Create a Life Plan and Life Your Best Life

Consider this as we talk about how to create a life plan: most people spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning their lives. In fact, I believe it’s fair to say that many people don’t give having a life plan even one second of thought.

Most folks are actually wandering aimlessly through their lives, hoping for a bright future, wanting to plan that great vacation, wishing they had a better car or lived in a better part of town, but they don’t have a plan on how to realize those dreams.

Before we talk about how to create a life plan, let’s dig a little further into why you need one.

Why Do You Need to Create a Life Plan?

Create a Life Plan to Prioritize

When you wake up every morning, do you have a list of priorities for the day? Your boss probably has a list for you. Your children might need things from you that day, and your partner might need you to do a few things for him a well.

But what about you? What are your priorities for the day?

When you create a life plan, you know what’s important every day. All you need to do is refer to your plan to know what you should be doing.

Having a Life Plan Helps You Say “No”

Saying “No” is so difficult for many people, and it seems like demands on your time and energy are non-stop. You can’t prioritize anything for yourself because you have no time for yourself. You’re always doing for someone else.

Allow me to suggest this: being unable to say no is often an indicator of insecurity and low confidence. You’re afraid that if you say “No” to someone, they won’t be your friend anymore. They won’t love you anymore.

When you create a life plan, you have your own things that are important to you, and you can prioritize things properly. Maybe it is more important to take your child to the doctor than to take that class on creative writing. That’s okay. Learning to say “No” doesn’t mean you always say “No”. It just means you are able to weigh the request against your own priorities and decide based on that versus fear of losing a friend.

Create a Life Plan for a Better Future

This seems obvious I suppose. When you create a life plan, you’re thinking about your desired future. You envision that new car you want, the neighborhood you’d like to live in, the job you want.

When you have a life plan, you recognize where you are today so you know what steps you need to take to get where you want to be.

Imagine you want to take a trip across the country. What’s the first thing you do? You get a map, right? So you can chart your course. You plan.

Creating a life plan is the same thing. You’re creating a map of your life – you’re charting the course.

Develop a Sense of Balance with a Life Plan

Many people lack a balance between their work life and their personal life. They work far too many hours and spend little time with friends and family, all in an effort to get ahead.

The problem is that if you’re working without a plan, you may as well be playing one of those match-three games on your iPad. The result will be the same. Time wasted on something that got you nowhere.

When you have a life plan, your time is more mindfully allocated to things that are part of your plan. For example, if part of your plan is to develop a wonderful relationship with a loving man, and another part is to advance your career, you can allocate the appropriate amount of time to each because you now understand the value of both things in your life.

A life plan establishes priorities and priorities enable you to allocate your time.

Create a Life Plan to Recognize Where You Are Today

Many people don’t want to create a life plan because they don’t want to take an honest look at their lives as they currently are.

Nobody wants to look at their finances to see that they owe thousands in unpaid bills. Nobody wants to see that they’re fifty pounds overweight or that their career has been stuck in the same place for years.

And yet, in order to get somewhere new, you need to know where you’re starting out.

If we go back to the trip across the country (and ignore tools like Waze and Google Maps for a moment), imagine taking that trip without knowing exactly where you are on the map today. Maybe you started out yesterday and got lost and now you don’t know where you are. How can you chart your course without knowing where you are right now?

You can’t.

Life Plans Eliminate Regret

I think many people have heard of the book written by a nurse who worked with dying people. She asked them what they regretted and many of them said opportunities missed, or things they didn’t do.

You don’t want to be one of those people who reaches their 80’s or 90’s still holding onto a list of things you wish you’d done. Having regrets brings about a sense of disappointment and discouragement. You start wishing you were younger so you could go back and do life differently.

Instead of having those regrets, why not change things now? Even if you’re in your 60’s, it’s not too late to change course and create a plan. Who knows, you could live into your 100’s. That means you’ve got 40 years left!

When You Create a Life Plan, You Have That Roadmap

Now let’s imagine that you want to drive from New York City to Sacramento. In fact, let’s say you want to drive from the Upper West Side of New York City to Sacramento. THAT is something you can map out.

With a life plan, you can look at your life today, maybe as a server in a restaurant for example, and see that in order to own your own restaurant, you need to take some important steps.

You can research what you need to do, be, and have to own a restaurant. You can create a plan to take classes, get a second job to save money, and any other steps that are required.

Perhaps you’ve been in your job since college, maybe six or seven years, and you’ve come to realize that you hate the career path you’ve chosen and wish you’d gone into something else.

A life plan helps you create the map for that new career. What classes do you need to take? What changes in your lifestyle might you need to make to afford making this massive change? Who can help you?

Having a Life Plan Turns Dreams into Reality

We’ve been tapdancing around this throughout the last few paragraphs, but here it is. How many times do you catch yourself sitting at your desk daydreaming of a different job or a better life?

How many times have you wished for something?

Those are dreams and without creating a life plan, that’s all they’ll ever be. With a life plan, those dreams can become a reality! How awesome would it be to work your dream job? How great would it be to drive the car you’ve always wanted? How cool would it be to feel confident and hopeful instead of disappointed?

And Finally, Having a Plan Creates a Realistic Timeline

People often underestimate the amount of time it will take to reach a goal.

I can lose 30 pounds in a month!

Perhaps if you don’t eat anything for a month you can, but otherwise, this is most likely an unrealistic and unhealthy goal.

I want to get a new job by the end of the year. This is a nice goal, unless it’s December 15. Getting a new job can be very challenging for a variety of reasons, but if you’re unrealistic about what’s involved in the process and how long it will take, you’ll become discouraged and disappointed way too soon.

I want to get a nursing degree next year. This is a great goal if you’re already in a nursing program and have just a year to go, otherwise, it’s a little unrealistic as nursing school is not a one-year program.

As you read previously, when you create a plan, you acknowledge where you are right now. The next thing you do is decide where you want to be.

I weigh 200 pounds today. I want to weigh 130 pounds.

Now, we’re getting somewhere! You have a beginning and an end. If it were me, I’d research some healthy weight loss goals. Then, I’d research what things will help me reach that goal – probably a healthier diet with smaller portions, more water, less sugar, and exercise of some sort. I might even look into hiring someone to help me, like a personal trainer.

With all of that in hand, I can now create a timeline to lose seventy pounds in a healthy way.

How to Create a Life Plan

Now that you have some ideas as to why you need to create a life plan, we can look at some ways to go about it.

I have created a template for you to use. You can download it here.

Steps Toward Creating Your Life Plan

Start with Where You Are

The first thing to do in creating a life plan is to acknowledge where you are right now. This doesn’t just mean noting how much is in your savings account or what your weight is.

It also means taking a look at what isn’t working for you right now. Where are your pain points, literally or figuratively? What frustrates you? What do you wish was different?

Setting goals around those things can be easier because you may be more motivated to make those areas of your life feel better.

Take an honest look at the key areas of your life and be real about where you are today. Don’t worry yet about where you want to be. Just focus on where you are.

The first activity in the life plan template will help you get started.

Remember, getting real with where your life is isn’t being negative about yourself. It’s about being honest with yourself. If you struggle with this activity right now, get a journal and write about your daily life. Things will rise to the surface.

Uncover Your Values

This is another thing most people don’t give a lot of thought to, and that’s one reason why their lives feel scattered and confused.

Whether you realize it or not,  your values are your compass, and if your life isn’t following those values, things feel out of sorts.

For example, you may value family, but you spend 16 hours a day at work or working at home, leaving little time for your family. Your life isn’t aligning with your values and you aren’t happy.

To determine your values, look back in your life to when you were happiest. What made that time feel so great? Next, look at the times when you were most proud. What was going on? Your next task is to identify the times when you felt the most fulfilled and satisfied. What was going on? Who was around?

Your values can be found in these moments. If you were happiest when you were working on your creative hobbies, you may value creativity.

The next page in the free life plan template will help you with this step.

Define Your Ideal Future

This life plan is about creating your ideal future, so it’s time to think about what that looks like. The template has boxes to help you brainstorm, and then fill in what you want your life to look like six months, one year, three years, and five years in the future.

It might feel a little foggy at first, but if you brainstorm for a few moments, things will come. Don’t judge your thoughts. Write it all down, regardless of how unattainable it might feel right now. You’re just brainstorming, not signing a contract.

Call Them Goals Now

You’ve written where you want to be in the future and you know where you are now. If you’ve put this step off, it’s time to complete it. I know it can be scary to take an honest look at your life, but if you want to change, you can’t allow fear to get in your way.

Based on what you’ve written down for where you want to be in six months and beyond, pluck out the goals.

For example, if you want to be in a new job in six months, the goal might be to find a new job. If you want to be in a new career in five years, then the goal may include some education or training.

You don’t need a full plan yet, but it is time to determine what goals you can extract from your ideal future.

As with the previous steps, the life plan template will help.

Turn Them Into SMARTR Goals

What you wrote on your goals page is a great start. You probably wrote things like “weigh less”, “change jobs”, and so on. Those are great, but you need more details so you can create a life plan!

SMARTR goals are similar to SMART goals with an added and important kicker.

S stands for specific. Your goal should be very specific so you know exactly what you’re shooting for.

M stands for measurable. Every goal needs to be measurable so you will know when you’re making progress.

A stands for either attainable or achievable. They mean essentially the same thing. You must feel as if you can actually reach this goal. If you earn minimum wage as a server, a goal of saving $1M in three years might not be attainable.

R stands for relevant. Your goal should light you up. It should mean something to you. It should also align with your values. When you think about your goal, you get excited!

T stands for time-bound. You want to achieve your goal in a set amount of time. Again, this is a way to keep track of your progress.

R stands for rewarded. Many people leave this element out of goal-setting, but it can be a real motivator. In upcoming steps, you’ll create your plan and milestones for longer-term goals. Those milestones should have rewards. They motivate you and keep you excited about your goal. Just be sure the reward doesn’t counteract the goal. For example, any reward that requires you to spend a ton of money on a savings goal probably is not a great idea.

In the next worksheet in the life plan template, make each of your goals SMARTR.

Make a Plan

You’re in the homestretch now! You’ve done a TON of work but it’s about to pay off. You have goals and they’re SMARTR goals, so it’s time to make a plan.

How detailed or extended this plan is depends on the goal and your ideal future. This is the step during which you may adjust your timeline for the first time. As you create a plan, it sometimes becomes obvious that some steps need more time to complete.

For example, if you have a goal to move to a new career in which you have no education or expertise, and you originally stated in your ideal future that you wanted that in three years, you may discover that it will take an extra year to achieve the goal.

That’s okay! Goals should be flexible. Things happen and life sometimes takes you by surprise.

I know a college professor who’s had students with all sorts of issues come up. For example, he had a student last summer who had terminal cancer, but she was still working toward her degree.

Another student was due to have a baby during the third week of classes. She was in an online class and powered through.

As you create your plan, make sure to look for obstacles that can derail your timeline. Formulate a way around those obstacles now so you aren’t surprised later. For example, in the case of the student who was having a baby, she reached out to her professors and asked to move assignment and test due dates slightly so she wouldn’t miss anything.

If your goal involves weight loss, you may need to accommodate for holidays where there’s more eating.

If your goal is saving a specific amount of money, be sure to accommodate for emergencies.

Work Backwards From Your Goal

Some science suggests that you plan from the goal backwards. In other words, if you want to change your career from server to nurse, you need to look at it from being a nurse and plan backwards.

That might look something like this:

I am a nurse.

I have passed the state licensing exam for nursing.

I have graduated from nursing school.

I pass my nursing school classes.

I pass the classes I need to get into nursing school.

I have a job in the medical field, like a nursing assistant in a hospital or doctor’s office.

I’ve taken the classes to get a job in the medical field while I work on my nursing degree.

I’ve researched how to get into nursing.

I want to be a nurse.

This is obviously a simplified version of that timeline, but you can see how working from the goal towards where you are today can help you. Research the amount of time you need to complete each step so you can create an accurate timeline.

Boundaries

You might be wondering why we’re having a boundary discussion now. Do you remember at the beginning of the article when I mentioned that having a life plan helps you learn to say “No” to things?

The life plan is just one element of that. The second piece is that you need to set some boundaries.

This may be the most challenging part of your quest to create a life plan, but if you don’t take this step, you may have a few struggles with your life plan. Let’s look at an example.

We’ll imagine that you’re working toward a new career and you need to go back to school, The challenge is that you have young children at home and you need to work also to keep money coming in. This whole college thing is putting a real strain on your already precious time.

Don’t despair. This is still do-able. Think about your plan this way. By taking classes and setting boundaries with your family, you are teaching them to do the same. You’re showing them that hard work brings great rewards, and that people need boundaries.

What boundaries might you need? This, of course, depends on the age of your children. If they’re very young, you may need a babysitter. If they’re older, they will need to understand that when you’re studying, they can’t come up and ask to go to the mall, be dropped off at a friend’s house, and so on.

While you’re saying no to protect your study time, make a compromise with them. I can’t take you to the mall now, but if you let me study for another hour, we can go then.

Boundaries aren’t a way to be mean to people, but to show them how to treat you. Look at your life as it is now. Where do you feel the most frustrated when it comes to other people? When do you wish you could speak up and say what you really want to say? Those are probably places where boundaries can help.

Of course, I’m not going to leave you without a boundaries sheet in the life plan template! Would I do that to you?

Who Will Help You?

In an ideal world, we could do every single thing for ourselves by ourselves, but that’s not realistic. It can be scary to ask for help, but sometimes it’s necessary. In the life plan template, brainstorm who you may need to ask for help and how they might help you. People are often very willing to help you achieve your goals. True friends and family are rooting for your success!

It may also be that you don’t know exactly who will help. If you know you struggle with math but you need to take a few math classes for your new career, you can simply add in that you’ll need to visit the professor’s office hours or get a tutor.

Wrapping Up How to Create a Life Plan

This wasn’t like one of my usual articles in which I just share my sage advice with you. This time, you have actionable steps to take and a downloadable template to help you! I hope you find both the article and the template useful in your quest for a better life.

Let’s recap.

To create a life plan that works, you must start with the areas of your life and where you are right now. This can be a scary step, but it’s necessary!

Next, you need to figure out what your values are so you can align your goals with them for a happier journey.

After that, it’s time to brainstorm what you want and make your plan! Don’t forget to wrap up by determining what boundaries you might need to set and who can help you in your journey!

Best of luck to you as you move closer to your ideal life!

The first confidence building book for women and a best-seller, Comfortable in Your Own Shoes will prepare you to meet great men and enjoy a happy and fulfilling life. And not just any life, but a life you design for yourself. YOUR life your way! 

Are you ready to start planning that great life? Click below to get started today! There’s no time like now to live your life on your terms!