Whether you are at the beginning of your career or nearing the end, it is important to have a life plan. A guiding strategy that takes into account your unique strengths as well as your passions keeps you motivated and on track. I am 76 years old and have a life plan that I am continually revising based on my life circumstances as they unfold.
Six Planning Categories
Here are six categories you should reflect on when developing your life plan:
- Your Story – What have you been doing? Take time to evaluate your experience. Understanding the big picture of your life story helps you define your future desires and goals.
- Your Purpose – Identify the reason you’re doing what you’re doing. What drives you? Recognize that your unique interests shape your path. Reflect on what has brought you to where you are now — it’s the key to your future purpose.
- Your Abilities – What are your unique contributions to this world? Identify what makes you distinctive. Also, the relationships and achievements that were fulfilling to you as a child are often fulfilling as an adult, just at a higher level. Though I was gifted in mathematics, what set me apart from my peers was my power of persuasion. My life’s greatest achievements have come from being able to influence others in a positive way.
- Your Legacy – What do you intend to leave behind? What do you want to pass on to those who will live after you — your family, your friends, your co-workers, and others? Focus on the people you want to invest in. Who are they and how have you impacted them?
- Your Strategy – Develop a strategy. Make your legacy a reality by integrating the four categories above into your plan. At my age, I spend more time than ever thinking about how I use my time. A skillful living plan considers life as a whole and is built on foundational principles. Reflect on how you can focus your time on a few guiding passions. What programs or projects mean the most to you? Spend your time developing those — and drop the rest.
- Your Habits – What habits need to become part of your life, regardless of your age or position? Pursue lifelong learning and fine-tune the habits you are most passionate about. Those are the ones necessary to create a legacy worth passing on.
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