The short answer
Choose your own start date, review five areas of life, and write one meaningful goal and one manageable weekly action for the areas you want to include. Choose a priority for the coming week and set a review date. Your plan should help you act, rather than fill every available hour.
Begin with an ordinary week, not an ideal life
Imagine an ordinary week twelve months from now. What would you like to do more often? What would you like to make easier? Use health and fitness, family, money, relationships and faith as prompts. You can skip an area or use values and meaning in place of faith.
Family might mean relatives or chosen family. Relationships can focus on friends, a partner or community. If those areas overlap for you, choose a different focus in each or combine them in your own notes.
Turn each direction into a goal and an action
For each chosen area, write what matters and why. Then choose a sign of progress you can review in ninety days. Separate the outcome you hope for from an action you control. “Feel closer to my family” becomes something you can practise when you agree a regular call.
Keep the first version small. Five areas are a way to check what matters, not a requirement to launch five demanding projects.
- Health: try two short movement sessions that suit your ability.
- Family: agree a shared meal or conversation.
- Money: review recent spending before setting a saving amount.
- Relationships: invite a friend to spend time together.
- Faith or values: make space for a reflection or act of service you choose.
Give the plan a rhythm
Choose one priority for this week. Put the weekly action into your calendar or daily focus. Write an easier version for a busy week so a disrupted schedule does not leave you without a next step.
At your first review, ask what you actually did, what became difficult and whether the goal still fits. Change the plan using what you learn. You can keep goals steady while changing how you approach them.
How Patrick Bet-David’s planning example relates
Patrick Bet-David’s published one-page worksheet includes goals and habits across six areas: financial, family, business, health, personal development and spiritual. It is a useful example of looking beyond one part of life when planning.
Our five-area guide is our own adaptation of broad life planning, with relationships as a separate focus and optional faith. The questions, examples and seven-step challenge are created by It Is My Year. We are not presenting them as his exact framework or as an endorsed programme.
ONE SMALL ACTION
Try this today.
Choose your start date and one area. Write: My goal is ___. It matters because ___. This week I will ___. I will review it on ___.
Add a task to my daily focusCommon questions
Must my plan start in January?
No. Your birthday, a new chapter or an ordinary day can be your start date.
Do I need a goal in all five areas?
No. Review each area and choose where you want to focus. A few manageable actions are enough to begin.
How long does the challenge take?
There are seven steps. Use one a day for a week, or take the time you need. The plan remains editable after you finish.
Sources and further reading
These sources support the information identified in the guide. The exercises and examples are suggestions from It Is My Year.
Sources checked 5 October 2026.
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