Plan Your Life

Taking control of your life is a big step. You can decide what you want, find out what’s important to you, and create a plan to follow so you make the most out of your life. Learn how to plan your life so you can fulfill your goals and needs.

Steps

Clarifying Your Vision

1. Determine what is meaningful to you. Planning out your life can be an overwhelming task, and there are many different areas in your life to consider when planning. In order to get a better idea of what you’d like the future to look like, it is helpful to spend some time exploring what is fulfilling and meaningful to you. Some questions to start you thinking about in which direction you want your life to go include:
   • What does success look like to you? Is it a certain job title or amount of money? Is it being creative? Is it having a family?
   • What would your life look like if you had the power to change it right now? Where would you live? What would your career be? How would you spend your time? Who would you spend you time with?
   • Whose life do you admire? What about the course of their life makes it appealing to you?
2. Construct a guiding vision statement. Once you have explored what is meaningful to you through questioning and self-reflection, write down the answers you came up with in a sentence you can use as a guiding vision statement. Write it in the present tense, as if you’ve already accomplished it.
   • An example of a vision statement may be: My life is successful because I am my own boss; I feel free everyday; I get to use my creativity; and I spend my time with my family.
   • Because planning a life in a rapidly changing world can be difficult, you can use this sentence as a guiding principle as you try to map out your life keeping in mind that the specific job, place, or goal can fluctuate as long as your guiding vision, or what is most important to you, is being fulfilled.
3. Take it slow. Your plan may not go in a straight line. Very rarely does something happen exactly as someone plans or expects. Life is full of curves, twist, and new opportunities. Life is also full of failures, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Be prepared to take action in baby steps. Learn from those actions and experiences as you move closer to your goal.
   • You may run into dead ends in your life. You may end up with a job you think will put you in a better place, but it leads nowhere. You may get sidetracked by relationships and family. Just remember there is no timetable. Keep making small progress towards your goals and learn from every dead end and new development in your life.
4. Be prepared to create your own opportunities. There may not be the perfect job, place, or opportunity already out there. If this is the case, you’ll need to create that opportunity for yourself, even if doing so wasn’t apart of your original plan. Understanding as you plan your life that you may have to make your goals happen can help mentally prepare you for any changes down the road.
   • For example, if in the vision statement you want to be your own boss, this might mean teaching at a dance studio or being a consultant at a large firm. Both of these satisfy the deepest need of feeling free because you are your own boss.

Creating a Life Plan

1. Write out a life plan. A life plan is a formal, written plan you can use to plan out areas of your life including career, where you live, who you associate with, and how you spend your time. Writing out a life plan can help you identify areas of your life that you would like to change or to meet certain goals.
   • A life plan may help you see your life in a different way. Seeing aspects of it on paper may help you prioritize and readjust your ideas.
   • Putting a life plan down on paper may also help you see similar goals and desires you have, or adjust your plan based on things that don’t fit.
2. Determine which parts of your life you would like to change. Having a life plan doesn’t mean you will change all aspects of your life right away, but it is a starting point to begin the process. Maybe there are areas of your life in which you are satisfied, such as where you live, but other areas in which you’d liked to grow, such as finding a more fulfilling career. There may be several areas of your life you’d like to have a plan for, but to start, try picking the one part that is the most important.
   • Decide on which area of your life you’ll start with, like career, social group, hobbies, or something else. Some examples of life areas you could change include job, education, or income and financial planning; attitude, life perspective, creative, or leisure goals; family and friends; planning for children, securing social support, or volunteering for a meaningful cause; or physical and health goals.
   • Ask yourself what good things will come from changing this part of your life to become clear on why you are choosing to change.
   • Ask yourself which part of changing will be most difficult for you. Once you know what will be hardest, you can prepare yourself for when you meet that challenge. For example, for some people the most difficult part of change is starting. If you already know this about yourself, you can get support from others to help you begin.
3. Gather support and information. Having a support system, or people who can help when you need it, is important when attempting any life change. Part of planning a change is knowing exactly who you will go to for help and support when things get challenging. Tell those closest to you about your life plan and what you’d like to change. Make a list of the people you know you can rely on if you get stuck.
   • Gather as much information as possible about your upcoming changes to your life. Listen to success stories from others, or participate in a group for self-growth and success. Ask others what approaches they used in their life planning and making changes, and ask them what hurdles to expect.
4. Identify resources and plan steps. For some life plans and changes, you will need resources in order to begin implementing any steps toward your goal. You may need to buy books, set a budget, learn a new skill, or enlist the help of others. You may also have to figure out how to overcome certain obstacles. After you have identified what you need to start, begin creating steps that will lead you to your proposed life plan.
   • For example, if your life plan includes becoming healthier, the first step might be learning about healthier foods and cooking methods, then resolving to eat one vegetable per day. You’ll want to start slow to build to your goal so that you don’t burn out and become overwhelmed.
   • Another example might be if you want to have a life plan that leads you to a healthier diet. To do this, you will need to identify resources that you will need to get there, such as nutrition books, budgeting for different kinds of groceries, and enlisting the help of your family because a change in groceries will affect them too.
5. Cope when your life doesn’t go according to your life plan. Planning out your life is a good way to gain clarity on what you want and how to get it, but often life is unpredictable and does not go according to plan. You need to work on your coping skills so that you can deal with the upset and work back towards your goals.
   • You can try problem-focused coping. This involves the ability to look at a situation objectively to understand which parts are not working well, and then coming up with a plan to fix it. The process includes knowing your options, gathering information, taking control of the situation, and then implementing a plan of action.
   • For example, if you are working on your life plan of becoming a healthier person, but are then diagnosed with diabetes, you decide to use your problem-focused coping to adapt to the new situation. You learn about diabetes, eating, and testing tools to help you to get back to your life plan.
   • Another type of coping is emotion-focused coping. This is where you deal with the emotional effects of an unplanned life event.
   • For example, being diagnosed with diabetes would certainly cause an emotional reaction, such as fear, frustration, or anger. Dealing with these emotions might include talking with a friend or family member, reducing stress by limiting your obligations, and journaling about your feelings to make more sense of them.

Setting Goals

1. Learn the importance of setting goals. Setting goals is an important skill that many successful people employ to help jump start their motivation. Setting a goal better enables you to focus on the specifics of completing a task, while also helping you to organize all the tools you will need to accomplish your goal.
   • One of the best parts of successful goal setting and completion is feeling increased confidence and self-efficacy once you have accomplished your goal.
2. Use the SMART goal method. Setting goals is a great way to give your life plan a boost. It allows you to make your goals or steps specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time bound (SMART). It is important to use SMART goal planning in order to understand how close or far you are to obtaining a certain goal.
   • If your goal is to work toward building a healthier life, don’t just say I will eat more vegetables. Turn it into a SMART goal by saying I will eat two servings of vegetables per day for 30 days starting on Monday.
   • This makes the goal specific so you have a guideline to follow. It is also measurable because you know what you are trying to aim for, it’s realistically achievable, and you have a time frame.
3. Make your goals concrete. There are a few ways you can make your goals concrete and achievable. To begin with, write the goal down. This makes the goal more real than if it’s just in your head. Make sure to make it specific. If you follow the SMART format, you should already have specific goals.
   • Formulate your goals with positive language. If you want to lose weight, say something like, “Eat healthier and lose five pounds,” instead of, “Stop eating junk and being fat.”
   • Order your goals by their priority level. If you have multiple goals, there’s no way you can do everything at once. Decide what is attainable now, what can wait, and what may take longer.
   • You should keep goals small enough that you can achieve them within a reasonable time period instead of years down the road. If you have large goals, break them into smaller goals so you achieve goals along the way and feel accomplished.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Stop Procrastinating at Work
• Overcome Your Weaknesses
• Stay on Track
• Become Pope
• Go for Your Dreams
• Be Successful
• Stay Focused
• Avoid Repeating the Old Same Mistakes All over Again
• Improve Your Life
• Make Your Dreams Come True

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