A popular analogy compares our goals to rocks in a jar: put the big rocks (your most valued goals) in the jar first, or else the smaller (less important) rocks will take up all the space. But goals aren’t rocks; in fact, they’re more like balls of soft clay that require molding as much as prioritizing. To better mold your goals to your stage in life and what’s important to you, work through a four-step process that breaks your goals into values and definitions of success. The flexibility this molding facilitates will not only help you understand what’s really important to you, but will allow you to change and adjust your goals over time.

Here is how we accomplished our successful strategic planning process. I hope that you can find some useful ideas to help you get through your next process with as little pain—and as much gain—as possible.

The terms "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns" are often used in project management and strategic planning circles.