First Things

One of the biggest risks we face in this is that we can create a plan and never use it ... or forget about it.  In this episode, we discuss some ways to review your Life Plan.  We discuss how to do that weekly, quarterly, and yearly.  

To get the benefit of your Life Plan, you have to implement it. Incorporate your action plans into your day-to-day routines. Include your action plans in your day-to-day activities by: Protecting the basics. Review your current appointments and see how they relate to your Life Accounts. If they are not essential consider canceling them Eliminating the nonessentials. Ask yourself, “What can I eliminate from my life and not suffer too many consequences”? Rescheduling some of what remains. While some things are important, they are not important now. They can be rescheduled without significant consequences Without regular review, a plan becomes worthless.  Keep it Alive by reviewing it daily, weekly, and yearly.

One day can change everything.  By creating a Life Plan, you will unleash a set of decisions that will affect future generations. “A Life Plan needs pull power. It has to be done in such a way that impacts your heart, not just your head. Otherwise, you’ll just end up with a glorified to-do list. And who needs one more of those? Pull power requires that you get caught up in the full scope of the plan. You can’t do that piecemeal.” You need to be decisive when it comes to dedicating one day every week to review your plan. Steps you could take include blocking your calendar, deciding where to go, taking the necessary supplies, determining to be offline, and enrolling your family and colleagues. Cultivate a positive attitude throughout the process, and stay focused. Also, in this episdoe I review the ENTIRE process for creating a Life Plan, including a new way of looking at it NOT in the book.

To Chart the Course, break your life account into five sections: Purpose statement. Determine your purpose for each account. For example, the purpose of your health account could be “to get healthy” Envisioned future. Imagine how your account would look like if you had a positive net worth Inspiring quote.  Find a quote that resonates with your future purpose Current reality. Be honest about where you are with your envisioned future Specific commitments. Make specific commitments that move you from your current reality to your envisioned reality. Make them measurable

“We tend to think effective people are busy. Not so, unless they’re busy with the right things—and many people aren’t. When things in our business or life get busy and hectic, we often lose sight of our priorities. But by keeping the truly important things front and center, we often get the perspective we need to make better decisions.” You have to decide what is best for you. There is no point in keeping up with others if they are going to a destination that is different from yours. Life Accounts: Life can be viewed in terms of compartments. These compartments are called life accounts. The Circle of Being. These are things that emanate from you. They include the spiritual, physical, and intellectual accounts The Circle of Relating. These are things that are centered on you in relation to others. They include your marital, parental, and social accounts The Circle of Doing. These are activities that deal with you in relation to your output. They include what you do for work, what you do as a hobby, and your

Today ... is your funeral. What would people say about you?  What do you WANT them to say about you? We talk about these issues today and go through an exercise of writing our Eulogy. A legacy consists of the spiritual, intellectual, relational, social capital, and vocational capital that we pass on. “Truth is, everyone is in the process of creating—and leaving—a legacy. The question is not “Will you leave a legacy?” but “What kind of legacy will you leave?” The sooner you come to grips with this reality, the sooner you can start creating it.”

In this episode, we discuss the benefits to creating a Life Plan: Clarifying priorities. Having a life plan will make you understand your priorities and how they work together Maintaining balance. Balance is not equal but appropriate attention to the things that are in our lives Filtering opportunities. Having a Life Plan gives you clarity on what opportunities you need to pursue and which you can let go Facing reality. You can only improve if you take responsibility Envisioning the future. To make the most of the day, you need to keep your eyes on the future Avoiding regrets. You don’t want to finish life with regrets. Optimize your life for regret minimization “People lose their way when they lose their why. The reasons for creating a Life Plan are as varied as there are people. But the important thing is to connect with your reasons. What are the benefits you see to creating a Life Plan?”

In this episode, we talk about understanding what a Life Plan is: Characteristics of a Life Plan: It is created by you and for you.  A Life Plan has to flow from your heart. It is created by you and for you It describes how you want to be remembered. A life plan doesn’t leave anything to chance. You can be intentional about how you want to be remembered It articulates your personal priorities. A life plan gives you the chance to create a vision for yourself that is separate from what your family or others want from you It provides specific actions necessary to take you from where you are to where you want to be in every major area of your life It is a document that you can tweak and adjust when necessary. A Life Plan is flexible and it is a manifestation of an ongoing process When faced with a negative situation, ask: “What does this experience make possible?” Your attention will move from the past which you can’t do anything about to the future When formulating your Life Plan ask three important questions

In life, it is easy to drift off course despite our best efforts. Such drift can happen because of four reasons: Being unaware. We can drift because we don’t know what is happening, or what is really at stake It happens because we are distracted. Sometimes we can get caught up in something and lose the sense of time It can happen when we are overwhelmed. Taking too much than we can handle can overwhelm us It happens when we are deceived. When you believe that you have no control over your situation, you can feel powerless and do nothing Consequences of Drifting include: Confusion. Confusion comes from losing perspective Expense. When you drift through time, you incur costs that include lost time and money Lost opportunities. Without a plan, you have no way of taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves to you Pain. Failure to plan can result in a lot of pain from failed marriages, unfulfilled potential, and so on Regrets. The saddest consequence of the drift is having regrets and asking “if o

In this episode, we embark on a new study of Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy's book "Living Forward".  We begin our discussion on why a Life Plan is necessary and discuss the various chapters we will be covering in the next episodes.

In this episode, we go through nine steps to find your passion in life.  I also present an alternative to "Abandon everything and pursue your passions" ... and suggest that "Do what you like/love to enable what you love" is often a great strategy to use ... as long as you don't find yourself wasting months and years not doing anything with your passions.

In this episode, we return to the topic of multitasking.  We do an experiment showing how multitasking can double or triple your efforts, how multitasking is actually switchtasking, and how there might be some times you do actually want to do more than one thing at time.

In this episode, we tackle the issue of perfectionism.  We discuss how it is true that done is better than perfect.

I am returning to podcasting!  I talk about what I've been doing and what we will be covering in the new year.

In this episode, you will— Learn about my crazy summer. :D Discover my recent hacks regarding sleep, reading, and planning. Hear a preview of what will be covered in future weeks.

In this episode, you will— Learn about the various aspects of life that can be considered “shallows” Discover various ways we can “drain the shallows” to regain more time in our day Hear about specific strategies to deal with meetings and email Be offered a free worksheet/guide on the topic of this month. Hear a preview of what will be covered in future weeks. For a free worksheet/guide on this study, please click here.

In this episode, you will— Learn that we can become addicted to social media Discover that we often use social media if it provides any benefit to our lives Hear about the "craftsman" approach to deciding which social media to keep in our lives Be offered a free worksheet/guide on the topic of this month. Hear a preview of what will be covered in future weeks. For a free worksheet/guide on this study, please click here.

In this episode, I talk about the hectic last few weeks I've had ... and some of the lessons I've learned.  We will return to our previous study in the next podcast.

In this episode, you will— Learn that we can become addicted to avoiding boredom Discover that it is not unusual for your mind to wander Hear about strategies to minimize addiction to distractions Learn the importance of scheduling your distractions Be offered a free worksheet/guide on the topic of this month. Hear a preview of what will be covered in future weeks. For a free worksheet/guide on this study, please click here.

In this episode, you will— Learn about the 4 approaches to Deep Work: Monastic Bi-modal Rhythmic Journalistic Discover why I think an emphasis on Rhythmic (with occasional Journalistic) is the best approach for most people Hear about strategies you want to put into place when doing Deep Work Learn the importance of measuring Deep Work, and how your output isn't the best way to measure it Be offered a free worksheet/guide on the topic of this month. Hear a preview of what will be covered in future weeks. For a free worksheet/guide on this study, please click here.