Writing strong NDIS plan goals (with examples)

Quick read: Plan goals are the bridge between your life and your funding. The NDIA can only fund supports that connect to a goal in your plan. Vague goals like "I want to be more independent" leave the NDIA guessing what you actually need. Specific, action-oriented goals that name what you want to do, where, and what's stopping you from doing it now make it easy for funding to follow. This article shows you the shape of a strong goal, the most common mistakes, and 12 worked examples you can adapt.

What a plan goal actually is

A plan goal isn't a wish. It's an anchor for funding. When the NDIA looks at a request for a support, the first thing they check is whether that support connects to a goal in the plan. No connection, no funding.

Your goals don't have to be grand. They don't have to be inspirational. They just have to describe — clearly and specifically — what matters to you and where you want support to make a difference.

Goals can change at every plan reassessment. You're not stuck with what you wrote at your first planning meeting. As your life changes, your goals can move.

The shape of a strong goal

Good goals share three features:

1. They name what you want to do or change.
2. They name the area of life — daily life, work, study, relationships, community, home, health and wellbeing.
3. They hint at what's hard about getting there — implicitly or explicitly.

Compare these two goals:

"I want to be more independent."

vs

"I want to manage my own morning routine — including showering, dressing and breakfast — without daily support from family, by the end of this plan."

The second one tells the NDIA exactly which supports are relevant (occupational therapy, possibly a support worker for transition phase, possibly assistive technology in the bathroom). The first one tells them nothing they could fund against.

You don't need to be a marketing copywriter. You just need to be specific.

What the NDIA looks for

When the NDIA reviews your goals, they're checking:

• Does this goal sit within the broad outcomes the NDIS supports — daily living, social and community participation, learning, work, health and wellbeing, lifelong learning, relationships, choice and control, and home?
• Is the goal something the participant has identified themselves (rather than imposed by family, support workers or services)?
• Is it realistic against their disability?
• Will supports actually help them work toward it?

You don't have to use legal language. Plain, honest description of what you want is better than NDIA jargon.

Common mistakes

The "values statement" mistake: Writing things like "I want to live my best life" or "I want to feel valued." These are real feelings but they're not goals — they don't give the NDIA something to fund. Translate the feeling into something specific: what would your best life look like in practice?

The "shopping list" mistake: Writing "I want a wheelchair" or "I want speech therapy." Supports aren't goals — goals are the outcomes that justify the supports. Rewrite: "I want to get around my community independently" (which justifies the wheelchair) or "I want to communicate with strangers in shops and at appointments" (which justifies the speech therapy).

The "too humble" mistake: Writing very small, safe goals because you don't want to seem demanding. Goals should reflect what you actually want for your life, not what you think is acceptable to ask for. If you want to go to TAFE, write that. The NDIA can't fund things you don't tell them about.

The "too vague" mistake: Writing "I want to be social" without saying where, with whom, or how often. Specificity isn't pushy — it's helpful.

The "all support, no participant" mistake: Writing goals from the perspective of what your supports will do for you, instead of what you'll do with the support. "I want my support worker to take me out three times a week" frames you as passive. "I want to attend the Tuesday community art class and weekly grocery shop independently with support as needed" frames you as the active person.

How many goals?

There's no fixed number. Most plans have between 3 and 6 goals. Too few and the plan can feel narrow; too many and each one gets less attention. Aim for the goals that genuinely matter and give the supports you want a clear anchor.

You can have short-term goals (things you want to do this plan period) and medium-term goals (things you're working toward over 2-3 plan periods). The NDIA expects to see both — short-term goals show what supports are needed now, medium-term goals show direction.

12 worked examples

These are starting points — adapt them to your situation.

Daily living

"Manage my morning routine independently, including showering, dressing and preparing breakfast, with reduced reliance on my partner. I'd like to be doing this five mornings out of seven by the end of this plan."

"Build a workable medication routine I can manage independently — including remembering daily doses, refilling scripts, and seeking help when I need it. This currently requires daily prompting from my mother."

Home

"Move from my parents' home into my own place — either independent living with drop-in support or a supported living arrangement — within the next 18 months. This requires support to develop daily living skills and to navigate the housing search."

"Make my current bathroom safer to use independently — currently I require physical assistance to transfer in and out of the shower. I'd like to investigate equipment and possible modifications."

Work and study

"Return to part-time paid work in administrative or customer-service roles within 12 months. I currently need support to manage anxiety in interview settings and to find roles that accommodate my fatigue."

"Complete a Cert III in Community Services at TAFE, with support for note-taking, time management and travel to and from campus."

Social and community

"Attend the Wednesday choir at [community centre] consistently — at least three out of four weeks each month. This currently requires support for transport and for managing anxiety in group settings."

"Maintain regular face-to-face contact with my sister and her family, who live 40 minutes away. Currently I rely on her travelling to me. I'd like to be able to visit her once a fortnight."

Health and wellbeing

"Manage my mental health independently between psychologist appointments, including using strategies I've learned in therapy, recognising warning signs of relapse, and accessing crisis support if needed."

"Build my physical fitness so I can keep up with my children on family outings — currently I tire after 30 minutes of walking and need to rest. I'd like to extend that to 90 minutes."

Relationships and choice

"Develop the skills to set boundaries with paid and informal supporters — knowing when to ask for help, when to say no, and how to have those conversations confidently."

Learning

"Improve my reading skills so I can understand letters from government services without needing my partner to translate them — particularly NDIA correspondence, Centrelink letters and medical instructions."

What a goal looks like as it flows into funding

Worked example: a participant with multiple sclerosis writes the goal:

"Continue working in my current part-time bookkeeping role — I work three days a week from home — by managing fatigue and maintaining function in my hands. Currently I lose grip strength by 2pm most working days, which limits my afternoon productivity."

That goal connects to multiple potential supports:

• Occupational therapy — for fatigue management strategies, ergonomic workstation review, hand-strengthening programs (passes test 1 — disability-related, test 2 — economic participation)
• Assistive technology — voice-recognition software, ergonomic keyboard, possibly a powered desk (passes test 3 — value for money if cheaper alternatives don't meet the need)
• Physiotherapy — to maintain hand function and overall fatigue management
• Support coordination — to coordinate the OT, physio, AT trials and the participant's primary clinical team (passes test 5 — without coordination, the supports work in silos)

Each support has a direct line from the goal. Each one is easier to justify under the six tests. A goal like "I want to be more independent" couldn't carry the same weight of justification because it's not specific to what those supports are trying to enable.

Updating goals between plans

You can review and update goals at every plan reassessment. The NDIA encourages this — your life changes, your goals should change with it. Goals that have been achieved come off. New goals get added. Goals that turned out to be wrong (or no longer matter) get replaced.

Bring written goals to your reassessment meeting. The planner has to record them, but the framing is yours. Pre-prepared goals get less interpretive editing than ones brainstormed on the spot.

When writing goals is hard

If writing goals feels overwhelming — especially after years of services framing your life in deficit terms — these are reasonable approaches:

• Start with what's hard right now. What did you struggle with this week? Last month? That points at where supports might help.
• Start with what you've stopped doing. What did you used to do that you no longer can? Often that's a goal in disguise.
• Ask someone who knows you well. Family, close friends, treating clinicians. They often see things you've adapted to without realising.
• Use the supports you already have. Talk through possible goals with your current OT, support coordinator, GP or psychologist. They've helped many people through this process and have language patterns that work.

Sources

This guide is informed by the NDIA's Operational Guideline on setting goals and the planning booklets they publish. Both are linked at the top.

The most authoritative source on what makes a "good" plan goal is the experience of participants who've been through the planning process — and many state-based disability advocacy organisations offer goal-writing workshops and one-on-one support if you'd like help.

Sources & last verified

Last verified 24 May 2026 against:

• NDIA — Setting goals for your plan
• NDIS Booklet 2 — Planning

Next review scheduled 24 August 2026.