How to Build a Goal Planner in Notion: A Step-by-step Guide ( + free template)

 

Goal planning is a crucial aspect of personal and professional growth. Notion, a versatile productivity tool, can help you create an organized and visually appealing goal planner to keep track of your objectives, tasks, and progress. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the process of building a goal planner in Notion, complete with timelines, tasks, and visual indicators.

1. Begin by opening a new Notion page where you’ll build your goal planner. Give your page a suitable title, such as “Goal Planner Notion Template.”
2. Add Cover Photo and Icon. Enhance the aesthetics of your goal planner by selecting an attractive cover photo and icon. This step is purely optional but can make your planner visually appealing.

Add Goal and Task Databases

In this Notion Goal Planner, you’ll create two databases: one for your goals and another for tasks related to those goals. To set up these databases:

1. Create a “Timeline View” database for your goals. Name it something like “My Goals.”
2. Create a “Table View” database for tasks associated with your goals. Name it something like “My Tasks.”

Headings and Dividers

Organize your goal planner by adding headings and dividers to create clear sections.

1. Add a “Heading 3” for “My Goals.”
2. Insert a divider beneath the heading.
3. Add another “Heading 3” for “My Tasks.”
4. Insert a divider beneath this heading as well.

Create Goals in the Timeline View

In the “My Goals” database, you’ll set your main objectives.

For instance, if your goal is to “Write a Book” with a target of “75,000 words,” use Notion’s timeline view to schedule when you aim to achieve this goal. Create a timeline entry for “Finish 75,000 Word Book” and set a target date, e.g., March.

Establish Sub-Goals and Dependencies

Break down your main goal into sub-goals or milestones that you need to accomplish to reach the final objective. For example:

1. Draft and Outline the Book
2. Write 10,000 Words
3. Write 25,000 Words
4. Write 50,000 Words

Use Notion’s dependency feature to connect these sub-goals in a logical sequence. Ensure that you specify dependencies so the timeline automatically moves if you drag it.

Add Icons for Visual Clarity

To enhance visual clarity, assign icons to your goals and sub-goals. For instance, use a “Flag” icon for your main goal and “Pin” icons for sub-goals. This makes it easier to distinguish between different types of goals.

Create Tasks in the Table View

In the “My Tasks” database, you’ll list the specific tasks required to achieve your sub-goals. For example, for the sub-goal “Draft and Outline the Book,” tasks may include:

1. Create a one-page draft of ideas
2. Choose the best idea
3. Work on the entire outline of the novel

Setting up Task Database

1. Establish a connection between tasks and the goals they pertain to by creating a relation property. This connection helps organize tasks under the relevant sub-goal or milestone.
2. Customize task properties to suit your needs. You can include properties like due date and a checkbox to mark completion. These properties help you track task progress.

Setting up Goal Database

1. Create a formula property named “Completion” to track task completion. Use Notion’s Formula 2.0 to calculate the percentage of completed tasks related to a goal.
2. Create goal entry templates to view tasks associated with each goal. Ensure that these templates are linked to your “My Tasks” database and filter tasks based on the connected goal.
3. Use the “Completion” formula to display progress as a percentage, represented visually with a progress ring. This feature allows you to monitor your goal and task completion at a glance.

Finishing Touches

• Enhance the aesthetics of your goal planner by hiding unnecessary database titles. This step creates a cleaner and more organized look for your planner.
• To streamline your goal planning process, set the goal entry template as the default for your “My Goals” database. This ensures that newly created goal entries automatically use the template.
• As you have successfully created your goal planner, you can expand it by adding more goals, sub-goals, and tasks to cover all your objectives and projects.

Let’s start building your Goal Planner in Notion!

We hope this build-with-me tutorial will help you get started with Notion and create an amazing space for your to plan your goals. We recommend you open your Notion workspace and follow our video at the same time so you can learn faster by building. You can also download the finished template for free below!

New to Notion?

Learn more about Notion from our classes: We recommend you check out our tutorials and build-with-me tutorial series to learn Notion more efficiently by practicing and building. Keep experimenting with Notion functions and you will surely find a way to adapt them to your specific needs!

✨ Interested in trying out Notion? Notion has free plans for all users as well as paid plans for more advanced features and you can sign up here
✨ Interested in Notion AI? If you like to try to see how Notion AI automates your workflow, find the link to sign up here.
Full disclosure: we are a Notion Partner, so when you sign up with our link, you also help support us and our content!

Download our Templates

For the finished version of the template that we built during the build-with-me tutorial, download it for free below and check if everything is the same as your version! Enter code GOAL100 to get it for FREE! We do this to prevent bots from downloading our entire library.
✨ Although it’s free, we would greatly appreciate any support so that we can continue doing this. ❤️

If you prefer a pre-made template with more built-in functions, be sure to check our Goal and Habit System Notion Template. This is the perfect template if you’re looking for a seamless experience going from Goals to Habits.

If you have any questions or need further clarification on any of the steps discussed, please don’t hesitate to ask us!