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Planning
Life Plan Template: A One-Page Plan You Can Fill In Tonight (with an Example)
November 9, 2026·7 min read
What a life plan is (and what it isn't)
A life plan is a short written answer to three questions: what kind of life do I want, what has to happen to get there, and what do I do about it this week. That's all.
It isn't a prediction. You will change it. It isn't a 40 page workbook either. The plans that get used fit on one page, because a page is something you can reread every month.
Below is a template in six parts, a fully filled-in example, and a few rules that keep it alive after the evening you write it.
Before you start
Give it one evening, about 90 minutes, somewhere quiet. Write fast and rough. A finished rough plan beats a perfect half plan, and you'll revise it anyway.
The template
Copy these six headings into a doc, a notebook or a planning tool, and answer each one.
1. What matters to me (3 to 5 values)
Words that describe how you want to live, not what you want to own. Freedom, craft, family, health, adventure, faith, learning. If two conflict, note which wins.
2. My life in 10 years (one paragraph, present tense)
Describe a normal Tuesday ten years from now. Where you wake up, who's there, what work you do, how your body feels, what you're proud of. Write it as if it's already true.
3. Life areas (one line each)
For each area, one sentence on where you want it to be: career, money, health, relationships, learning, contribution, fun. Skip any that don't matter to you right now. If you're stuck, borrow from these life goals examples.
4. Milestones for the next 3 years (3 to 6 in total)
Checkpoints that prove the 10 year picture is getting closer. Each one specific enough that you'll know, without arguing, whether it happened.
5. This year's focus (2 or 3 goals)
Pick the milestones that matter most and turn them into goals for the next twelve months. Two or three. Not seven.
6. This week (3 actions with a day and time)
The smallest real steps toward this year's goals. "Tuesday 7pm: email the course provider" counts. "Work on fitness" does not.
✓Values tell you which goals are yours and which are borrowed.
✓The 10 year picture gives direction, not a schedule.
✓Milestones turn direction into checkpoints.
✓This year's 2 or 3 goals are where the effort goes.
✓This week's actions are the only part you can actually do today.
A filled-in example
Here is what one page looks like for a made-up person, a 27 year old working in marketing who wants more control over her time.
Values: freedom, craft, family, health.
10 years: I run a small brand studio from a town near the sea. I work four days a week with clients I choose. I'm strong, I sleep well, and I see my parents every month. I've written a short book about my work.
Life areas:
Career: own a studio of two or three people, doing work I'm proud of.
Money: no debt, a year of expenses saved, income from two sources.
Health: strength training twice a week, for good.
Relationships: close to my parents and a few real friends.
Learning: get good at design, not only strategy.
3 year milestones:
Year 1: three freelance clients alongside my job, debt cleared.
Year 2: freelance income covers half my salary; six months saved.
Year 3: go full time on the studio.
This year: 1) land three freelance clients, 2) clear my credit card, 3) train twice a week.
This week: Tuesday 8pm build a one-page portfolio. Thursday 8pm message five former colleagues. Saturday 9am first gym session.
Notice how the page narrows. Ten years is a paragraph. This week is three lines with times. That narrowing is the whole point.
Life plans that get abandoned
Every area gets goals at once
Vague: "be healthier", "grow my career"
Stops at the dream
Written once, never reread
Lives in a drawer or a forgotten file
Life plans that get used
2 or 3 areas get effort this year
Checkable milestones with rough dates
Ends in this week's actions
Reviewed weekly, revised every few months
Kept where you look every day
How to keep it alive
Writing the plan takes an evening. Keeping it alive takes ten minutes a week.
Every week: look only at this year's goals and this week's actions. What moved, what got in the way, what's next. Here's how to do a weekly review in ten minutes.
Every quarter: check the milestones. Are you on pace? Does a goal need to shrink, grow or go? A 90 day plan is a good unit for this.
Every year: reread the 10 year picture and values. Rewrite whatever no longer sounds like you. The year end review questions help here.
If one area matters far more than the rest right now, go deeper on it with a 5 year plan that works backwards from a single vision.
Where Dmyor fits
Dmyor is built on the same shape as this template: a vision at the top, milestones under it, and daily actions under those, on one visual canvas, with a weekly check-in. You can type your vision and see it broken into a plan before you create an account.
Start tonight
You don't need the perfect template, the right app or a free weekend. You need one evening and the six headings above. Fill them in roughly, put three actions in your calendar for this week, and do the first one.
The plan will be wrong in places. That's fine. A plan you follow and fix beats a perfect one you never open.