Where are you going? What rules your heart? What do you base your principles on? What guides your life? Do you ever feel like you’re not headed in the right direction?

Man in field celebrating the completion of his life plan version 1.

I’ve got some good news for you. At least 80% of the Apollo Mission was off course and they still made it to the moon. I’m chuckling as I write that because the old saying goes, “Shoot for the moon and if you miss you’ll find yourself among the stars.” How did they get to the moon? Constant attention, awareness, and redirection. Did I mention, “redirection”. Just like my life but I’m probably more than 80% off course and continually redirecting. The difference between the Apollo Mission (besides the obvious) is that they knew where they were going and has one specific destination. It seems physical/geographical destinations are always easier than “real life” targets.

So what am I doing now? I’m working on a Life Plan. I’m not sure what to expect but I do know that I have too many destinations, goals, dreams, ideas. What am I? Human. This plan will serve me in a number of ways:

  1. Clarify my priorities: When I have a life plan with a specific destination that will set my priorities and make them clear. Once they’re clear, all the choices in life become simple consequences or results of the priorities.
  2. Simplify my choices: with the destination set and priorities aligned with the destination the effort required in choice making will be minimized and will be more in line with my plan and my track. Saving that energy in choice making it can be invested in striving towards the goal. Since I’m following my plan, the likelihood of making another choice I will regret is greatly diminished.
  3. Charges me with hope: with visions of the future, the future I am in control of I live each day with a greater hope of achieving those goals. With this hope the drive and determination to make these hopes a reality make the choices and the work more joyful.

One of my favorite toys is my GPS. I first purchased one in the mid-1990s back before they showed any maps. Back in those days it only displayed the points using the latitude and longitude. Now they show maps, landmarks, your path or track and a whole bunch more. They even have social networking: sharing of routes and tracks. We just used a sweet trail map offline this weekend for our family hike. I compare having my first GPS or even no GPS to having no life plan. The modern day GPS with all of its features is like having a life plan.

Have you ever missed a turn and your cute little annoying (OK, I find it annoying) voice says “Recalculating”? That is the beauty of a life plan, it is alive, it is flexible, and it changes as time passes. It takes into account life experiences good and bad, setbacks and advances. It responds (instead of reacting) to all the changes in life. It is also honest—as honest as you are, the more honest it is the more impact it will have on your life.
Life is all about people and relationships. You never go to a funeral and hear someone talk about the deceased’s net worth, their cars, home, toys. They talk about their relationships. God created us to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to be in relationship with Him. He created us like Him, “in His Image” so we desire, pursue, and long after relationship. I love the recent song snippet from Jason Gray:p>

“God put a million, million doors in the world for His love to walk through. One of those doors is you
–Jason Gray.”

A life plan takes this need for desire and leaving a legacy into account and offers a steady target for the rest of the plan to step towards. Walking in this life with a life plan and an accountability with ourselves—and possibly others—will bring greater and stronger relationships into your life. With those you create a legacy beyond your days in this world.

If you don’t yet have a life plan, I challenge you, I even dare you to get it done. I use the plan laid out in Living Forward by Michael Hyatt (this is my affiliate link). I can also champion you through the process through individual coaching or a mastermind. Do yourself a favor and get it done.

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