A life plan is exactly what it sounds like. It’s like a business plan in many ways, but far more important. A well-developed life plan can apply context to all other decisions, and it can serve to guide you through the ups and downs of business and life. We become entrepreneurs because of the quality of life we believe it will provide us, and a life plan helps us define exactly what that life will look like. This is important because if you don’t even know the kind of life you want, it’s going to be hard to build it. Also, let’s face it – you’re guaranteed to have difficulties and challenges as an entrepreneur, and a life plan can help you to not just make it through them, but to glide through them and come out better on the other end. How? When you take the time to build a life plan and then use that plan to guide your decisions about the work you will do, you end up doing what you love. And when you’re doing what you love, challenges don’t seem as big. You get through them easily and are even grateful for the learning they provided. Ultimately, the more satisfied you are personally, the more success you will have.
Here are the 5 steps to building a Life Plan:
1. Define your current life. You have to know where you are to figure out where you’re going. Evaluate and grade where you are in the important areas of your life – finances, relationships, health, business, etc. This can be a difficult step for many people, especially if you’re not anywhere near where you want to be. It’s not a time to beat yourself up though. Use this step to create a snapshot of your life and imagine looking at it years from now marveling at how far you’ve come.
2. Define your vision. This step can be a lot of fun. Write a description of your perfect life. Don’t hold back and don’t be afraid to be bold and daring. Remember, it’s your perfect life. This is no time for doubts or pessimism. You have nothing to lose by dreaming big, so go for it. Later, you’ll plot backwards in terms of finances, quality of life, and your business plan. This will get you to a set of plans for achieving your ideal life.
3. Define your skills. You now have a picture of your ideal life, so what skills do you have that will help you get there? What are you good at? If you’re great at sales or management, you’ll put down how those skills will help you in your business. If your talent is in design or writing, that might be your focus. For now, simply list your abilities and experience. While doing this, don’t overlook the value of the hundreds or thousands of hours you might have put in as an employee. You’ve gained valuable life experience in and outside business, and this can all help you build your perfect life, so list everything.
4. Define your ideal work situation. If you could design the perfect business to work in, what would it look like? Would you work part time or full time; at home or in an office; close to home or traveling the world? Would you spend time interacting with customers? Would your perfect business involve you managing employees? Would it stay small or grow to a large company? Would you do it forever or retire in 5 years? Describe your ideal work environment and conditions, and just like step 2 where you defined your perfect life, think about the possibilities – not why it won’t work.
5. Define yourself. In this step, you’re going to describe your personal mission, vision, values, and goals. Write out who you are and what you stand for. What you wrote for each of the previous steps was formed because of who you are, so look deep inside and figure out what you’re all about.
At this point, you’ve got all the elements of your life plan. You’ve described where you are and where you want to be; you’ve examined your skills and your ideal business; and you know your personal vision. Now it’s time to put it all together into a plan that will guide you in building your business and the life you want. This isn’t something you do and then file it away. Use your life plan and refer to it often. You’ll find that writing your business plan and running your business become easier when your priorities match your life plan, so never stop reviewing your priorities and comparing them with your plan. More than anything, following your plan will ensure you’re doing what you love, and isn’t that the point of being an entrepreneur?