Create a life roadmap

My Instagram stories blew up the other day when I took a picture of my roadmap, which detailed how I plan to hit the thirty goals I wanted to achieve when I'm 30.

Many were curious about the tools I used to create the roadmap, as well as what the process was. In today's blog, I'll be sharing step by step what I did to create my roadmap so you can easily follow and create your own as well. All the tools I used are also completely free as well!

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STEP 1

What are your goals?

To even begin building out your life roadmap, you need to figure out what you actually want to do and achieve (even if it is super high level).

I personally identified the thirty goals that I wanted to do before I turned thirty. It is helpful to identify shorter term goals first, such as within the next three to five years, especially as things can change further down the track.

I wrote down my goals on a piece of paper first, before I digitised it on a free tool called Miro on post it notes.

Each goal is recorded as a post it note on Miro (free version).

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STEP 2

Prioritise your goals

Once you identify the goals you want to achieve, it’s important to prioritise and choose which ones you want to do first since it’s impossible to do everything at once at the same time.

I created a matrix on my Miro board and divided it into four sections by time and desirability. The top left green section were the "quick wins", which gave me the highest value and took the least amount of time. On the contrary, the bottom right red section were the low priorities, which take the most time without bringing me as much joy.

By dragging my goal post its into this matrix, I was able to prioritise all my goals which helped me decide which ones I wanted to tackle first.

The goals are moved into a matrix to prioritise which ones to do first

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STEP 3 (OPTIONAL)

Break down your goals

To help me accurately estimate how much time I would need to achieve a goal, I break down each goal into the high level tasks I would need to do to tick it off.

From this, I can estimate how long each task will take, and when I will have time to do it by slotting it into a timeline (for my timeline, each column represents two weeks). When I finish this, I can then see how long it will take for me to achieve my goal, and when I am estimated to finish.

This step is optional, but I would recommend it so your roadmap will be more accurate!

Each goal is broken down into tasks and slotted against a timeline

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STEP 4

Get a free roadmap tool

After you complete steps 1-3, you will have enough information to build your life roadmap!

To put together your roadmap, I would recommend using a tool to build it. I personally used Atlassian JIRA (free tier) to create my roadmap - it's what I use for work as a product manager!

If you do use JIRA, I would recommend selecting 'Confluence' as the free second product so you can put together notes and documents together as well.

Sign up for free to Atlassian JIRA to build your roadmap

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STEP 5

Go to your roadmap

Once you've followed the prompts and made a free account, go to your project and select the 'Timeline' feature on the side menu.

This 'Timeline' will then give you the ability to build your roadmap which you have planned!

Access the timeline feature to build your roadmap

STEP 6

Build your roadmap

Once you're in the 'Timeline' feature, the fun starts and you can start building your roadmap!

1. Firstly, enter the name of your goal as an 'Epic' which will then show on the roadmap. Hit the 'Enter' key when you're done, then click on it to open a side panel which will open on the right
   

2. On the right side panel, if you have any tasks for the goal, add it in as a 'Child issue' - this is optional
   

3. Finally, enter the 'Start Date' and 'Due Date'. Once both dates are provided, you will see the goal on the roadmap as a rectangle!
   

4. Keep repeating these steps for each goal to build out the roadmap!

Set up your roadmap by adding the goal, tasks and start / end date

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STEP 7

Review your roadmap

Phew - and that's it! There's something satisfying about seeing everything laid out visually and feeling that you have a solid direction on how to actually achieve what you want to in your life!

But it doesn't end here! Sometimes things happen, your values change or you have new things you want to do! Make sure you revisit this regularly and change it as life happens so you always have an up to date plan forward!

This is a basic tutorial on how to create a roadmap. Make sure you follow me on my socials and subscribe to my mailing list so you'll be the first to know when I share more advanced tips so you can further customise your roadmap!

The final roadmap for what's prioritised in 2023

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