In this post, we’re looking at how to stop living by accident and instead, how to create a master plan for your life.
How is it possible that some intelligent, capable, and kind people have lives that seem to be in perpetual chaos?
They struggle to maintain order, achieve their most important goals consistently, and they tend to be all over the place most of the time.
How does this happen?
Well, it is quite possible that if you’re someone like this, that you are living your life on accident rather than with some sort of plan.
In this post today, I want to challenge you to take control of your life and avoid allowing luck to rule your life.
If you want to achieve better outcomes for yourself and your loved ones, you must decide to put your foot down, make a plan, and choose a direction for your life.
Let me show you a simple strategy for how to create a master plan for your life by taking responsibility for your future.
How to create a master plan for your life: 6 Steps
1. Examine your status quo.
The first crucial step in any transformation process is looking at the present and assessing the status quo.
If you want to lose weight, you need to know how much you weigh now.
If you want to make more money, you need to know the state of your finances now.
If you want to improve your marriage, you need to know where you’re at with your spouse now.
It’s important to examine your current situation.
Ask yourself the hard questions:
For example,
- How did you end up where you are?
- Are you living the life (or relationhsip, careeer etc) you’ve always imagined?
- Why not?
- How did you end up here?
- What needs to happen to change things from where they’re at to where you want them to be?
It’s important to consider all aspects of your life during this step.
That includes your career, friends, fitness level, finances, intimate relationships, and so on.
Did you choose what you have, or did you just grab at the best opportunity that happened to wander by your awareness?
Become acutely aware of the real reasons behind your current situation.
The Ancient Scriptures talk about “knowing the truth and letting it set you free.
Delusion or self-deceit will never move you from where things are at to where you want to be.
Only truth can do that.
Facing and accepting the truth is a powerful first step for how to create a master plan for your life.
2. Determine the type of life (or relationship, career, health etc) you truly want.
Once you have a much clearer picture of your current situation and possible reasons for it, it’s time to determine the type of life you actually want to lead.
Many people never really consider this.
They are very clear on the type of life they do NOT want to lead, but they lack clarity about what their ideal life would actually look like.
However, clarity is a vital part of progress.
You cannot achieve what you’re unclear about.
So ask yourself,
- What type of career do I want?
- Where do I want to live?
- How do I want to spend my time, most of the time?
- How much money do I want (need) to earn to finance the life that I want?
- What does my ideal social life look like?
- What is my idea of a dream spouse?
- What does my ideal relationship look and feel like?
- How much freedom do I have in my life, and what does that look like?
- What level of health do I desire?
Take the time to thoroughly examine the future you’d like to experience.
Remember, the brain can only achieve what it can conceive in an order to do that it needs clarity and focus.
This second step in this simple process will help you with that.
3. Put first things first
In my experience, there are two areas in life that make everything else a lot easier and simpler.
They are health and finances.
You can have all the resources you could ever need in this world, but if you lack good health it’s all worth nothing.
Without good health or your experience, knowledge, connections, opportunities, past, present, and future all mean nothing.
Even if you’re somebody that doesn’t aspire to have any financial goals in your life, and you only want to serve humanity; without good health that becomes a lot harder.
If you want to improve your marriage, it’s going to require energy, and energy oftentimes comes with good health.
If you want to be a better parent, having good health will make it a lot simpler to show up for your kids the way you want to show up for them.
Just ask any parent who has tried doing this with poor health.
If you want to build a more successful business, personal health, rather than cash flow will be your greatest asset and resource.
Ask any successful businessman who has lost their health just how important health actually is in business.
You can always make plans with good health but you cannot without it.
The second thing I would encourage you to make some plans around is money.
Money isn’t the MOST important thing in the world, but it’s definitely a VERY important thing.
Money is great for solving many of life’s challenges.
It’s also a necessary resource for doing many other things.
So, if you’re having financial struggles, it would make sense to work on your finances first.
Again, being a better parent, creating an improved marriage, having a successful business, and even creating good health, all become a lot easier when you have some form of financial means.
Consider this: you can fight against it all you want, but I know many wonderful people who are making a significant difference in the world.
However, you should know that many of them still rely on others who have financial resources to assist them in their endeavours.
It is the harsh reality of the world we live in; like it or not.
Money, like all other things, is merely a handy resource that can be used for doing a lot of good in life.
In summary, when you consider how to create a master plan for your life, I would argue that you focus on financial and health issues first.
After you’ve gained some momentum in these areas, you can address the other parts of your life, unless another part is really pressing right now.
4. Be brave enough to choose.
This is a truly important step in this process.
I’ve dealt with numerous clients in the past who were crystal clear on their current condition and where they needed to go, but when it came time to act, they lacked the guts to do so.
Many people know what needs to be done to improve their situation, but they’re not brave enough to make a decision.
That is the unfortunate truth.
However, if you want to improve your situation, you have to become brave.
Seriously, I know this sounds slightly airy-fairy, but courage is a much-needed quality for changing your situation.
You need to muster up the boldness, courage, and tenacity to go after what you desire.
It’s as simple and as hard as that.
Why haven’t you made decisions about your life in the past?
Is it possible that you were afraid to make a choice and possibly fail?
I understand that you can’t fail if you never try, but I also understand that you can’t ever experience success and happiness if you never attempt anything at all.
If you know what needs to be done today, find a way to get the courage to do something about it.
If you can’t, then reach out to someone who could help you with that.
5. Have enough discipline to choose.
When people are in a state of confusion and uncertainty, it is easier to delay making decisions because they do not want to make the wrong decision at the end of the day.
However, this type of thinking is a trap.
Refusal to make a decision may seem like a smart idea in the short term, but in the long run, you always pay a price for it, particularly in the shape of missed chances or, in the worst-case scenario: the loss of a rewarding life.
As a result, it is preferable to make a sensible choice and put forth your best effort rather than to refrain from making a decision at all.
Listen, sometimes you just need to make a decision and go for it.
If you never have the discipline to make a decision and then follow through on it, it is hard to predict what will happen in the future. So, what’s the big deal?
Yes, there is always some danger associated with making daring decisions, but with that risk comes the chance of enormous reward.
No risk = no reward.
6. Understand that luck is short-lived.
When you don’t put energy into something, it tends to fall apart over time. That’s just how life works.
Whether you’re talking about a fence, a sandcastle, or your life, luck is short-lived.
The universe’s inherent state is one of disorder, and the only antidote or resistance to this is concentrated effort and energy.
A wooden fence can only last as long as you keep it well-maintained by painting and repairing it on a regular basis.
But even if it lasts that long, it will eventually need to be replaced.
Your life is no different.
Without energy and intention applied regularly, your life falls apart just like any fence.
You will never be able to decide to stop living your life.
When you do, the natural order of the cosmos takes over much more quickly than you may expect.
If you want to move your life from where it is right now to where you would like it to be, you must first recognize the nature of the environment in which we exist.
Furthermore, you must make a conscious decision to do something about it.
Even if it seems like a smart plan right now, sitting on the fence isn’t the best choice.
Eventually, it will come crashing down around your feet, whether you stay or leave.
So don’t wait until that happens, create a plan and start working on it.
Now is the time to take control of your life and make decisions that matter.
Choose a course for your life or allow entropy to slowly destroy it.
Take control while there’s still time to create an exciting life.
Please leave your thoughts, comments and questions below and I will try and respond to each and every one.
