Personal strategic plan template

A personal strategic plan is a one-page document that says where you're heading, what you'll focus on and how you'll measure it. Here's how to write one, with a blank template and a completed example.

How to write a personal strategic plan

1. Vision

Describe where you want to be in three to five years. Keep it to a sentence or two you'd be happy to read every week.

2. Mission

Describe how you'll live and work day to day to move towards that vision.

3. Objectives

Choose two to four areas to focus on this year. Too many and nothing gets proper attention.

4. Initiatives

Under each objective, list one or two concrete things you'll do regularly.

5. Targets

Give each initiative a measure and a target over a period (week or month). Start modestly; you can raise targets after a month or two. For ideas, see personal KPI examples.

Fill-in template

Copy this table into a document or spreadsheet and fill in each row.

Objective	Initiative	Measure	Target (per week or month)
Vision
Mission
Objective 1:

Objective 2:

Objective 3:

Completed example

Objective	Initiative	Measure	Target
Vision	Healthy, financially secure and working in a role I enjoy by 2029.
Mission	Move every day, spend deliberately and keep learning a little each week.
Health	Walk or run	Kilometres	40 km per month
Health	Alcohol-free days	Yes/no per day	20 days per month
Finance	Save from each pay	Dollars	$400 per month
Career	Focused learning	Hours	2 hours per week

Keeping the plan alive

A plan only helps if you check it. Log progress as you go and review results monthly using the monthly personal review template. New to the idea? Start with what is personal governance?

Build this in the app

Personal Governance turns this plan into live tracking: each initiative gets its own daily log, pacing and a monthly report. Build this in the app, or begin with one of the ready-made templates.