Free goal-setting worksheets

These are the same eight pages I fill in before I open a planner. Updated for 2026. They take about an hour if you do them in one sitting, or you can stop after any page and come back.

You do not need a perfect year picked out. You need a piece of paper, a pen, and enough quiet to hear yourself. The sheets walk from how you feel now, to a few dreams, to two goals in each part of life, and then to the first month only.

Print them, or write the prompts in a notebook. The download is at the bottom if you want the PDF. You can do the first step from what is on this page.

What does the worksheet look like?

Four of the eight pages. The download has all of them.

Cover of the free goal-setting worksheets, Goal Setting for 2026
How do you want to feel worksheet page with three columns for feeling, want, and one change
Balance wheel worksheet page for self-care, family, play, and work
First month calendar worksheet page for blocking time and support

How do I start?

Finish the “how I feel now” list before you write a single goal. On the sheet, complete the left column, then the middle, then the right. If you skip ahead, the goals tend to be the ones you think you should want.

Here is one filled line, the way the sheet shows it:

Lately I’ve been feeling How I want to feel One change
Busy Relaxed More downtime

That action is something you can put on a calendar: more downtime. Next to each action, mark it D, W, or M: daily, weekly, or monthly. Then circle the three feelings you most want this season. Those three are the ones to carry into the goals later. Give this page about 10 minutes.

What is on the eight pages?

  1. Cover. A reminder that the aim is the sweet spot between you, your family, and your work. Time on this page: none. Just read it.
  2. How do you want to feel? Three columns, about ten feelings, then circle three. About 10 minutes.
  3. What are your big dreams? A freewrite. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What do you want to know you put your all into, looking back at 80? About 10 minutes.
  4. Inspiration and energy. Twenty things you enjoy doing just for you. Then five hobbies you miss, five classes you would take, and five things you want to do while your kids are young (or before you are too old to want them). Circle at least two small ones for this year. A nail appointment counts. A thrift-store hour counts. About 5 minutes.
  5. Balance wheel. Self-care, family, play, and work. For each spoke, mark how full that area feels, from empty in the center to full at the edge. About 5 minutes.
  6. Goals in each area. At least two specific goals for self-care, family, play, and work. Write how it will feel to do each one. Circle the area that matters most right now. About 10 minutes.
  7. A theme for the year. One theme, then smaller themes you can live with for a month or more. The sheet says to choose one main area at a time.
  8. The first month on a calendar. Not a wish list of deadlines. Block the actual time the work will take. Also: what will fuel your energy, who can support you, what you are willing to give up to make room, and when you will look at these goals again. About 15 minutes.

A short example of the last page

If the feeling you circled was “relaxed,” a first-month goal might be “two evenings with nothing planned.” Success looks like those evenings actually happening, not like a longer to-do list. Put the empty evenings on the calendar first, then fit other tasks around them.

Get the printable

Eight pages. Print at home. The email only sends the PDF. It does not sign you up for a course.


If you want to keep going

These posts use the same pages:

When the goals are on paper and you want them sitting next to a monthly calendar, the Adventure Begins undated planner is the monthly PDF I make for that. It is a download, undated, and you start whenever you are ready. The worksheets stand on their own if a planner is not what you need this year.