Create a mission statement. – Mine was simply “To translate what gives me joy, fulfillment and makes me genuinely happy into a career that will allow me to work for myself and spend more time with my family.” This meant starting my own business as a coach to help individuals and small business owners get what they want out of their life and business. Formulating this sentence allows us to create a short mission statement that summarizes exactly what we want from life, which will help to keep it in the forefront of our minds when we’re making important decisions.
Make a list of your primary priorities. – This list will make your decisions easier as you will know what’s most important to you. Anytime there is a conflict consult this list and make the decision based on your priorities. Here is an example of my list: Family, Church, Health, Work / Money, Service to Others, Hobbies.
Take an inventory. – List every single major entity in your life – the people, organizations, career, hobbies, and anything else you spend time on in your life. Write a short summary of each. Explain what each one means to you, what you get from it, and if you are neglecting other areas of your life because of it.
Make decisions. – Take this list and make a decision on every aspect of your life. Decide whether time you spend on certain activities could be spent helping you achieve goals in other areas of your life. Decide if you will continue some activities, change others, or start a new one. Time is the most precious commodity we have; do not waste it.
Develop a plan. – Develop a game plan of what has to take place to reach your dreams and make things happen. Setup measurable goals for your life. Break it all down into time frames of a week, a month, a year and then longer - 5, 10, 20, 30 years out. These will constantly change and evolve so check them and update them frequently.
Schedule it, tell everyone and take action. – The most important step. By scheduling your goals and your action items it allows you to set definite deadlines. That gives you a better chance of sticking to it. If you tell everyone what you are doing you are now creating ownership of your goals. And of course nothing can stand in your way as long as you’re taking decisive action. If you find yourself making excuses, stop!
