Life Plan Workbook - Mind Tools · Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SE, ... Life Plan Workbook | Mind Tools iii 1. Introduction 1 2. ... Look at the things that make you happy,

Life Plan Workbook

This e-book is published by:

Mind Tools Ltd, 3rd Floor, The News Building, London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SE, United Kingdom.

Copyright © Mind Tools Ltd 2011-2016. All rights reserved.

“Mind Tools” is a registered trademark (US 4,566,696, EU 012473377) of Mind Tools Ltd.

Version 7.2.

This publication is protected by international copyright law. You may use it if you have downloaded it directly from MindTools.com, or if you have been provided with it under corporate license.

Please contact [email protected] if you’ve received this from any other source.

Cover image © iStockphoto/wolczyk.

Life Plan Workbook

mailto:copyright%40mindtools.com?subject=

iiiLife Plan Workbook | Mind Tools

1. Introduction 1

2. Exploring You 2

3. Exploring Your Dreams 15

4. The Choices That Define Your Life 21

5. Creating Powerful Goals 29

6. Organizing for Success 37

7. Moving On... 42

Contents

ivLife Plan Workbook | Mind Tools

Mind Tools Life Plan Workbook 2016Introduced by Mind Tools CEO James Manktelow

Dreams – we all have them! Things we’d love to do, places we’d like to go, people we want to meet, experiences we really want to have.

Unfortunately, for many people, these dreams remain unfulfilled.

Sometimes, this is because their circumstances make it impossible for them to live the life they want. More often, they simply don’t organize themselves to turn their dreams into reality. They then “wake up,” to find that life has passed them by.

You can make sure that this doesn’t happen to you by using this workbook, which brings

together almost 20 years of Mind Tools’ experience in helping people with goal-setting training.

Enjoy using the 2016 edition of the Life Plan Workbook!

James ManktelowCEOMindTools.com

Mind Tools – Essential skills for an excellent career!

vLife Plan Workbook | Mind Tools

Here’s a summary of the key learning points covered in this workbook.

Creating a Life Plan is about organizing yourself and turning your dreams into reality.

By taking time to focus on yourself, you can work out what you want from your life, set your goals, and make working toward them a part of your everyday routine.

Explore yourself by considering your key values, your needs, and your sense of meaning.

Explore your dreams by writing down everything you want to do and be, everywhere you want to go, and everything you want to have.

Make the choices that drive your life by focusing on the dreams that mean most to you, and checking that achieving them will give you the results you want.

Create powerful goals by transforming your dreams into inspiring visions, and turning them into motivational milestone goals.

Organize yourself for success by creating a Project Catalog. List your goals, and break them down into small and achievable tasks. Use this to record and manage everything you do, as you get closer to realizing your dreams.

Life Plan Workbook – An Executive Summary

1Life Plan Workbook | Mind Tools

1. Introduction

It’s often said that people spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning their life and career.

This is a real tragedy, and it results in people reaching a certain age, reflecting on where they are, and wondering why their life seems so unsatisfying. It can

also mean that they reach their retirement thinking about the things that they would have liked to have done, and the opportunities that they’ve missed.

The good news is that this needn’t be you!

With a little forethought and preparation, you can map out an exciting future. And then – with hard work, application and a little good luck – you can live a life that’s rich, full, stimulating, and worthwhile.

The next piece of good news is that the framework you need to do this is now in front of you. Just set aside a few hours – no more than you’d take to plan that vacation – to work through it.

Start off by “Exploring You,” your values and the things that give you a sense of meaning in life. Identify the activities that you find satisfying and the situations where you’ve been really happy, proud and fulfilled. You can also weigh up your needs, and think about how these may change in the future.

Then, it’s time to “Explore Your Dreams.” Brainstorm everything that you might want to do, be or have, in all areas of your life – even in your wildest dreams.

Use the “Make the Right Choices” module to narrow these many dreams down to a core list that you’d really like to experience. After all, if you try to make all of your dreams a reality, you’ll likely achieve none of them.

You can then turn your dreams into rich, inspiring visions of the future in the“Create Powerful goals” module. Set goals that will motivate you to work toward achieving them.

Finally, in “Organize for Success,” plan how to reach your goals, and learn how to make achieving them an everyday part of your life.

You’ll be amazed by how much sharper your focus will become once you’ve completed these exercises. What’s more, you’ll have started your journey toward a happy and fulfilling life!

It will take only a few hours to do all of this. So let’s get to work!

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French writer.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

– Eleanor Roosevelt, American first lady.


2. Exploring You

Your first step is to explore yourself – this is essential if you want to live your life in a way that is wholly consistent with who you are and who you want to be.

It’s not always easy to identify the things that are most important to you, or the things that make you happiest and most fulfilled. However, it’s worth making

an effort to do this, so that you can choose a life that will bring you lasting happiness.

This gives you a starting point for brainstorming the paths you could take. It also gives you something that you can check against as you choose between your dreams, to ensure that these really will bring you the happiness you want.

To start this process, we’ll look at the times when you’ve been at your happiest; at the times when you’ve been proudest of the things that you’ve done; and at the times when you’ve been most fulfilled.

We’ll move on to look at your values, so you can choose paths that are consistent and properly aligned with the values that are important to you.

And, finally in this module, we’ll look at your needs, so you can identify any that are not being met.

This module will take a little over an hour to complete. Enjoy this – you’ll know a lot more about yourself once you’ve completed it!

2.1. Understanding Yourself at Your Best

What Makes You Happy? Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do, are in harmony.

– Mohandas Gandhi, Indian leader.

Tip:First, you need to understand what makes you feel happy, and what gives you a sense of meaning.

Action:On the following pages, identify up to five situations, in different parts of your life and your career, in which you’ve been particularly happy.

For each situation, identify some of the factors that made it so good.

Happiness Situation:

Contributing Factors:

1.

2.

3.

4.



1.

2.

3.

4.



1.

2.

3.

4.




1.

2.

3.

4.



1.

2.

3.

4.


Tip:You can find out more about the factors that contribute to happiness in our article on the PERMA Model.

Action:Now look through the contributing factors you’ve written down, and identify the five that are most important to you.

Write these in the “Things That Make Me Happy” table on page 12.

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/perma.php

Pride Situation:


1.

2.

3.

4.

Pride Situation:


1.

2.

3.

4.


What Makes You Proud?

Now, we’ll look at situations where you’ve felt particularly proud of something that you’ve done.

Action:Again, identify up to five situations where you’ve felt proud (including in your career), and write down the factors that contributed to this feeling.

Pride Situation:


1.

2.

3.

4.

Pride Situation:


1.

2.

3.

4.

Pride Situation:


1.

2.

3.

4.


Fulfillment Situation:


1.

2.

3.

4.



1.

2.

3.

4.


What Gives You a Sense of Fulfillment?

We’ll repeat this exercise for the last time now, and look at situations where you’ve felt a real sense of fulfillment.

Action:Now look through the factors you’ve written down, and identify the five that are most important to you.

Add these to the “Things That Make Me Proud” table on page 13.

Action:Again, identify up to five situations where you’ve felt particularly fulfilled, and write down the factors that underpinned this feeling, below.



1.

2.

3.

4.



1.

2.

3.

4.



1.

2.

3.

4.



The next thing to do is to identify your core values. These are the things that you believe are important in the way that you live and work.

If your actions and behaviors go against your values, you’ll likely be uncomfortable and unhappy with what you’re doing. By contrast, if you’re working in a way that’s aligned with them, you’ll likely be happy and satisfied.

What’s interesting is that different people can have quite different values. This is one reason why one person’s dreams and life choices can be so radically different from another’s.

It’s also why it’s so important that you chase your own dreams, and not those of other people (such as your parents or partner) – even if they just want the best for you.

Let’s discover what your core values are.

Action:Now look through the factors you’ve written down, and identify the five that are most important to you. Add these to the “Things That Make Me Fulfilled” table on page 13.

Action:Look at the things that make you happy, proud and fulfilled on pages 12 and 13, and think about any values that emerge from them.

Then, use the list in Figure 1 on page 10 to identify your most important values.

Finally, write the five values that are most important to you in the table on page 13.

2.2. Exploring Your Values

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.

– Roy E. Disney, American businessman.

Note:Your values are the things that you hold to be important about the way you work, and the way you live your life.

Have you heard the tale of the old Cherokee, teaching his grandson about good and bad?


Figure 1: Common Personal ValuesNote: If a value that is important to you is missing from this list, write it on the next page.

AccountabilityAccuracyAchievement Adventurousness Altruism Ambition Assertiveness Balance Being the best Belonging Boldness Calmness Carefulness Challenge Cheerfulness Clear-mindedness Commitment CommunityCompassion CompetitivenessConsistency Contentment Continuous improvementContribution Control Cooperation Correctness Courtesy Creativity Curiosity Decisiveness DemocraticDependability Determination Diligence Discipline

Discretion Diversity Dynamism Economy Effectiveness Efficiency Elegance Empathy Enjoyment Enthusiasm EqualityExcellence Excitement Expertise Exploration Expressiveness Fairness Faith Family-orientationFidelity Fitness Fluency Focus Freedom Fun Generosity GoodnessGrace Growth Happiness Hard workHealthHelping society Honesty HonorHumility Independence

Ingenuity Inner harmonyInquisitiveness Insightfulness Intelligence Intellectual statusIntuition IrreverenceJoy Justice LeadershipLegacy Love Loyalty Making a difference Mastery MeritObedience Openness Order Originality Patriotism Perfection Persistence Philanthropy PositivityPracticality Preparedness Professionalism Prudence Quality-orientationReliability Resourcefulness Restraint Results-orientationRigor Security

Self-actualizationSelf-control Selflessness Self-reliance Sensitivity Serenity Service Shrewdness Simplicity Soundness Speed Spontaneity Stability StrategicStrength Structure SuccessSupport Teamwork Temperance Thankfulness Thoroughness Thoughtfulness Timeliness ToleranceTraditionalism Trustworthiness Truth-seeking Understanding Uniqueness Unity Usefulness Vision Vitality

He told the boy that everybody has two wolves fighting inside them. One wolf is good, loving, humble, benevolent, and honest. The other is greedy, envious, selfish, and arrogant. The little boy looked at the old man intently and asked, “Which wolf wins?” The grandfather replied, “The one you feed – that one will surely win.”

Our values determine which wolf we feed.

Other Values (Optional)

1. 3.

2. 4.


2.3. Understanding Your NeedsJust as your values will likely be subtly different from those of other people, so are your needs. (Here, we’re defining a need as something that’s essential to your sense of wellbeing, and that motivates you to take action to meet it.)

From a “big picture” perspective, people’s needs are similar. You may be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (see the diagram, right). This says that people address their needs in a fixed order: they start with basic physiological needs, and then move on to security, a feeling of belonging, a need for self-esteem, and, finally, a need for “self-actualization” (this is the need to be “everything that you can be”).

While this isn’t perfect as an idea, it gives a useful starting point for thinking about needs. (You can learn more about Maslow’s Hierarchy here.)

As part of this process, we’ll assume that you’ve met all the relevant needs on levels one and two – in other words, you have enough to eat, you have shelter, you’re reasonably healthy, and you feel reasonably secure.

But are your needs being met on levels three, four and five?

Note:Meeting your needs is essential to your sense of wellbeing.

Action:Look at the list in Figure 2 on the next page, and identify the needs that are most important to you, whether you’ve already met them or not. (Take care not to underestimate the importance of needs that you’ve already fulfilled: you’ll want to make sure that you meet these in the future, too!)

Then identify your top five needs, and write them in the box on page 14.

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newLDR_92.php

Things That Make Me HAPPY:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


Figure 2: Common NeedsNote: If a need that is important to you is missing, you can still write it down.

Accomplishment Acceptance Adventure Authority Balance Belonging Clarity CompetenceConnection Control Discipline DutyFairness Freedom

FriendsFun HonestyHumor Influence Justice Knowledge Love Mastery Morality OpportunityOrder Peace Participation

Pleasure Power Quiet Recognition Respect Responsibility Safety SecuritySelf-esteemServiceSignificanceSpirituality Trust Variety

2.4. Drawing This TogetherWell done for reaching this stage! From what you have already written below, you’ll now understand what makes you happy, proud and fulfilled.

You’ll also understand the values that you want to bring to your life and work, as well as the personal needs that you must meet to experience wellbeing.

This is important, as these are good starting points for thinking about your dreams. They also help you to make choices and plan your goals in a way that brings you success, happiness and fulfillment.

Exploring You: Summary

Things That Make Me PROUD:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Things That Make Me FULFILLED:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

My Most Important VALUES:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


My Most Important NEEDS:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.



3. Exploring Your Dreams!

Now that you’ve explored what makes you happy, proud and fulfilled, and identified your needs and values, it’s time to have fun and explore your dreams!

Recall all of the thoughts you’ve had about how the future might be – different dreams at different times, looking toward different, perfect futures. Now it’s time to bring them all together, and to dream some more!

On the worksheet on the following pages, write down:

• The things you’d like to do in the future, whether these are sports you’d like to try out, projects you’d like to carry out in your career, qualifications you’d like to gain, or activities that help other people.

• The things you’d like to be, whether this is CEO of your company, an intrepid traveler, a great parent, or a dynamic community leader.

• The places you’d like to go. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to go to Sydney, Paris, Marrakesh, or Seattle? Perhaps you want to swim with sharks over the Great Barrier Reef, or visit Petra or Angkor Wat? Or perhaps there’s a particular retreat that you’d dearly love to go on?

• The things you’d like to have. Maybe there’s a certain car you hanker after, an expensive computer or tablet you’d like, or an apartment by the sea? Write them all down!

Let your mind run riot, and try to come up with 100 dreams! The aim here is to list everything you’ve ever wanted to do, have or be, and everywhere you’ve ever wanted to go. And don’t constrain yourself – make sure that you think big!

Tip:Don’t put any constraint on the size or quantity of your dreams!

Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet.

If you get stuck, or fixated on a particular type of dream, make sure that you explore dreams in all of the categories below. (We’ll also use these later, but see page 22 if you need more information on what these are.)

• Artistic pursuits.• Career.• Education and self-development.• Relationships.• Finances.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.


People need dreams. There’s as much nourishment in them as food.

– Dorothy Gilman, American novelist.

Action:List your dreams below – let your imagination run free! Try to list 100 possible dreams, large and small. If you can’t reach 100, that’s fine, but at least try! (It’s fine to come back to this list several times, if this helps.)

• Health and fitness.• Passionate pursuits.• Possessions.• Public service.• Spirituality.

This helps you identify dreams in all areas of your life, not just a few.

Also, remember the reflection exercises you completed in the last module, and think about what sort of situations, positions or things might help you meet your needs, live your values, and make you feel happy, proud and fulfilled.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.


36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.


59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

74.

75.

76.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.


82.

83.

84.

85.

86.

87.

88.

89.

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

100.


If you’ve filled up all of the space above and you still haven’t finished writing down your dreams, just print off a few more pages and keep on writing!


4. The Choices That Define Your Life

In the last module, you identified all of your dreams. You now need to focus on the most important of them. If you spread your efforts too thinly, you’ll most likely achieve nothing at all, just as the hunter in the quote above will go home empty handed. It takes energy and focused effort to achieve your dreams!

It’s also worth remembering that many dreams have a competitive element – if someone else achieves them, he or she can crowd you out and prevent you from reaching them too. After all, only one person gets that promotion; there’s usually only one gold medal winner in each event; there’s a limited supply of seafront apartments in prime locations; and only a few people can be recognized as world experts in their field.

What this means is that, if you want to achieve big dreams, you have to be extremely focused. And the bigger the dream, the more focused you have to be!

In this module, we’ll help you narrow your dreams down step by step, so that you can identify the very best ones to pursue. Once you’ve done this, you can convert these dreams into powerful, compelling goals: ones that will power you toward achieving your dreams.

4.1. Narrowing Down Your DreamsTo narrow down your dreams, you’ll do the following:

1. “C-list” the dreams you don’t really care about.2. Identify your top dreams in each area of your life.3. Choose from these to create a final “A list.”

The hunter who chases two rabbits catches none.

– Unknown.

Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination.

– Diane Sawyer, American broadcaster.

"C-Listing" the Dreams You Don't Really Care About


Identifying Top Dreams in Different Areas of Your Life

Often, people think about dreams and set goals in only one or two areas of their lives – typically in their careers and in sport, but rarely elsewhere.

This can leave them as high achievers in these areas, but with a stunted, constrained and often unhappy life elsewhere. We all know about the fabulously successful businessman who missed seeing his children growing up, or the person who has amassed a great deal of money but whose health fails before she can enjoy it. This is why we suggest that you explore dreams in all areas of your life. For example:

• Artistic pursuits – dreams about creativity, for its own sake or for fame or reward.

• Career – dreams of how you want your career and work life to develop.• Education and self-development – dreams about acquiring knowledge,

qualifications and expertise, and how you’d like to grow in the future.• Relationships – dreams of a happy family, and of being a great parent to

happy children.• Finances – dreams of acquiring deserved wealth, of enjoying special

experiences during your working life, and of having a happy, secure and enjoyable retirement.

• Health and fitness – dreams of physical or athletic achievement, and of good health.

• Passionate pursuits – things that would be fun and enjoyable to do, such as activities that you want to enjoy, places you want to go, or interesting experiences you want to have.

• Possessions – things that you’d like to own and enjoy.• Public service – dreams of things you’d like to do to make the world a

better place for people. • Spirituality – dreams of how you want to develop your mind or soul, or

your relationship with a supreme being or beings.

Tip:Don’t worry too much about C-listing a dream – once you’ve achieved your most desired dreams, you can always return to the ones that you didn’t choose first time round.

Action:The first step is really simple – go through your list of dreams, and mark the weaker ones with a “C.” This shows that these are less important, and that you won’t focus on them in the short term.

It will be obvious which dreams you should C-list when you compare them with the strongest ones – they’ll lack substance, and they’ll seem pale and insignificant. They may also have little connection with the things that make you feel happiest, proudest and most fulfilled, or with the values and needs that you identified in module two. C-list as many dreams as you sensibly can.

Life Area Dreams

Artistic Pursuits

1.

2.

3.

Career

1.

2.

3.


Note:If you’re unsure about what areas you should focus on to achieve the right balance in your life, use our interactive Wheel of Life® tool. This can help you to identify areas that need more attention.

Action:For each of these life areas, fill in the boxes below to identify the dreams that matter most to you. If there’s a life area important to you that’s missing, just add it in.

To do this, go through your list of dreams (skipping the C-listed ones) and pull out the ones that you are most passionate about. Aim to have no more than 10 dreams in total. (Don’t worry too much if you can’t do this – you’ll learn about a great technique for making difficult choices on page 26.)

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newHTE_93.php

Education and Self-Development

1.

2.

3.

Relationships

1.

2.

3.

Finances

1.

2.

3.

Health and Fitness

1.

2.

3.

Passionate Pursuits

1.

2.

3.


Possessions

1.

2.

3.

Public Service

1.

2.

3.

Spirituality

1.

2.

3.

Other

1.

2.

3.


Cutting Dreams Down to Your Final "A-List"

You should now have a reasonably short list of attractive, important dreams in different areas of your life. Some of these may be quite large (“Set up my own business”) while some may be quite small (“Visit Rome”).

How many you should end up with really depends on their size, how much you want to realize them, and how much capacity you have to achieve them. For instance:

• If one dream is of huge importance to you, then maybe there’s only room in your life for it, and a few small ones in other areas. If you try to achieve


more than one very big dream, then you risk splitting your effort and failing to achieve anything significant.

• If dreams are smaller and easier, then you can reach them comfortably. Only you can decide how many paths you want to follow.

• If you have many demands on your time (for example, if you’re a busy parent), scale back on the number of dreams that you try to achieve – otherwise you risk “spreading yourself too thinly” in all areas of your life.

You may be able to choose an appropriate number and mix of dreams right away. If so, go straight to section 4.2.

If not, you can use a technique called Decision Matrix Analysis to choose between them. This is a great tool to use when you need to decide on an option, taking many different factors into account. You can find out how to use Decision Matrix Analysis in this article.

4.2. Writing Your A-ListOnce you’ve selected the dreams that you want to achieve, think about how these fit with one another, and with the shape of your life.

As we highlighted above, if you’ve chosen a really big dream to work on, then there may only be room for a few small ones to add some variety to your life.

Tip 1:An important step in Decision Matrix Analysis is to choose your decision criteria. To do this, look at the “Exploring You: Summary” on pages 12 to 14 in the second module of this workbook. This shows your key happiness, pride and fulfillment factors; your top values; and your most important needs. Some of these will likely make great decision-making criteria.

Tip 2:If you’re not happy after you’ve made an initial decision, sense-check the criteria you’ve used and the importance you allocated to them. Then, look back through the worksheets you’ve completed so far to see if you’ve missed out something important.

Action:Write your final list of dreams down on the next page. (You don’t need to fill the whole sheet!)

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newTED_03.php

My Top Dreams

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.



4.3. Checking Your Dream List

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we make.”

– Dr Wayne Dyer, American author.

When you’re choosing your dreams, the last thing to do is to make sure that achieving them is going to give you the great results you want.

After all, many things that seem exciting and glamorous when you first look at them can be much less attractive when you’ve achieved them. (This is why people say, “Be careful what you wish for!”)

The check is simple: review your chosen dreams against the lists you drew up in the “Exploring You: Summary” tables on pages 12 to 14 of this workbook. Make sure that they give you these things. If they don’t, are these the dreams that you should be chasing?

Remember that it’s much better to scrap a dream now (with only a few minutes invested in it), than it is to work for years to make it a reality, only to find that you’re not enjoying what you’ve worked to achieve!

Also make sure that you’re not trying to do too much: there are only so many hours in a day, and you may have to earn a living at the same time that you’re pursuing your dreams.


5. Creating Powerful Goals

Note:It’s important to be organized about your dreams. Otherwise they’ll simply remain as dreams.

5.1. Why Set Goals?Goals are targets that you set, and that you work to achieve. They are the milestones along the route to realizing your dreams.

“Goal setting” is the process of defining your goals, and it’s an approach that the world’s most successful people use routinely – whether they’re businesspeople, athletes or performers in other areas – to propel themselves to success. Many studies have shown that one of the strongest and most reliable predictors of achievement is whether people know about goal setting and use it to guide their work.

When you set goals, you can:

• Focus your attention and effort on activities that help you achieve your dreams.

• Manage your progress toward your dreams, so that you can achieve them as quickly and easily as possible.

• Motivate and energize yourself to achieve these dreams.• Distinguish between activities that help you achieve your dreams and

distractions that are keeping you from realizing them.• Justify the time you spend learning skills and strategies you need for success.• Encourage yourself to persist in the face of adversity.

In the last module, you identified the dreams that you want to achieve. So, how are you going to turn them into reality?

The answer is that you need to make them into compelling goals that you want to achieve, and then organize yourself so that working toward them is a central

part of your life.

Being intentional about this is so important! If you don’t come up with a plan, your dreams will stay precisely as… dreams. It’s when your organize yourself, and work step-by-step toward them, that you’ll make them real.

In this module, we’ll look at how to turn your dreams into strong and compelling personal goals. Then, in the next module, we’ll show you how to organize yourself to achieve them.


5.2. Setting Powerful GoalsLet’s take your A-list dreams, and convert them into goals. This turns them from vague aspirations into hard, precise, motivating targets that you want to achieve.

To do this, you need to:

• Put the dream into positive, emotionally intense language.• Express it clearly and unambiguously. (Don’t say “do my best,” and don’t

leave any “wriggle room!”)• Make it measurable, so you know whether you’ve achieved it or not. • Make it achievable, but only just. It’s been shown time after time that people

with difficult but achievable goals do much better than those with easy goals.• Set a clear date by which you’ll achieve the goal.• Express it in the present tense. This makes it so much more powerful!

Tip 1:You can remember many of these points by using the mnemonic SMART when you set goals. This stands for:

• Specific – in other words, clear and unambiguous.• Measurable.• Achievable.• Relevant (which it will be if it’s one of your dreams).• Time bound.

(Remember to keep your goals positive, and emotionally intense too!)

Tip 2:If you’ve only just set the goal, you may not know enough about it to set a credible completion date. If so, make one of your first goal-related activities a research action – to find out the steps and amount of time you’ll need to take to complete it.

Also, don’t worry if your goals seem vast, or have far-away completion dates – we’ll look at how you can organize yourself to achieve them in the next module.

Tip 3:Once you’ve set your goals, use techniques like Visualization and Treasure Mapping to make them more real, and to build your commitment to them.

Note:When you convert your dreams into goals, you turn vague aspirations into precise, motivating targets.


http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newCT_94.php

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newCT_94.php

My Dream:

My Goal:

My Dream:

My Goal:

My Dream:

My Goal:


Example

Imagine that one of your dreams is to walk the Inca Trail in Peru.

Your goal might be expressed as: “It is May 31, 2018. I have just walked the Inca Trail in Peru. I have climbed steep and precipitous paths, seen the long views from the top of the Andes, walked through beautiful cloud forests, and have stood at the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu, looking down on the ancient ruins.”

5.3. Setting Your GoalsNow, do this yourself below, by converting the dreams you’ve chosen into powerful, emotionally intense goals. Remember to make sure that each one is a “SMART” goal!

My Dream:

My Goal:

My Dream:

My Goal:

My Dream:

My Goal:


5.4. Identifying "Milestones" and First StepsIt may be obvious how you’re going to achieve some of your goals. Others may seem huge and intimidating, or may have so many unknowns within them that it’s hard to plan how to achieve them.

Very large goals may involve completing huge, complicated tasks. Achieving them may be so far in the future that they have little immediate motivational value.

Complex goals may need a lot of work before you can identify the full scope of what you need to achieve.


This is where you need to start thinking about milestone goals and first-step goals.

Milestone goals are much like the milestones beside the road on a long journey. It’s much easier to motivate yourself to reach the next one than it is to persuade yourself to complete the whole journey in one go. It often makes sense to plan only the next step of the journey in detail.

If you have a particularly large goal, break it down into a series of smaller milestones, which you can aim for one after another. And, if necessary, break the first milestone down further, until each task is achievable in a short period of time. Just make sure that each task is powerful and motivating! (See section 5.2.)

Make sure that, for each major goal, you have a small, clearly written and powerful first-step goal, that will take no more than two to three hours to complete.

When you’ve set a new, large goal, and you’re not sure what you need to do to achieve it, a good first-step goal is to research the subject in more detail, or to plan how you’ll do this research.

Tip:Make sure that you have a first-step goal for each of your major goals. This is the first action that you need to take.

Action:On the next pages, break three of your large goals down into milestone goals. Then, define a short, first-step goal for each of these projects.

My Major Goal:

My Milestone Goals:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

My First-Step Goal:


My Major Goal:

My Milestone Goals:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

My First-Step Goal:


My Major Goal:

My Milestone Goals:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

My First-Step Goal:



6. Organizing for Success

6.1. What is an Action Program, and Why Use it?You’re probably aware of the idea of To-Do Lists. These are great for managing small numbers of tasks. But the problem with them is that, for the majority of us, a things-to-do list is not really a planned, focused action list.

Specific entries, such as “Write report,” exist along with vague aspirations, such as “New product launch.” Often, the real detail of what you actually have to do is missing.

Action Programs take over when your To-Do Lists get overwhelmed. They help you keep individual actions small, while still bringing together all of your goals and the other projects you are working on. They also help you stay on top of both daily jobs and long-term objectives.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

– Jim Rohn, American businessman.

By this stage you should have converted your dreams into powerful, attractive goals. And, where these goals are particularly large, you should have created milestone goals and first-step goals to get you on your way.

If you have done this, well done! You should already feel your motivation levels increasing!

But, how are you going to find time to work on even these first-step goals if your calendar is already full?

The answer is to create an integrated organizational system that will embrace both your goal-related activity and your everyday life.

Why? Because unless you make achieving your goals a normal, routine part of the way you work, you risk forgetting them, and getting overwhelmed by trivial, day-to-day activities.

This is where it’s useful to organize your time using an Action Program.




6.2. Creating Your Action ProgramAn Action Program is really just a two-part To-Do List. The two parts are:

1. A “Project Catalog” (there’s more on what we mean by “project” on the next page).

2. A “Next Actions List.”

Your Project Catalog

For the purposes of the Project Catalog, there are three things that count as “projects” here:

1. Your goals: from this point on, your goals are projects, and they need to be managed as such – professionally, and within a suitable organizational framework.

2. Traditional projects: this list will also include conventional projects as most people understand the term – pieces of work that have defined beginnings and ends. These can be projects that you’re managing at work, such as “design and document new induction process,” or they can be projects in your personal life, such as “replace kitchen.”

3. Regular responsibilities: crucially, your Project Catalog should also include all of the ongoing areas of responsibility that make up your job. For example, if you’re an accountant, you might have to prepare the management accounts every month. In a way, that’s a new project each month, but you might not think of it like that because you’re repeating an established process each time. If you’re a manager, activities like “quarterly performance appraisals with your team” would also go into your Project Catalog.

Now that you’re clear about the concepts, start creating your Action Program by opening up two blank spreadsheets or word processor documents on your computer. (Choose the approach you’re happiest with.) Label the first sheet “Next Actions” and the second “Project Catalog.” Then follow these steps:

Step 1Enter each of your major goals as a line on the Project Catalog, along with a project number that you can refer to. We recommend that you number them 10, 20, 30, and so on – that way you can insert a project into the list later (as, say, project 23) and find it quickly.

Step 2Where you’ve broken major goals down into milestone goals and first-step goals, open up a space under the goal in the Project Catalog and copy these in, in the order you want to complete them.

Step 3For other goals and projects, brainstorm and list the steps you need to take to complete them. For small projects and goals, this may be a simple list of short,

Project/Action number Item

10 Walk the Inca Trail – “By December 31, 2018, I will have walked…”

10.1 Buy guidebook to Peru.

10.2 Search Web for information.

10.3 Research travel companies.

10.4 Work out which inoculations I need, and their timing.

10.5 Choose which tour I want to take.

10.6 Book weeks away from work.

10.7 Book trip.

20 Sail Around The World – “By December 31, 2030, I will have sailed around…”

20.1 Find out how to qualify as a yacht skipper.

20.2 …


one- to two-hour tasks. For larger ones, this may be a list of major milestones, with only the first milestone broken down into small tasks. For projects you don’t fully understand, you may need to set just one first-step goal: to plan how you’ll learn everything you need to know.

To see what we mean, have a look at the example Project Catalog below. This shows entries for the following goals:

• By May 31, 2018, I will have walked the Inca Trail in Peru. I will have climbed steep and precipitous paths, seen the long views from the top of the Andes, walked through beautiful cloud forests, and explored ancient Inca cities.

• By December 31, 2030, I will have sailed around the world. I will have spent two years sailing from port to port in my own 50-foot yacht, enjoying each place that I’ve stopped at, and learning about the people I meet.

Example Project Catalog

Once you’ve set up your goals as projects in the Project Catalog, add in all of the other “projects” you’re working on in your professional and personal life. (This can take some time!)

This then gives you a master list of everything that you want and need to do.


Note:It can take a while to set up a Project Catalog, especially when you’re filling out the “regular responsibilities” section. But it’s worth spending time on this, as these things may not change often. Once you’ve got them down for the first time, you may be using these entries to organize yourself for years to come.

Your Next Actions List

The “magic” of the Action Program approach comes from the next step, which is to create your Next Actions List. This is essentially a one-page To-Do List, containing all of the small one- to three-hour tasks that you’re going to do in the next week to progress your projects, whether they relate to your goals or to other activities that you need to complete.

To compile your Next Actions List, scan the projects in your Project Catalog, identify the ones that you want to work on, and add the next actions for these into the Next Actions List. Just make sure that your goals are always among the projects you’re progressing!

If you want to make your Next Actions List even more powerful, you can add a “Complete By” column, and put dates in. If you’re using a spreadsheet for your Action Program, you can then set the conditional formatting function so that these dates show in red if they’re overdue.

Action:Now, set aside a couple of hours to create your plan for bringing your goals to life – your Action Program!

"Working" Your Action Program

Your Action Program is now your organizational control center, which you can use to record and manage everything that you do.

To work it, simply complete the short one- to three-hour tasks on your Next Actions List. When you’ve completed these tasks, go back to the Project Catalog and bring forward the next group of small tasks that you want to complete onto the Next Actions List.

Providing that you’re bringing forward goal-related actions each time, you’ll soon find yourself making progress toward your dreams!

It does take a bit of self-discipline to keep working your system, but realizing your dreams is now much simpler. What’s more, day by day, you’re moving closer to your life goals.

Enjoy achieving your dreams!

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/self-discipline.php


Note:Now that you’ve read this module, you may realize that you’ve been using an action plan intuitively. But, by creating a written Action Program, you’ll ensure that you don’t forget anything, and that you prioritize your next actions effectively. We strongly recommend that you use an Action Program to achieve your newly formed goals!


7. Moving On...

I hope you’ve enjoyed using this workbook!

You now have a plan in place for achieving your goals, in 2016 and beyond. Enjoy the journey, and have a great time realizing your dreams!

Also remember that you can get help and support with your goals from Mind Tools coaches and other members of the Mind Tools Club in our Goal Coaching forum.

We’ve put a great deal of effort into developing this and our other materials. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve them for the future, please let us know at [email protected].

James ManktelowCEOMindTools.com

Mind Tools – Essential skills for an excellent career!

http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=11

mailto:customer.helpdesk%40mindtools.com?subject=

Documents

Life Plan Workbook - Mind Tools · Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SE, ... Life Plan Workbook | Mind Tools iii 1. Introduction 1 2. ... Look at the things that make you happy,