Welcome to Monday Motivation! My Dad lived a hard life and his philosophy reflected growing up in the depression, fighting in WWII, and thirty years in the Navy. The philosophy he imparted to us kids was “Life is hard; give everything you do 110% and keep the faith.” Life is hard, but you can choose your hard. You can eat right, get good sleep, and exercise or you can be sick, overweight, and exhausted. You can become competent in your job, work intently, and build a career, invest wisely and become financially free or you can be lazy, complain, and wait for someone to hand you something. You can invest time with your family, raise good kids, and have a long and happy marriage or you can be miserable and alone. All of these are hard, either hard work or hard results. So having a plan makes a difference. That’s why we all need a personal strategic plan.
Here’s a quick outline of my method: Start with the seven buckets or general areas of life, remember those; business and career, family and personal life, money, and investments, health and fitness, personal growth and development, social and community activities, and spiritual development. Then write your values, vision, mission/purpose, goals, habits, and actions. I’ve discovered if you do this in an hour, it’s good enough.
So here goes:
Values: What are your governing principles, values, virtues, and traits? Clarity is important so make them sentences and no more than seven.
Vision: What would it look like if your life was perfect, without obstacles? Use the seven areas to help you define that vision.
Mission and Purpose: The mission and purpose are the engines for your vision. The mission is the who, what, when, where, and how you will achieve your vision. The purpose is your “why.” One mission and purpose and it doesn’t have to be your job.
Goals: In the seven areas of your life, what specifically do you need to accomplish to attain your vision? Consider what knowledge, skills, and networks will assist in reaching these goals. Start with one goal per bucket because they will likely have supporting goals.
Habits: What habits of thought and action do you need to develop to become the objective you, the person you described in your values and vision, and achieve your goals?
Routines: What daily routines and consistent daily activities will contribute to achieving your goals and becoming “the objective you”?
Actions: What actions must you take immediately to begin realizing your vision? Hint: Start by prioritizing your goals. So that’s the process. Remember, if you want to make a change, you must DO something!
Choose your hard because the decisions available are to start something advantageous, reinforce doing something advantageous, reduce something unhelpful, or stop doing something unhelpful. I recommend starting with your personal strategic plan.
If you need help with planning or learning more about leadership, sign up for my newsletter or set an appointment at the link below.
Remember, “all things are possible through prayer and heavy deadlifts.”™
