The Value of a Life Plan

Four years ago I sat down and created a LifePlan. This Life Plan helped me map out areas of my life that needed structure, goals, vision, and action. I found myself in a place where I was aiming at multiple targets and not concentrating on any of them very well. The Life Plan process was simple. I went to a secluded place where any distractions would be void(Oregon Coast on a cliff overlooking the Pacific), turned off my cell phone and began to write. I focused on 7 areas (or accounts) in my life: health, career/church, marriage and family, personal life fulfillment, spiritual life, self development/replenishing, and lifestyle. Over the years this has transformed into a plan that includes 100 dreams, a purpose statement, roles that I desire to lead and live, and a place to keep me accountable to my life plan. This was a great launching point for me to challenge myself through scripture and strategies to live a life that God has designed for me. If you are in a place where you feel like you are in a rut, feeling unmotivated, are not being challenged or accountable to anyone or anything, or are flat out unhappy, I challenge you to find key areas in your life to focus on. Develop a life plan. Build a strategy that will give you a place where you are comfortable with who God made you to be. This is a great tool and I have found it to be rewarding and beneficial as I live out a life of leadership. I trust it can be useful to you too.

It Starts Now

Every once in a while I find myself in a place of inspiration. After clearing my head of all the daily distractions of news, interruptions, and life I sometimes find a quiet place to reflect. Have you ever refelcted light off of a mirror? Have you ever seen an object illuminated by light that is traveling ahead of the object? Reflection can mean looking back, I think reflection is about looking forward too.
As I enter this new year we'll call '09, I find myself setting new patterns, goals, and monumental life challenges. Everything I want to do this year starts with a pattern and life plan I set now. In the first few days of this year my life has already changed. My alarm is now set earlier, my dietary intake is reworked, my reading schedule is intact, my workout schedule is in writing, my quiet time is uninterrupted, and my marriage & family life are priority. Set some goals, get your life in order, clear out the old (books, files, clothes, whatever it is needing cleared out, the thought of 2008, etc...) The New Year is a great place to start afresh. If you want to get in a new routine, start today. Don't wait until tomorrow, because that will bring its own interruptions too. Block the time so you can make this a legitmate plan. It begins today, it starts now. Reflect forward, not backwards.