updated December 2025

What is it about goal setting and planning that has people hiding under a blanket, running to the hills or busting out the coloured markers and wall planners with giddiness? For the record, I show up with coloured pens, electronic and paper calendars and sticky notes galore. I may avoid stationery stores because ten-dollar purchase goals add up quickly with all the coloured sticky notes available for sale.

Introduction

However you feel about the “New Year, New Me” hype, think of goal setting as your personal GPS. You wouldn’t start a cross-country road trip by just driving and “hoping” you hit the coast; you’d program the destination so you don’t spend the whole week driving in circles.

Planning is simply the math of your life. Whether you identify as a “planner” or not, your brain actually thrives on knowing what to do and when to do it. Think about it: deciding what’s for dinner or setting an alarm to catch a flight is goal setting in its purest form. We just don’t call it that because those tasks feel manageable.

The goal of this “GPS” isn’t to add more to your plate—it’s to make sure you’re on the right road.

In today’s fast-paced environment, we often treat our goals like a “second job”—a heavy burden of “should-dos” that drains our energy before we even start. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

We’re exploring a fresh, intuitive approach to planning that ensures your goals complement your lifestyle rather than consuming it. If you’ve ever felt like your to-do list was an “energy sucker,” this shift in perspective is for you. Before we can reach the destination, we have to talk about why the car often stalls. Usually, it comes down to two major roadblocks: Poor Planning and Capacity Mismatch.

Capacity mismatch 

For example, you want to grow an orchard within a year when you’ve only experienced several houseplants in your condo. Because of the steep learning curve, you will likely struggle to achieve your goal, which will cost you more than you anticipated in terms of money, time, and effort.

While the above example is extreme, it illustrates most people’s problems with setting, keeping, and successfully completing goals. When setting goals, it’s essential to allocate the time requirement appropriately and match it with the required capacity. 

For example, if your goal is to use time blocking to manage your time better, even as you set up the time blocks in your calendar, allow a ramp-up period to adjust your mindset and habits to support your goal. If you don’t and aren’t disciplined enough, you will fail your plan because it will become overwhelming and a burden. If I want to start a new habit on January 1st, I start the process sometime in November or December. Doing this takes the pressure off the January 1st start date and allows me to increase my skills and mindset capacity to meet the goal. 

If you have ambitious goals, your capacity must be ambitious.

For example, wanting to increase your income or revenue, you must do something different to bring in extra, and that’s often in the effort. If you want to renovate your home or a part of your home and you have a deadline, your actions must rise to meet the occasion. You may need to work on the project before and after other responsibilities, save up intentionally for the project, and step out of your comfort zone to enlist proper help. 

If you have a goal you haven’t yet met, look at it objectively and ask yourself whether your capacity consistently meets the intent as needed. 

Poor planning

If you’ve achieved anything worthwhile, you know this experience: It probably took longer than you anticipated and required more of you than budgeted. When assessing your goals, plan conservatively. Allow buffers of time, energy, and money to account for the unplannable, like illness, shortages, and breakdowns.

Poor planning results from a natural process when setting goals. We naturally overestimate our capacity and underestimate our time. This somewhat warped sense of time is tied to a psychological need to maintain a high self-image.

For this reason, we tend to imagine ourselves achieving more in less time than we can. How often have you woken up with ideas of what you will accomplish? How frequently have you gone to bed, wondering where the day went? 

Another factor in poor planning is the need for more preparation, including research. Many people like to wing it and figure it out as they go. While this attitude can lead to pleasant surprises, it often gets in the way of proper planning because much is left to chance.

Poor planning is frequently evident once a project is underway and starts to fall apart. If you’re in such a position, take a step back, look at what’s happening and needs to be done, and get clear on what you can do about what you didn’t plan. Continuing to wing it is rarely the solution.

Now that we know the two most significant impediments to goal setting and achievement let’s move on to a process for creating goals that work by focusing on the big picture.

Big-picture planning

We often have significant and short-term goals running through our minds at any time. “I have to get an oil change” can run alongside “I need to cut the grass” and “I need to increase my RRSPs.” 

My suggestion with goal-setting is to write down everything you’d like to accomplish in a list of about 50 or more items. These are big and small personal and professional goals and what immediately comes to mind. You may add to this list as you like. This is because plans and priorities change as a natural progression of life. Something that matters now may no longer be a goal in a few months or years, and vice versa.

Next, I recommend picking three items from this list you’d like to tackle for the year.

Pick goals that match your capacity.

For example, if you decide to renovate your home, travel for a month to Africa, and hire several new teammates, you may have a capacity mismatch. Each of these goals requires capital, time, and effort; depending on your planning (or lack thereof), you may feel pulled in different directions that are not compatible. 

Also, considering the effects of poor planning, ensure your three goals are doable. For example, if you want to renovate your home but have never done so, create time to research extensively and save capital before you knock down walls. Set practical dates for you even as you challenge yourself to achieve your goal. This action requires that you know yourself well. 

Intuitive planning

When picking your goals, intuitively feel the likelihood of accomplishing them. If you have a significant weight loss goal and plan to travel extensively for pleasure, you may find that the goals don’t complement each other. Travelling for pleasure often results in weight gain, and maintaining a weight loss process will be stressful. You’re more likely to drop the ball.    

Once you select your three primary goals for the year each month, break the goal down further into three steps. Break the goal down each week and every day as needed. This gets you into the practice of doing something every day in the direction of your dreams, building resilience and discipline. It helps you avoid the pitfall of poor planning and also increases your capacity to meet your goals’ requirements. 

The compound effect of planning

The most common fear in goal setting is “The Fear of Missing Out on My Own Potential.” We worry that by choosing only three goals, the other forty-seven items on our master list will gather dust.

In reality, the opposite is true.

Think of it like a financial investment. We understand how compound interest grows money, but we rarely apply that same logic to our time—the one resource we actually control. When you focus your energy on a few high-impact “anchor goals,” you create a ripple effect that naturally checks off other items on your list.

The Power of “Doubling Up” (Goal Synergy)

In 2025, we don’t have time for goals that fight each other. We need goals that “double up.”

• The Health + Home Synergy: If your goal is to exercise three times a week and another is to reclaim your garden, don’t hit the treadmill—hit the yard. The intentional, sustained movement of landscaping achieves both.
• The Network + Wellness Synergy: Want to grow your professional circle and hit 10k steps? Start a weekly “walk-and-talk” mastermind.
• The Profit + Team Synergy: If you want to raise profits and hire a new team member, focusing on the hire is the path to the profit. One is the engine; the other is the fuel.

The “3-Goal” Ecosystem

When you select just three primary goals—perhaps one for Wealth, one for Wellness, and one for Connection—and audit them through your Monthly, Weekly, and Daily rhythms, you are forced to use your time with radical intentionality.

Because you aren’t scattered across twenty different priorities, you actually build momentum. And momentum is a tide that lifts all boats. By the time you’ve mastered your first three, you’ll find you’ve already accidentally started the next three on your list.

This isn’t just about productivity; it’s about holistic well-being. It’s about building a lifestyle where your goals don’t feel like a “second job” but like the natural rhythm of your day.

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Julia Katsivo Carter is the Founder of Successful & Smart Business Coaching. She coaches small business owners and their teams in mindset and business strategy. www.successfulandsmart.com