Let’s Talk About Life planning
What is life planning: Simply put, life planning is creating a plan for your life. It is a decision to live your dreams and create a life you love with documented strategies that will help you achieve that dream. A life plan is an intentional and deliberate approach to living your life by design instead of by default. With a life plan, you live more consciously and conscientiously, maximising your moments and your days and as a result, you live your life in a way that is more meaningful and fulfilling to you because you spend your time, focus and energy on what truly matters and in the process, you create the life of your dreams, one that you love. So if you’ve been battling constant disinterest in your life and consistent lack of motivation, not having a carefully designed life plan might be the issue.
A life plan ideally should be simple, short and succinct enough for you to be able to go through it in an hour and at same time contain enough details for the imminent season of life you’re in. The thing is, a life plan is a living document which means it ideally should be reviewed and updated periodically as your seasons, needs and expressions change. For example, your purpose is one and central to you but the expressions can change in different seasons. That’s why I typically suggest that you make a life plan with a ‘current’ section which will typically span 90 days and a ‘futures’ section which will then span from after 90 days to as far as your eyes can see (more on this in my signature course – Plan your Phenomal Year). I suggest this model because 365 days of a year can be quite a long time to get into deep details of how you want your life to pan out, you can have an overview of it instead. There are some goals that will span a year like an MBA but for some other goals, a policy or a change somewhere can cause a review. So it’s easier if you track it from quarter to quarter and if things stay the same, you repeat the next quarter. Also a 90-day plan will help keep you focused because that’s typically a short term. Short term goals grip us more easily than longer termed goals
So why do you need a life plan?
Ever wondered what the memories of you would be like after you’re gone? Don’t worry, you won’t die any time soon. God has promised us long life and we will have it. But one day, after you’re old and grey headed beyond the age you want to live up to, you’ll exit the earth if Jesus hasn’t come then. So when that time comes, have you thought of what people will say of you then? Ever wondered the impact and legacy you’ll leave behind?
Let’s come back to the NOW. What word would you love to be described with, in your time? What message do you want to pass across? What’s your wisdom and gift for the world? You do have something to gift this world to make it better but if you don’t take the time to discover, develop and deploy it, overwhelm and distractions will steal it from you. Would it be nice to get to heaven and realise you had a lot to gift your world but well..you didn’t..and you know what, you would realise then that you have no excuse not to have lived the life God had called you to live. Absolutely no excuse.
Last but not the least, how would you want to be welcomed in heaven.? Would it be well done my good and faithful servant or would it be well…?
I hope it would the former.
So what would having a life plan do for you?
Let me list a couple
-it will help you clarify your priorities so you know what you should be after,
– it will help you maintain a sense of rhythm and balance even if you have a full life,
– it will help you identify the opportunities that are relevant to you so you don’t waste your time chasing shadows
and
– it will help you avoid the ‘had I known’ syndrome at the end of your life.
So how do I craft a life plan?
5 simple steps with the following prerequisite- take out some quality time, typically from 3 hours to a whole day depending on the season of life you’re in, get in a quiet place and answer the following questions:
-Who/How/Where have I been?
-Who does God say I am/What does His Word say about me
-Who/How/Where do I want to be/live
-What matters most to me and
– how do I get there.
To successfully do this, you would need to look at your life as a whole and then, in parts. The parts include your purpose statement and values, spiritual life/ health, fitness and fun/mental and emotional health/family and relationships/ finance/ career and business. You would need pay attention to yourself, listen to your heart, keep your eyes on the goal and create a strategy for achieving it. And it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be doable and amendable to fit your ultimate purpose as you and your circumstances evolve. And you need to have a simple method to implement which should be a breakdown from the 90 days to 30 days to weeks to days
But what if the plan you craft for your life isn’t God’s plan for you?
The Bible says that a man’s heart devises his ways but The Lord directs his steps (Prov 16:9). God is not against planning, He just needs you to trust in Him and involve Him (Prov 3:5-6) and be openhearted so He can lead you (Isaiah 30:21, Rom 8:14).
First, I always strongly suggest (and insist, especially if you’re going to work with me), that before you craft any plan, it’s important you are in sync with the Creator of life Himself. Nothing else makes sense outside Jesus. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s in Him we move and live and have our being. You see that. The very core and essence of our being emanates from Him. So if your life is going to make sense, it has to start from Him and it starts with you having a relationship with Him So if you have that already, you’re good to go. If not, its important to do that, both for now and for the life that is to come after now. If you haven’t done this and you would love to, just send me a dm. It’s a decision you would never regret.
Second, ask yourself and honestly answer some key questions that will help you unearth and uncover the deepest parts and desires of your heart. Compare the answers you get with what God’s word says concerning you. This is absolutely important because you need to see yourself correctly and understand who you truly are if you’re going to sustain your progress. This doesn’t mean you go all spooky, it actually means that because you now know the truth, you become more responsible. So you ask yourself those questions and do some deep core self examination and if you don’t know how to go about it, I can help you with it when you sign up for my signature course, plan your phenomenal life.
Third. With an understanding of who you are in Christ which will help you start on a journey to healing and growing, listen to your heart and paint a picture of what you would love your future to look like in all the areas of your life. Describe those pictures in words and draw up a plan. Create a ‘current’ and ‘futures’ view of what that plan/picture looks like and get to work. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers. Infact, you probably won’t have all the answers but you need to move with the light you have now, as you stay faithful and connected, more light will come. This is why I suggest a 90-day plan because you’d be drawing up a plan based on all the light you have now. As you get more light and understanding, you’ll get more clarity and you’ll need to review some things. So don’t wait till everything is clear to start, even a plan to know more of God’s plan for you is still part of the plan. Infact, that can be your singular focus in a sprint. And it will come through impressions in your Spirit.
So when should I craft this plan?
A life plan is something you should actually do now. Actually, immediately. Some people complain that they cannot afford the time and focus it needs. Truth is, you cannot NOT afford to not do it. You just can’t. That would be a very expensive joke that will waste your life. You could say you’ve done pretty well with no plan thus far. That’s great. But remember that a blunt knife may cut a tree down but a sharper one will do a neater and a faster job. At the end, It’s about what’s important to you. The busier you are, the more intentional you should be about your life so that you don’t get success in one area at the expense of another area that means alot to you
What about COVID 19? Nothing is happening
This is actually an amazing opportunity to create a life plan. You have time. You have space. And you can focus. This is a good time to create that plan. Now, this season is not an ideal season so you cannot plan a whole 90 days based on now, but you can create a plan for pursuit, one you’ll start to implement as soon as things normalize. And in the interim, you can create a personal development plan to help you grow into the person who can fulfill that plan because the person who receives the vision is not usually the person who executes it. Your next level will require a higher version of you so get to work and YES, you can create that plan NOW
So with these plenty words of mine, I hope I have been able to convince you that a life plan is not just important, it is an investment into your life, your future and your eternity.
*drops mic*
Thank you for coming to my MiniTedTalk show.
God bless you
????
?♀️?♀️?♀️
Aijay Ufomadu
