Live Your Best Life
What do you think of when you hear the term life planning? Does end-of-life come to mind, like estate planning and wills and beneficiaries? Or does it bring to mind more emotion-based, supernatural type thinking?
Well, at Building Champions, we believe that life planning is a practical way to help you identify and, more importantly, live your best life. That’s why we give our Life Plan tool away for free. We want everyone to live their best life. And we know it’s possible.
In this article, we’ll explain what sets our Life Plan apart and how it’ll help you design the life you’ve always been dreaming of. It’s easier to reach than you think. And we can help you get there.
What Makes Our Life Plan Different
Begin with the end. It may seem dark, we hear you. But it’s hard to chart your course if you don’t know where you’re going. So we start our Life Plan with space for you to write your own eulogy. Have you ever been to a memorial where a eulogy is read? They are often beautiful, inspiring tear jerkers. So ask yourself, what do you hope people say about you? And here’s the big question—are you currently living in a way that will produce that heartfelt eulogy you hope they read? Well, the good news is that if you aren’t living that way, you can begin making the necessary changes today.
Leave a legacy. You have influence. Whether you’re a leader of people or processes, your family or community, yourself or others, you have a unique capacity to influence—that only you can offer. Just by being you, you gift others with the qualities and skills that you possess and that you share in your own way. You’ll impact more people throughout your lifetime than you’ll ever fully understand, but today you can identify the individuals or groups of people that you want to intentionally serve, help, bless, love and be remembered by. In our Life Plan, you can write a legacy statement for each group or person so that you can best understand how you uniquely impact them and then adjust any behaviors needed so you can leave the legacy you want.
Identify your top priorities. We call these your accounts. You simply can’t give your focus entirely to everything—but you can to the most important areas of your life. These areas will be different for everyone, but a few examples might be: career, health, family, friends, hobbies, finances, etc. Once you’ve identified the most important areas of your life, then using our Life Plan tool, you declare your purpose in each account, kind of like a mission statement for each. It should be a compelling statement that motivates you toward action. After your purpose statement, you dream. Write down your envisioned future, what you want this account to look like. But then you’ve got to get real with yourself. What is the current reality of that account? It’s important to be honest because in doing so, you’ll be able to best develop specific commitments for that account so that it can become your envisioned future.
How to Live the Life You Want
A report by DHM Research revealed that only 33% of Americans have a Life Plan. Why is that? Well, following a plan can be hard. Life throws curveballs and we fall prey to distraction (most especially in this digital age). But in a world where you don’t have much control, you do have control over how you lead yourself. These three steps will help you find success with your Life Plan.
Follow your plan. Don’t just write it and tuck it away. Add your commitments to your calendar and review your plan regularly. Find a system that works best for you. Whether that be a planner, alerts on your phone, a daily routine or sticky notes on your mirror, you know what works for you. Do that.
Remain flexible. Life changes—and your accounts might too. That may be hard to believe now, but your priorities might shift. New opportunities and new people will enter your life. And you can edit your Life Plan accordingly. Don’t remain so strict to the originally designed plan that you don’t allow margin in life for the unexpected—sometimes the unexpected is actually what you need.
Share with a partner. People are 65% more likely to achieve a goal after sharing it with a partner and their success rate increases to 95% when they have regular progress check-ins (according to research by The American Society of Training and Development). So think about who in your life could help keep you accountable. It’s a vulnerable thing to share something as detailed as your Life Plan, especially your eulogy, so who do you feel safest with? Who in your life do you believe wants your absolute best and also has the bandwidth to act as your accountability partner?
We have seen thousands of our clients improve their relationships, find more joy and purpose in their lives and get healthy both physically and financially by designing and implementing our Life Plan. Our team of coaches love walking alongside our clients as they create and refine their plans. So what’s stopping you? Download our free Life Plan today. And reach out—we’d love to help you go after the life you’ve always dreamed about.