Erin Condren’s Gratitude Journal offers prompts like “things that made me laugh today” and “people I’m grateful for today.”

But because it is undated, there’s no pressure to keep up every day. You can also work out of order when you see a prompt that inspires you. And with its slim profile, it’s easy to tuck into your purse and carry it with you. When you attune your mind to see that for which you are grateful, the easier it will becomes to notice the goodness around you at all times.

A gratitude journal can also serve as a memory record. Start by jotting down some of the small events that contribute positively to your everyday life. In times of worry and stress it can be reassuring to review your gratitude journal to see how much good surrounds you every day.

Track It, Measure It, Achieve It!

Using goal setting resources helps you track your progress toward your goal. By stating measurable steps that move you forward, you can check off your progress as you go. Little by little, you can achieve your goals.

Karen Shopoff Rooff is a certified health coach. The Well Balanced Women blog is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please discuss your health issues with a licensed medical practitioner.