Life planning isn’t about rigid 10-year goals or over-optimistic bucket lists. It’s about regularly stepping back to reflect on what truly matters to you and then intentionally shaping your goals and habits around that bigger picture.

This article walks you through a practical and empowering life planning workflow, using Griply as your foundation. It’s built to help you clarify your values, vision, and direction, so your weekly actions lead somewhere meaningful.

Why Life Planning Matters

In the rush of daily tasks, it’s easy to drift. Without pausing to ask what really matters, we risk building lives filled with productivity, but empty of purpose.

A life plan gives you clarity. It helps you:

• Identify what truly brings meaning and motivation

• Set goals that are aligned with your values

• Prioritize with confidence (and say no more easily)

• Create a sense of direction, not just momentum

• Stay resilient when things change, because you know what you’re aiming for

Even a light, flexible life plan can act as your compass.

The Life Planning Workflow in Griply

You can return to this workflow every few months or whenever you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from your goals.

Step 1. Reflect on Where You Are

Start with awareness before setting any new direction.

Try journaling or talking it through with a friend. Some prompts:

• What’s going well in your life right now?

• Where do you feel stuck, drained, or unfulfilled?

• What are you proud of from the past 6–12 months?

• What do you want more or less of in your life?

To go deeper, consider using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle, a structured reflection model used in coaching and psychology. It helps you analyze experiences by moving through these stages:

1. Description – What happened?

2. Feelings – How did it make you feel?

3. Evaluation – What was good or bad?

4. Analysis – Why did it happen that way?

5. Conclusion – What could you have done differently?

6. Action plan – How will you act next time?

You can use this cycle on recent challenges, personal growth, or big turning points.

Do this reflection however works best for you (e.g. paper journal, notes app, voice memo). We hope to add a Notes section inside Griply in the future.

Step 2: Run a Life Audit

Now zoom out and assess your life across key domains. In Griply, we call these Life Areas.

Start with the default set or create your own. Common categories include:

• Work & Career

• Personal Growth

• Health & Fitness

• Family & Friends

• Fun & Recreation

• Finances

• Love & Relationships

• Spirituality or Mental Wellbeing

For each life area, ask:

• How satisfied am I (scale of 1–10)?

• What does success look like here for me?

• Am I giving this area enough time or attention?

This is not about perfection, it’s about identifying where you want to shift focus or set new intentions.

Step 3: Define Your Life Vision

With clarity on where you are, imagine where you want to be.

You can write a vision for your whole life, or for each life area.

Prompts to guide you:

• If nothing held me back, what would I want to create or experience?

• What values do I want to live by?

• How do I want to feel in my daily life?

• What would a deeply fulfilling life look like for me?

Tip: Keep it aspirational but grounded. Focus more on direction than perfection.

You can write this in the vision section of each life area within Griply.

Step 4: Plan Backwards

Once your vision is clear, break it down:

• What would progress look like this year?

• What 1–2 goals would move this life area forward?

• What habits would help you stay consistent?

This is where you start mapping long-term clarity into actionable structure:

1. Create a goal (e.g. "Run a half marathon") and link it to the life area

2. Break it down using subgoals, tasks or habits

3. Plan subgoals across months or quarters in the goal timeline view

4. Schedule tasks, habits and subgoals week-by-week in the upcoming view

For example:

• Life Area: Health

  • Vision: I want to feel strong, energetic, and clear-headed

  • Goal: Build a consistent fitness routine

  • Habit: Morning workouts (3x/week)

  • Task: Book a gym membership

Need help breaking it down? See Creating Your First Goal(s) or explore Long-Term Planning to see how this fits into your broader planning rhythm.

Step 5: Review Regularly

Your life isn’t static, your plan shouldn’t be either.

• Schedule quarterly or biannual life reviews in Griply

• Reflect again on life balance, satisfaction, and values

• Refine your vision and goals based on what’s changed

Prompts:

• What’s shifted in how I feel or what I value?

• What part of my vision still feels exciting?

• What’s no longer aligned?

Griply is designed to grow with you. The more you revisit your vision, the more your daily actions stay aligned.

Recap: The Life Planning Workflow

1. Reflect on your current life

2. Audit your life areas

3. Define a meaningful vision

4. Plan backwards and set goals aligned with that vision

5. Revisit and refine regularly

You don’t need to do this all at once. Start small. Even one hour of reflection can shift your path in a more intentional direction.