Essentials of Successful Life - Have a Crystal Clear Plan

“When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.”

In order to carry out you calling successfully, you need to manage your life well. Life does not just happen. You have to plan your life, organise your life, lead yourself and have monitoring and control measures. I will say a bit on planning.

Have a clear plan for your life. Remember your purpose must be balanced. A good balance includes spiritual, family, mental, physical, career, social and fun. Know what you are going to do, know how you are going to do it and where you are going to do it.

The two common characters of ‘super-achievers’ are; 1) relentless commitment to constant learning and 2) have detailed clear goals, with a plan of action on how to achieve them. No matter how much passion you have, if you do not have a clear plan of action you will end up going in circles. After ten years you will find yourself right where you started.

How does one plan his/her life? Here are some critical steps and points:

1. Have a purpose or vision or aim. You can even develop a personal mission statement. We have discussed this already in the article “Essentials of Successful Life – Know Your Purpose.”
2. Assess your current position. Know where you are and the state of your situation.
3. Develop and list the steps or goals that must be taken to reach the vision. Also remember spiritual, family, mental, physical, career, social and fun goals.
4. Setting goals is not about writing a “wish list” in January and stick it on the fridge or wall, and for the rest of the year wait for your life to change. You plan must be crystal clear. Draw a map of exactly how you are going to get there. Put management and control systems necessary to operationalize your plan, to keep you on track, to measure and monitor performance.
5. Identify your resource. What resources; finance, networks, friends, skills, mentors or time does it require? Allocate these to each goal. Most times you have to spend a lot of effort and time developing a skill that will then take you to your final purpose. Go ahead and do it. This is a life purpose, it won’t happen in a day.
6. Do a cost-benefit analysis. As you put up the plan constantly do a cost benefit analysis. Of course choose a route that gives you maximum benefit with minimum effort. But it’s rare to find such a route. Some benefit or efforts are short term others are long term. Identify the risks, things to watch out for and obstacles along the way. Identifying them is not good enough, put in a plan to deal with them. This is called risk management.
7. In the same way list the benefits, rewards and advantages that you will harvest along the way. These are important to motivate you in days when things are not good.

Ensure that your support systems are in plan; the right associates, the right advisers and the right mentors. Your environment matters! In short, create the right environment that supports the achievement of your goals!

‘For which of you, wishing to build a farm building, does not first sit down and calculate the cost [to see] whether he has sufficient means to finish it?’ Luke 14:28

When all is set, it time for action!
Have a great day!
© Copyright 2012 by It’s My Footprint, http://www.itsmyfootprint.com/blog.

About Taka Sande:
Taka Sande is an author, an entrepreneur and development activist who facilitates social, spiritual and economic development. He has a passion for making a difference by influencing and adding value to people’s lives. He is the founder of the blog It’s My Footprint, http://www.itsmyfootprint.com/blog. You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.