Life Planning Guide

Using resources from Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dale Evans, Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy, Choose the Life You Want by Tal Ben-Shahar, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, Manage Your Day-To-Day by Jocelyn Glei, and Rethinking Positive Thinking by Gabriele Oettingen, I'm developing a "Life Planning" guide. This really has three parts.

1. design your life (by living an intentional life)

2. make daily progress (by living an optimal life)

3. enjoy the process (by living a compelling life)

This week, I'm focusing on the first two. I begin by identifying some key ideas and listing some sample responses.

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Part 1: Designing Your Life (be intentional)

Life Plan - a brief, personalized, written document clearly communicates your priorities, outlines daily actions, and allows for continual refinement and improvements.

Personal Mission - What type of life do you intend to live? What do you want to accomplish in the key areas of your life?

Examples: to live right and do good; to contribute to the greater good; to have fun and enjoy living and learning; to love God and love others; to live a life of compassion, kindness, and unity; to love, enjoy, encourage, inspire, and positively impact those within my circle of influence.

Personal Vision - What type of person you want to be? What is the most optimal, or best, version of yourself? What does a fulfilling, successful life look like? What things can you do to bring your future self into the present? How can you live that kind of life today?

Examples: I want to be the type of person who lives a balanced, compelling life; I want to be focused on the process, not the outcomes; I want to be the type of person who lives every day with purpose and direction. I want to be healthy in spirit, mind, and body. I want to be the type of person who is mindful and present and who makes a positive contribution to my world every day.

Personal Values - What are the things most important to you that will lead you to a compelling life? What will bring you satisfaction, enjoyment, and peace in the process of living life? When you come to the end of your life life, what will things have mattered the most?

Examples: I most value my faith, my family, my connections, my contributions, and my quality of life. I value the dignity and respect to all people regardless of differences. I value striving for daily and long term excellence with integrity and character. I value dreaming big while making small daily gains. I value closing the gap between my current self and my best self / highest potential. I value a well-designed, well-lived life.

Your Turn: What is Your Life Plan?

Try making a draft including the following:

Personal Mission, Personal Vision, and Personal Values

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Part 2: Making Daily Progress (be optimal)

Goals, Gaps, and Actions

A goal is a wish for the future. A gap is the distance from where we are now to where we want to be. An action is our next step to closing the gap and achieving our goals.

Motivation, Willpower, and Habits

Motivation gets us excited, thinking, dreaming and planning. Willpower gets us started and moving. Habits make our actions automatic. We don’t want to rely on motivation and willpower to make things happen. It’s best to build and nurture desirable habits. The right kind of plan can help us do that. And here is that plan.

Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan (WOOP)

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen is a professor of psychology at NYU She developed an evidence-based approach or strategy to help develop desirable habits needed for attaining goals. The strategy is called “WOOP” for wish, outcome, obstacle, and plan. WOOP uses mental contrasting and implementation intentions and is based on over 20 years of research shows that this strategy works in all areas of life to help people achieve their personal and professional goals.

You can learn more from Gabriele Oettingen’s book, Rethinking Positive Thinking and from her website: woopmylife.org. You can also download the WOOP app for your smartphone. The outline on the following page is adapted from Dr. Oettingen’s research and model. 

Wish: Identify your wish or goal. It should be something that is important to you. It can be challenging, but it needs to be achievable.

Examples

1. Take time to quiet my mind (with silence, mindfulness, meditation, or prayer);

2. Keep a daily gratitude journal (and note something or someone I am grateful for);

3. Read daily (even if it is only one page of a book).

Outcome: Identify the best outcome. Think of the benefit or result of fulfilling this wish and how it would make you feel.

Examples

1. I would have clarity of mind (be able to think clearly);

2. I would look for the positives (and I know gratefulness leads to happiness);

3. I would be a reader (and reading has many positive benefits).

Obstacle: Identify your main inner obstacle. Determine if it’s a true obstacle or just an excuse. This is where mental contrasting happens.

Examples

1. Digital distraction (checking email, social media, news, etc);

2. Forgetting to do it (not writing it down);

3. Not enough time (too rushed in morning, too tired in the evening).

Plan: Make a plan with an “if...then…” statement. By considering potential obstacles, this plan allow you to identify an effective action to take to overcome the obstacle. The structure of the plan is “if (obstacle), then I will (action to overcome the obstacle).”

Examples

1. If I find myself distracted by digital media, then I will keep my phone in a separate room in the mornings.

2. If I forget to journal, then the next day I will put my journal beside my toothbrush.

3. If I don’t have time to read, then I will go to bed 5 minutes earlier that evening and set my alarm 5 minutes earlier for the next morning.

Your Turn: What is Your WOOP?

Try making a draft including the following:

Wish or Goal, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan with an "if (obstacle) then (action)."

Try this out and let me know how it goes.

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc. are greatly valued.

Thanks!

Enjoy the day!