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How To Create Life Plan That Changes Your Life

The art of life planning will help you succeed in work, life, and everything in between

By J.R. HeimbignerPublished 2 years ago 9 min read
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How To Create Life Plan That Changes Your Life
Photo by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash

Think back to college or high school for a moment. You probably had a counselor or a supervisor assist you to plan the route for your college years or professional path when you first started college or a new job.

The majority of people sit through these meetings unsure of what they want to do, but they acknowledge a lot and agree with everything presented to them.

Then, once the dust has settled and they are back in their studies and careers, they despise it. Or you may be disillusioned. They have a tendency to give up. You don't have to be unhappy with your life.

Despite this, many people do. They graduate from college, begin raising a family and have no idea how they ended up where they are. They somehow stumbled into the universe they presently inhabit and are unsure of what to do with themselves.

This is referred to as a quarter-life, third-life, or mid-life crisis. For many people, it becomes debilitating. They begin to make rash or unwise decisions. Eventually, their lives begin to crumble around them, forcing them to accept the status quo or, worse, allowing life to happen to them.

This is how life was meant to be.

Understanding the Life Plan

When I tell others about my life plan, they react strangely. When people ask how my wife and I were able to transfer states and pursue our goals of living in the countryside in our new home, I usually respond like this. When I tell them I'm writing a book, they can't believe I'm pursuing this goal.

I tell them that pursuing a dream is simple when you have a strategy in place. There are a lot of puzzled expressions on people's faces, and they sometimes stammer. When I explain to them what it's like to have a career or college plan, they begin to understand.

More and more, people are finding themselves stuck in life. Maybe that is you. If so, this article is written especially for you. It is written to help you get unstuck and to experience the life you were made to live.

How To Create Your Life Plan

By Green Chameleon on Unsplash

The measures I've taken to create a life plan are outlined here. These are the steps I take every quarter when I examine and update my life plan. Every quarter, I update it with my accomplishments and setbacks to ensure that I continue to live the life I want and pursue my goals.

My life plan can best be described as a living document.

As you read through the steps below, they will assist you in developing a life plan and developing a habit to begin pursuing your dreams by giving your life direction. Each phase has an assignment that will allow you to put them into practice and construct a life plan right now!

Step 1: The End

You're sitting in an easy chair at a ripe old age when a reporter from a prominent news organization sits across from you. They want to tell the world about you because you've accomplished incredible things and evolved into a remarkable person.

The reporter will ask you the following questions as you prepare for the interview:

  1. Who should we interview about your life?
  2. What is the one thing you never thought you would do, but did it?
  3. Where have you lived, learned, and experienced your greatest successes?
  4. When did you do the hard work to make this life possible?
  5. Why did you work so hard to be who you are?
  6. How did you accomplish these amazing things?

These inquiries may appear intimidating at first. However, they are critical in assisting you in determining where you want to be in the future. The place you desire to be at the end of your life is your imagined future. It is the location where all of your desires are realized.

Action Step: Write down the answers to these questions. Your first go-through with this will be difficult, but useful.

Step 2: Your Priorities

What is most essential to you? Here are the nuts and bolts of step one. And here's a little known fact: they evolve with time. For some people, this is a difficult fact to accept. Our priorities in our twenties, on the other hand, differ from those in our fifties and sixties.

What are the most significant components of your life right now? Who and what are the most important aspects of your life right now?

These can include family, a spouse, children, friends, or even financial or professional concerns. It's possible that your faith, education, or personal health will be affected. At any given time, most people have seven to ten life priorities. If you have more than ten, you're frightened of leaving out items that aren't as vital in the end.

Action Step: Write down your seven to ten life priorities.

Step 3: Review Your Priorities

This is the most important aspect of making a life plan. Being brutally honest while dreaming big. Step three is divided into four sections. These are necessary for going over each of your priorities.

You'll need to know what you want to achieve, where you want to go, where you are now, and how you intend to get there.

(1) Your Purpose

Determine why you want to make this a priority. This is where you make a statement about why this is a top priority for you. If your children are a top priority. Why are they so important? Why is this a priority if it is work?

The key is to understand why it matters. I've heard stories about folks completing this section of the exercise and discovering that something they thought was important was actually not.

This section requires you to make a statement explaining the priority's purpose. This is the first element of the procedure. Here's an example of my children's purpose statement:

"It is my mission to love them unconditionally." To provide them with a solid and secure refuge. And to fortify and prepare them for their journey into the world."

Complete this for every priority.

(2) Your Future

What do you want your priorities to look like in the future? If everything went according to plan, you should have a vivid mental image of it. This is where you make it official. Again, because this is a dynamic document, it will evolve as you make progress toward your goals.

Create a little piece here to describe how your future might look if you achieved your goal or ideal for this priority. Here's an example of my future physical health statement:

"I'm in the best shape of my life." I keep a healthy weight by leading an active lifestyle, eating nutritious food, and following a proactive health management plan. I have enough energy for both everyday living and life's exceptional events. My physical fitness is always improving. I'm always trying to improve the stuff I put into my body. I rarely get sick and, regardless of my age, I am the picture of good health."

Complete this for each priority.

(3) Your Present

This is the difficult part. You need to know where you are right now once you've decided on the purpose and future of your priorities. You must be truthful to yourself. We'll talk about reality in this section, and sometimes reality stinks. In this manner, we can have a beginning and a finish to our journey toward our goals.

You need to know where you are for each of your priorities so you can figure out where you need to go and how to get there. An example of my current statement for my people priority is as follows:

"I don't have a mentor, and I don't mentor anyone." I only have a few buddies who I can call at any time. My relationships do not all have clear limits. I've recognized roughly two persons in my tight circle. I'm looking for a new mentor. I need to start making plans with my buddies on a regular basis."

Do this for each priority.

(4) Create Your Action Steps

Our dreams for our priorities now have a purpose, a beginning, and a conclusion. To get from where we are now to where we want to be in the future, we need to start defining action steps. This is where we sketch out the path to our goals.

This section will help you come up with four to five important actions that you may perform each quarter to get closer to your goals and desired life. Here's an example of my vocation priority action steps:

  1. Every month, I reduce my inventory.
  2. Develop a regular approach to managing my workload and avoiding falling behind.
  3. With a new rep, Mentorship comes to a close.
  4. Start working from home one day a week on a consistent basis.
  5. Every day, take a lunch break and leave work by 5:30 p.m.

This is numbered, as you can see, which makes it easy to figure out what actions to take. I don't put them in any particular order for me. You can, however, accomplish this.

Complete this step with each priority.

Step 4: Create Your Living Document

Now is the time to put everything together and create your living document. My end-of-life interview is the beginning of my life plan. Then it runs through my priorities one by one, adding each sentence to the priority section.

All of these are contained in a single document. Apple Pages is what I use. My life plan consists of 13 pages. Once you've gathered all of your information, print it off and keep it somewhere you can examine it.

It is critical that you examine your life plan on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. The weekly and monthly reviews will help you stay on track to achieve your goals and live the life you want.

Your quarterly evaluations are used to adjust your life plan as you complete tasks or encounter challenges. These periods will be extremely beneficial in allowing you to track your development and diagnose problems as they arise.

Today Is Your Day To Change Your Life

By Brooke Lark on Unsplash

There is no better time than the present to create a life plan.

If you have been stuck or if you have felt like you have been wandering aimlessly this year, this is a useful exercise to work through for yourself. Especially, if you have hopes and dreams that you want to accomplish.

Start today and see how your life changes.

***

I originally wrote this post here. It has helped so many people, that hope it might connect with you too.

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About the Creator

J.R. Heimbigner

Author and creator, Husband and Father, Jesus Follower and Reader of Books

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