Personal Strategic Planning the Easy Way

Do you have a personal strategic plan?

If you’re like most people, you’ve never given this any thought.

Yeah, I know. You write goals each year. But by the middle of the following month you’ve completely abandon them.

You want to achieve them but somehow you always seem to get off track.

It’s not your fault.

Nobody ever showed you how to develop a workable plan to achieve your goals.

Until now…

Answer these five questions and you will have a simple and powerful road map to follow to accomplish your key objectives:

Question 1:  What do I want to stop doing?

Most people think about their goals from a perspective of obtaining something or achieving something.  They don’t think about eliminating behavior that is making them miserable.

Here’s an example from my own life:

When I first started my consulting practice I was going to client locations to do the work.  It didn’t matter if the client was paying me $5,000, $50,000 or $500,000, I’d get on a plane and fly there and meeting with him/her.

That is huge labor intensity with an unbalanced return on the investment of time.

I stopped traveling to my clients.

Skype, telephone and now livestreaming have taken the place of these in person meetings. I made the decision to stop and then I acted upon it.

Question 2: What do I want more of in my life?

You don’t want to be thin. You want better health and fitness.

You don’t want more money. You want the options money provides.

You don’t want more friends. You want the fulfillment of personal intimacy in your relationships.

This the outcome is what is important not the method of getting to the outcome.

Let’s tackle this concept as it pertains to money.

I like money because money provides me with options. When I make more money I expand my universe of options for many things in life – from medical care to free time and enjoyment.

When I look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, none of them is money.  Money can help with some of the foundational needs – like food (physiological) and shelter (safety) but by itself money isn’t a need.

Focus on the end and not the means to the end.

Question 3:  What is preventing me from achieving the results in question 1 and question 2?

The answer to this question requires the most personal reflection.

The reason you have the problem in question 1 is because you haven’t stopped this behavior already.  Why is that?

The reason you want the outcome in question 2 is because you haven’t received it already? Why?

Look deep within yourself and determine the answer to each of these.

Question 4:  Who can help me with these two goals?

There is someone out here on planet Earth who can help you get what you want and stop what you are doing.  Figure out who this person is.

Question 5: What is my first step?

Don’t worry about listing all the steps necessary to achieve your goal.  Only worry about the first one.  Once you take that step, worry about then next one. After you take that step, worry about the third, etc.

The reason you fail to accomplish your goals is because you fall behind on the list of things you have to do and you feel overwhelmed.

Take the first step and worry about then next one after that.

Here is your action item:

Answer each of these questions and then act.  Spend 20 minutes thinking about the answers and go.

Do not wait.

Good things are out here just waiting for you to come and get them.

The first step is up to you.