Make your year deliver results.
The Personal Strategic Planning Workbook is a practical, reflective guide for individuals who want to approach their lives with the same clarity, intentionality, and discipline used in effective strategy work. It provides a structured yet humane framework for stepping back, taking stock across all major life domains, and making thoughtful choices about where to focus time, energy, and attention. Rather than promoting rigid goal-setting, the Workbook blends long-term vision with short-term experimentation, helping readers balance direction with adaptability.
Organized around a clear cascade—from a 10-year vision to 5-year milestones, a 1-year focus, and 90-day plans—the Workbook walks readers through assessment, vision-setting, and execution in a repeatable annual and quarterly rhythm. It integrates reflection on relationships, health, work, finances, and joy, alongside practical planning tools, habit design, and personal systems. Grounded in the “Tiny Experiments” mindset, it encourages learning through action and self-compassion rather than perfection. The result is a living personal strategy that evolves over time, supporting sustained progress, resilience, and a more intentional, well-lived life.
Table of Contents
Introduction
How to Use This Workbook
Suggested Annual and Quarterly Rhythm
The Philosophy of Personal Strategic Planning
The Tiny Experiments Mindset (Credit: Anne-Laure Le Cunff)
Part One: Assessment & Reflection
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Personal Strategic Planning Workbook
1.1 Purpose of This Workbook
1.2 Principles of Effective Personal Strategic Planning
1.3 How to Use This Workbook (Annual & Quarterly Rhythm)
1.4 The Tiny Experiments Mindset (Credit: Anne-Laure Le Cunff)
1.5 The Core Framework: 10-Year Vision → 5-Year Milestones → 1-Year Focus → 90-Day Plan
Chapter 2. Taking Stock of Your Life as a Whole
2.1 Life Domains Overview (Wheel of Life)
2.2 Quick Self-Rating Across All Domains
2.3 Highlights and Lowlights of the Year
2.4 Key Emotions of This Year
2.5 Lessons Learned
Chapter 3. Relationships and Community
3.1 Spouse / Significant Other
3.2 Children
3.3 Parents, Siblings, Extended Family
3.4 Friends and Social Circle
3.5 Weak Ties & Broader Community
Chapter 4. Body, Energy, and Well-Being
4.1 Diet & Relationship with Food
4.2 Fitness & Movement
4.3 Sleep & Recovery
4.4 Health Check
Chapter 5. Inner Life: Mind, Spirit, and Growth
5.1 Reading & Intellectual Growth
5.2 Spirituality & Meaning
5.3 Emotional Patterns & Inner Scripts
5.4 Habits & Daily Rhythms
Chapter 6. Work, Money, and Environment
6.1 Career & Professional Identity
6.2 Finances: Numbers and Narratives
6.3 Home, Space, and Environment
Chapter 7. Joy, Adventure, and Play
7.1 Hobbies & Creative Pursuits
7.2 Travel & Exploration
7.3 Fun, Play, and Lightness
Chapter 8. Integrating the Past Year
8.1 Key Themes
8.2 Top 10 Moments
8.3 Top 10 Challenges
8.4 If I Could Re-Live This Year…
8.5 Distilling Lessons into Principles
Part Two: Setting the Vision
Chapter 9. Values, Identity, and Direction
9.1 Clarifying Your Core Values
9.2 Non-Negotiables vs. Nice-to-Haves
9.3 Your Evolving Identity
9.4 What I Stand For
Chapter 10. The 10-Year Vision
10.1 Why Ten Years?
10.2 Guided Visualization
10.3 10-Year Vision by Life Domain
10.4 Writing Your 10-Year Letter
Chapter 11. The 5-Year Milestones
11.1 Bridging the Gap
11.2 5-Year Milestones by Domain
11.3 Capabilities & Assets Needed
11.4 Risks, Constraints, and Levers
11.5 If Only One Thing Changed…
Chapter 12. The 1-Year Focus
12.1 Choosing the Few Things That Matter Most
12.2 One-Year Vision Statement
12.3 One-Year Outcomes by Domain
12.4 What You Will Say No To
12.5 Defining Success for the Coming Year
Part Three: Building the Plan
Chapter 13. Designing Your One-Year Plan
13.1 Translating Vision into Concrete Goals
13.2 SMART(er) Goals vs. Directional Themes
13.3 Annual Goals Across Life Domains
13.4 Leading vs. Lagging Indicators
13.5 Choosing Your Big Rocks
Chapter 14. The Next 90 Days: Your Quarterly Strategic Plan
14.1 Why 90 Days Works
14.2 Selecting 3–5 Quarterly Objectives
14.3 Breaking Objectives into Projects
14.4 Weekly & Daily Actions
14.5 Personal Dashboard
Chapter 15. Tiny Experiments: Learning Your Way Forward
Credit: Concept from Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
15.1 Philosophy of Tiny Experiments
15.2 Anatomy of a Good Experiment
15.3 Quarterly Tiny Experiments
15.4 Longer-Arc Experiments
15.5 Reviewing Experiments
Chapter 16. Systems, Habits, and Environment Design
16.1 Moving from Willpower to Systems
16.2 Habit Inventory Review
16.3 Identifying Your Keystone Habit
16.4 Habit Design: Start / Stop / Shape
16.5 Environment Design
16.6 Protecting Time & Boundaries
16.7 Personal Operating Manual
Chapter 17. Support, Accountability, and Feedback Loops
17.1 Identifying Your Support Network
17.2 Asking for Support
17.3 Accountability Structures
17.4 Monthly & Quarterly Feedback Loops
17.5 Handling Setbacks with Self-Compassion
Chapter 18. Putting It All Together
18.1 One-Page Personal Strategy Summary
18.2 Scheduling Your Year
18.3 Start / Stop / Continue
18.4 Letter to Your Future (Next-Year) Self
18.5 Final Commitment: Three Things That Matter Most
Appendices
Appendix A – Personal Strategic Plan Template
(Full multi-section template synthesizing the workbook)
Appendix B – Quarterly and Annual Review Checklists
Quarterly Review Checklist
Annual Review Checklist
“Lite” 20–30 Minute Versions
Appendix C – Weekly Review
Simple 20–30 Minute Weekly Review Framework
