Your Life Plan Part 3: Time to Take Action

As we are coming to the end of 2020 and look forward to 2021, we are going to offer encore episodes about the importance of and steps in writing a life plan.  2020 certainly didn't turn out like the vision we may have had for it, but we have a lot to look forward to.  This past year has dealt a harsh blow to many plans  we may have had.  Some I know have been able to reboot their plans and move forward with an alternative direction, either changing course entirely or just navigating around the original planned course.  As 2021 approaches, we can look forward to a vaccine for Covid-19 and the return to some of the activities that we have been held back from doing as a result of this pandemic.

This is the perfect time to do what I believe is one of the most important steps to avoiding a life of regret by writing down a life plan, and we will spend the next 3 episodes replaying the 3 episodes that covered this nearly a year ago.  This also gives me time to take a bit of a break to revisit my life plan and make adjustments based on where I am now and this season of life to chart the course of where I want to be.  So don't miss a single episode of this series.  Remember, just listening to teaching and information will get you nowhere unless you act on it, so here we go for part 3 of the series.

Episode 48 we talked about beginning with the end in mind by writing down what legacy you want to leave.  The action step was to write what people you designated would say when they eulogize you or after.

Episode 49 we talked about creating categories in your life plan, or what the book "Living Forward" refers to as life accounts.  This includes areas like Spiritual, Intellectual, Physical, Spouse, Children, Co-worker, etc. and writing a purpose statement for each, a statement of vision for where you want to be for your envisioned future when this category is at its best, a statement of current reality, and if applicable an inspiring quote or scripture.

Today is where we form an action plan, or make specific commitments for each life account that will eventually bridge the gap between our current reality and our envisioned future of where we need to be.  It is important to write you commitments as SMART goals.

• Specific - What exactly are you committing to?  Non-negotiable
• Measurable - Quantify the result
• Actionable - Must start with an action verb such as run, walk, complete, quit…
• Realistic - Must be attainable, but best if it stretches you
• Time-Bound - Must have a time period that you will commit to, such as frequency, how many, …  Goals must have  completed by or due date

Make a list of action items for each one of your life categories, or accounts.

Since a life plan is a living, breathing document, make your specific commitment action items incremental while still stretching yourself.  An example may be:

Physical Life Account:

A goal you may have for 2020 would be to run a 5K by the first day of summer.  You can create a specific commitment to go out and walk/run 4 days a week for 30 minutes.  That may mean you just walk four doors down the street in the first 2 weeks, 1/2 block after 4 weeks, incrementally increasing until 45 minutes isn't enough, so increase your commitment to 45 minutes, then 60 minutes.

Specific Commitment:  Action commitment to do something to get you from your current reality and your envisioned future.

Goals: dictionary.com defines a goal as: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end. Goals will need to be written in the SMART format as well, with the time bound being a specific date to accomplish it.  We will talk more about goals in next week in episode 13.

Action Item: Write specific commitments, action statements for each of the life categories or accounts