How to make a life plan

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We all know that sometimes, life doesn't go to plan. Things that are totally out of your control can interrupt your progress, set you back a step or even push you forward faster than planned. You might need to redirect your focus, change direction or even start again.

It can be stressful when this happens. But it's just as stressful if you don't have a plan at all. You need somewhere to place your focus, and drifting through life with no real plan for the future can leave you feeling overwhelmed, bored with life and generally unsatisfied.

If you don't have a vision for your dream life, how can you ever hope to achieve it?

But it can be hard to strike a balance between aspirational and realistic when it comes to life planning. Many people cannot sort out their life priorities into sensible life plans that are actionable and mean you can really have an amazing life.

Well, your new life plan starts now.

Four critical steps for making a life plan

If you want to start taking control of your life, creating a life plan is something you need to take seriously. Having a proper life plan could differentiate between you thinking about your goals and actually achieving them.

But a life plan isn't just about setting smart goals. It's about having an overall vision for your life and working on how you can get there. Having a plan means focusing on the end goal of the incredible life you want to lead. It's about positioning and motivating yourself to move from dreaming to planning to reality.

Here's what you need to know about how to make a life plan.

Assess your life right now

The first step in creating a life plan is, to be honest with yourself about where you are right now. A life plan means you need a foundation to work from. This base will allow you to create an action plan for moving forward.

Think about what in your life makes you happy, what makes you frustrated, what you'd be willing to sacrifice and what needs to change ASAP. Pay attention to the little details, such as how many hours you spend working compared to time with family and even how you feel about your personal growth and mental health.

If you can clarify your current situation and think about your life now, you'll be able to get a much clearer vision for the future, and therefore you'll know how to make a life plan that will actually work for you.

Be realistic

Once you've worked out what needs to change right now, you can start thinking about the life you want to lead. Before creating a life plan, you need to know the end goal. Of course, life planning is always a moving set of goalposts. A fantastic life can keep changing. But it would help if you had an idea of what you want your life to look like.

This should be a balance of dreams and realism. You want to plan to take action, so your goal shouldn't be unrealistic. However, you can push the boundaries a bit, and you should be thinking about the big picture. Think about the different elements of your life such as career, family, personal relationships, money, free time etc. What is your ideal life like in ten years?

If you've done a good assessment of your current life, this bit should be easy. You should know what you are willing to sacrifice, your core values, and where to focus your attention. Knowing where you are and where you are going makes creating a life plan much more manageable.

Identify obstacles

Once you've got a start point and an endpoint, you need to think about the journey. There will be plenty of challenges along the way, but if you are already aware of the major obstacles in your path, you can create a plan to overcome the significant challenges.

You will likely find that many of your obstacles are linked to each other. For example, if your life plan involves finding somewhere to raise children comfortably, a key barrier could be financial, tied to your new career prospects.

Try making a list of the biggest obstacles that might get in the way of your plan. These should be the things that will eventually need to change, but they may not be the first things you work on. A life plan takes a long time, so you should be thinking long-term.

Make sure you are accountable

For most people, the most challenging part of creating a life plan is follow-through. It can be fun to imagine your ideal life; creating clear steps to success can even be exciting. However, doing the work isn't always easy. You need to make sure that you are held accountable for your dreams and develop some self-discipline.

Speak to people who can hold you accountable. Share your goals with someone you trust and ask them to be your accountability partner. An accountability partner is someone who knows your goals and can help support you. They will pay attention to your needs, priorities, and deadlines and make sure that you progress. They should be someone that will check in with you frequently. Whether it's an immediate family member or a trusted friend, an accountability partner can help make sure you stay on track.

The ultimate life plan template

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So now you know what you need to think about before starting to create a life plan. It's time to actually start life planning. This life plan template can form the basis of your plan, but you should choose how to make a plan that is personal to you. Creating a life plan will be different for everyone. I've put together this list to guide you as you make your plan, but only you can see your future, so only you know how to make a life plan works for you.

Focus on different categories

To start making your own personalised plan, you need to categorise your life. Break down your goals and dreams into clearly defined categories such as career, relationship, personal growth, finances, hobbies, health and fitness etc.

Organise your goals and dreams into each section and see where things overlap and how each section relates to the others. Your life is all about the overall goal, but breaking it down into different areas can help keep you focused and make it easy for you to see progress without getting overwhelmed. Remember that life planning is different for everyone!

Plan small action steps

You need to think of your life plan like a marathon. This is not a sprint where you set a goal and get there as fast as you can. Your life plan should be aiming for ten, twenty years in the future. This means you need to break it down into small steps to achieve long-term and short-term goals and track your action steps. You can even write a to-do list.

Breaking your plan down into small actionable steps means you won't feel overwhelmed aiming for something so far away. Try to create steps that can be worked on daily, weekly, yearly and eventually, over several years. Doing this for each category of your life means you can focus on one thing at a time to slowly but surely improve your life and ensure your life is everything you want it to be.

Work out your priorities

You should also try to prioritise what you want to focus on immediately and what is slightly longer-term. It could be a bit overwhelming to try for kids, quit your job, buy a new house and train for a marathon all at once!

Some things you can accomplish quickly, some things take time, some require lots of effort, and some not so much. You might not be able to start working on some plans straight away and will need to complete lots of other things before taking the next step. Look at what will make a big difference and how many steps it will take for you to achieve that goal.

A life plan is more than setting goals and then coming up with an action plan. It is also about the journey and making sure you can live life now. Your life plan makes prioritising easier. It's not just about the end game, it's about next week and next year. It's still your life to live right now, so you need to prioritise.

Ask for support

We all need help once in a while, and it can be a great support if you already know who you are going to turn to. Different parts of your life might mean you need many people to help you out. When life planning, think about mentors, friends and family that could be of help. Who could teach you something, who can hold you accountable, who can help you relax?

Make sure you know whose opinion matters to you and who you would go to for advice. Check in with yourself frequently to see if help would make it easier. When you need a bit of help, you'll already know where to look to get the support you need to keep moving forward. Remember that you don't have to do this alone and make asking for help part of your accountability plan.

Celebrate your successes

A life plan is precisely that, for life! This means that if you spend your whole time focused on the end goal, you won't have a very happy life. You need to remember to celebrate all the little things you accomplish and share your good news. Make sure that your plan includes time to appreciate how far you've come and spend time enjoying all your success.

If you aren't in your dream job position but got a promotion, make sure you celebrate it. If you don't take this time to recognise your achievements, you'll probably spend your entire life wanting to reach your final goal and feeling miserable. You need to add checkpoints in your life plan to relax and enjoy the process. Identify goals that, once reached, will give you some breathing room. You could even plan some rewards into your plan. Always dreamed of going on a safari? Well, if you get that promotion, that's your reward.

Life should be fun, so don't get lost in the life planning process and forget to live in the present. Real-life will pass you by while you're planning unless you let yourself celebrate once in a while.

Do you need help with your life plan?

Life planning isn't always easy. It can be challenging to identify your life priorities, and there are plenty of people who have a dream but no idea how to make it a reality. Asking for expert advice to make your own life plan can make all the difference.

As a qualified and experienced life coach, I can give you the support and practical advice that you need to create a real plan for your life. You don't need to drift along waiting for life to happen to you when you have the ability to make your own plan for a better, more fulfilling life.

For help making a life plan and support as you change your life, feel free to get in touch today, and we can start making sure you have the future you deserve.