How to Make a Simple Life Plan
“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” ~Zig Ziglar
Someone asked me recently, “Ken, what’s the simplest way to plan your life?”
I thought about it for a few minutes, then got out a piece of paper and this is (more or less) what I said and wrote…
First, you must know where you want to go. I call this your vision. Think of it as the ultimate target for your life. As you think about your vision, include all areas of your life (use the Whole Life Balance Wheel for assistance).
Second, you must know why you want to go there. Why is it so important for you to hit that target, your vision? The more powerful the “why”, the more passion you’ll have that will empower you to fulfill your vision. This is also known as your purpose.
Third, you must know what is truly most important to you. These are your values and when you are clear about your values, and you live according to them, your decision-making process will be very clear. Clear decision-making helps one to accomplish any task with much greater ease.
Fourth, you must know how you plan to arrive at your target. In other words, what’s the “vehicle” that will get you there? This is what I refer to as your mission.
Quick review so far: This is your M.V.V.P. model, meaning Mission, Values, Vision and Purpose. A nice little acronym for you to use.
Your MVVP is the foundation for your life plan. It’s imperative that you know this first.
Next, ask yourself this question: What goals would I have to meet in order to fulfill my vision? Start writing the goals and do this objectively with no critiquing of your abilities or your resources. Allow yourself to imagine that anything is possible.
Follow this by then asking yourself this question: If I broke these goals down into specific and measurable plans, what would the plans be? Begin writing all the plans you can formulate and continue with the same objectiveness.
Then ask yourself: If I broke these plans down into simple and basic action steps, what would those action steps be? Again, write down what you have.
At this point, you have just completed your simple life plan.
However, I wouldn’t recommend stopping here, as this is the point where many people stop, which means that many people never truly get into the action that it takes to fulfill their ultimate life plan.
You must then take action steps and intertwine these actions into your daily life starting today.
I recommend that every morning, you review your life plan and incorporate a few of the action steps into your daily schedule.
Some days you’ll be able to complete much more than others, but what’s important is that every day you do something to move you forward towards your vision and the completion of your goals.
And here is the last step, but perhaps the most important and the most underused.
It’s nearly impossible for people to truly fulfill their vision and their life goals without some assistance from others.
Actually, it’s quite insane to even think anyone would try. But due to the powerful almighty ego (EGO = Edging God Out!!), many people feel like they have to do this all in a vacuum.
Wrong!
Look at every athlete, CEO, actor or actress in the world and you’ll see people who surround themselves with coaches and support systems to help them achieve their goals and fulfill their vision.
Therefore, it is imperative that you have a powerful support system that will help hold you accountable, give you feedback and point out your blind spots (otherwise known as your B.S.!!). Do all this and you cannot help but be successful in your life.
Be patient, as life does not always work at the same pace for all of us. Be diligent, however, and shuffle your feet forward every day.
”To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.” ~Buddha