How to create a goal map [template included] 

Creating a goal map is a great way to stay focused on your personal and professional goals. Find out how to create one and download our goal map template to get started today.

Creating a goal map for your business is one way to chart a path toward success. Whether you have a new business or you’ve been operating for years, it isn’t always easy to create goals in the first place, let alone achieve them. 

As an independent business owner, understanding your personal goals can similarly help you achieve more balance in your personal life, which can carry over to your business. 

Goal mapping is the process of defining your goals based on what’s most important to you, then outlining what you need to do to achieve them. Learn how to create a goal map for your professional, personal and financial goals, and use our free goal map template to get started. 

Jump to:

• What is a goal map?
• How to create a goal map step-by-step
• How to get started mapping your professional goals
• Start your goal map with personal life goals for balance
• Evaluating business goals for success when creating a goal map
• How to use your goal map
• Outlining what you need to achieve your goals
• Understanding personal and professional growth with a goal map

What is a goal map?

A goal map is a document that shows your ideal goals and the steps along the way to achieve them. Typically, they look like flowcharts, but you can design goal maps in any way that helps you visually. 

What do you want out of your business? What are your goals and how are you going to achieve them? This is what a goal map can help you figure out.

How to create a goal map step-by-step

Creating a goal map is a powerful way to stay focused on your objectives. By using the HoneyBook goal map template below, you can structure your goals in a clear, actionable way. Follow these steps to create your goal map:

Step 1: Understand your strengths and weaknesses

Start by evaluating key areas of your business or personal life. The HoneyBook goal map template provides business categories such as management and staff, business growth, money or sales, business health, and relationships. Rate each category from 0 to 5. This rating helps you identify which areas need improvement (lower scores) and which areas should be maintained (higher scores).

• Example: If you rate “business growth” low, this indicates an area where you need to set new goals.

Step 2: Document your goals and track your progress

Use the worksheet to document your specific goals. For each goal, identify the stakeholders involved, outline the tasks needed to achieve the goal, and set key dates for each task. The worksheet template also includes sections for tracking metrics to measure progress and noting the outcomes.

• Example: If your goal is to “increase customer retention,” you would list tasks like “survey customers,” set a deadline for completing the survey, and decide on metrics such as “customer retention rate increase” to track success.

Step 3: Organize your tasks into a timeline

Once you have your goals, tasks, and metrics documented, arrange them in a timeline. This step ensures that you have a clear roadmap from goal setting to goal achievement, with milestones to track your progress.

• How to do it: Use the key dates section in the worksheet to create a timeline, ensuring that each task is scheduled and deadlines are met.

Step 4: Regularly review and adjust your goal map

The HoneyBook goal map template is designed to be a living document. Regularly review your individual goals and progress, making adjustments as needed to stay on track.Example: Set a weekly or monthly reminder to review your worksheet, adjusting tasks or goals based on your progress and any new insights.

How to get started mapping your professional goals

Now that you know how to create a goal map using the HoneyBook goal map template, you can begin by downloading the template below and filling it out based on your current professional and personal priorities. This structured approach will help you stay organized and focused on achieving your goals.

Start your goal map with personal life goals for balance

Before you begin mapping out your professional goals, it’s important to understand where you currently stand in different areas of your life. This self-assessment helps you identify which aspects of your life are going well and which ones might need more attention. By starting with your personal life, you create a strong foundation for your goal map, ensuring that your personal and professional goals are balanced and aligned with your overall well-being.

Step 1: Assess key areas of your personal life

• Understanding your satisfaction in key areas of your life helps you prioritize which goals to focus on. This ensures that your goal map addresses the areas that need the most improvement or maintenance.
• How to do it: Rate the following areas of your life on a scale of 1–5, where 1 means you are very satisfied and 5 means there’s significant room for improvement:
  • Family time: Meals together, quality time, and date nights.
  • Personal growth: Through books, new skills, hobbies, and your creative life.
  • Money: Your net worth, earnings, expenses, savings, debt, and giving.
  • Health: Energy, sleep quality, and exercise.
  • Relationships: The quality of personal friendships, work friendships, and meaningful connections.

Step 2: Translate your assessments into actionable goals

• Once you’ve identified areas where you want to improve, the next step is to translate these assessments into specific, actionable goals. This is where your goal map begins to take shape.
• Examples:
  • Family time: If you rated this area as needing improvement, your goal mapping might include actions like scheduling weekly family dinners or planning monthly outings. For example, “Plan one family outing every month and schedule at least two family dinners each week.”
  • Personal growth: If you want to focus more on personal growth, you might set goals to read a certain number of books per month or learn a new skill. For instance, “Read one book on personal development each month and practice a new hobby for 30 minutes daily.”
  • Money: If improving your financial health is a priority, break it down into specific goals like “Save 10% of monthly income” or “Reduce debt by 15% within six months.” An actionable item could be, “Set up automatic transfers to savings each payday.”
  • Health: For health goals, consider specific actions like “Walk 10,000 steps daily” or “Exercise for 30 minutes three times a week.” Your goal mapping might look like, “Improve sleep quality by establishing a consistent bedtime and reducing screen time before bed.”
  • Relationships: To enhance relationships, you might aim to reconnect with old friends or strengthen existing ones. For example, “Schedule coffee with a friend once a month” or “Send a check-in message to a different friend each week.”

Step 3: Integrate these goals into your goal map

• Integrating these goals into your goal map ensures that your plan is comprehensive and that you’re making progress in all important areas of your daily life.

How to do it: Once you’ve established your goals, place them into your goal map, setting timelines and milestones for each. Regularly revisit and adjust your map to reflect your progress and any changes in priorities.

Evaluating business goals for success when creating a goal map

As an independent business owner, you’re responsible for the success, viability, and growth of the company. You need to look at your business as a living entity and base your decisions on what the business needs to stay alive and prosper. Look at these five main categories when evaluating your business goals and creating a goal map.

• Management and staff: Consider the cohesiveness of the group, the ability to achieve your goals together, and the needs of your employees to help them be successful.
• Growth: Are you maintaining a trend of profitable growth? Are you increasing your offerings or removing unprofitable areas? Have you revisited your pricing strategy to be in line with your competitors?
• Money and sales: Do you have working capital, positive cash flow, and good sales? Does the company give back to the community? What is your debt-to-net ratio?
• Health: Are you in a growth industry, or is your industry in decline? Is your company growing, or has the company become stagnant?
• Relationships: Your relationships with your client base, reinvigorating your past client base and creating positive buzz to develop new relationships and impact your customers’ lives.

How to use your goal map

The identification of your biggest areas of strength and areas needing improvement will guide your efforts as you work toward professional success. The HoneyBook goal map template helps you pinpoint these key areas within your business, such as management, growth, finances, business health, and relationships. By focusing on these categories, you can set actionable goals that drive your business forward.

Instead of rushing to quick judgments or making hasty decisions, use your goal map to create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your business. These goals should be rooted in the findings from your goal map and designed to address the specific challenges you’ve identified.

For example, if your evaluation shows dissatisfaction with your work-life balance due to excessive working hours, rather than making impulsive changes like cutting back on work immediately, use the template worksheet to outline a structured plan. You might start by assessing how your business operations could be streamlined. For instance, tasks could include “implementing automation tools to reduce manual work,” “delegating more tasks to team members,” or “restructuring your workflow to improve efficiency.” This allows you to gradually reduce your workload while maintaining productivity.

Using the HoneyBook goal map template, regularly review and update your goals to ensure they remain aligned with your objectives and progress. This approach allows you to make informed decisions that contribute to both your personal well-being and the long-term success of your business.

Practical tips for daily integration of your goal map

Once you’ve created your goal map, the next step is to ensure it becomes a part of your daily routine. Here are some practical tips to help you integrate your goals into everyday life:

Tip 1: Use a daily planner or app

• Consistency is key to achieving your goals. A daily planner or app can serve as a visual reminder and keep you organized.
• Review your goal map each morning, dedicating 5-10 minutes to adjust your tasks and set priorities for the day. This habit ensures that your daily actions are aligned with your long-term goals.

Tip 2: Incorporate weekly goal review sessions

• Regular reflection allows you to track progress, identify obstacles, and make necessary adjustments to your plan.
• Schedule a weekly review session at the end of each week. During this time, reflect on your achievements, assess any challenges, and adjust your upcoming tasks or timelines as needed.

Tip 3: Break down large goals into daily tasks

• Large goals can feel overwhelming, but breaking them down into smaller, daily tasks makes them more manageable.
• At the start of each week, look at your goal map and identify specific tasks you can accomplish each day. For example, if one of your goals is to write a book, your daily task might be “Write 500 words.”

Tip 4: Set reminders for key tasks

• It’s easy to get sidetracked by daily distractions. Reminders help you stay focused on your priorities.
• Use your phone or calendar to set reminders for the most critical tasks related to your goal map. For instance, set a reminder for your weekly review session or for key milestones that need your attention.

Tip 5: Celebrate small wins

• Acknowledging progress, no matter how small, keeps you motivated and reinforces positive habits.
• At the end of each day, take a moment to recognize what you’ve accomplished. This could be as simple as crossing off completed tasks or rewarding yourself with something small when you hit a milestone.

Outlining what you need to achieve your goals

Once you have focus areas that align with your values, you can use your goal map to start determining the actions you need to take to achieve your goals. For instance, if you value your management and staff the most, you may need to outline steps for training. 

Using our goal map template, you can dig even deeper by determining your stakeholders, key dates, business metrics, and individual tasks. 

Let’s say one of your focus areas is management, and you notice that you aren’t spending your time where you want to. A good goal would be to reduce your workload by a certain amount of hours each week, so you can prioritize as needed. Your tasks might be implementing calendar blocks, automating some emails, and delegating more tasks. 

If you are focusing on relationships, join an industry group, use the monthly meetings to meet new vendors or clients, and expand your social network.

If you have employees as a small business owner, take into consideration how personal and professional goals interact for your employees, as well. Employers can create opportunities for employees to bring in their personal goals and relate them to the company’s goals. Find ways to help employees offer meaningful input and set smart goals for the company to satisfy their personal needs. Try to find a common goal or goal themes that can inspire concrete outcomes that can benefit both you and your employees.

Some additional examples

How can the company support a flexible work schedule to allow maximum home or family time while ensuring completion of the job? 

Are you able to facilitate the hiring of or provide the services of training one or two days a week in the office before or after work to help your team improve overall health?

Understanding personal and professional growth with a goal map

No matter how we manage the results after completing our goal map, we must first figure out what we need to be happy and successful on a personal level. Once we’ve got that figured out, we can use those results to create an environment at the office in which we can find success. Understanding that personal and professional goals work hand in hand will help both businesses and employees find long-term success in their chosen professions.

Checking back in to re-evaluate how your action plan is working will create a sense of accomplishment and increase job satisfaction for all involved. 

Another way to ensure meaningful changes in your life and business is to use a clientflow management platform. This streamlines everything you need to manage your business into one place, giving you the peace of mind you need.