Plan Your Life Effectively

Magazines these days are full of articles on how best to plan your life well beforehand, but which do not necessarily take the fact into account that LIFE can, and will, get in the way. What do you do when everything around is changing at a pace that even you can not keep up with and your life plan certainly can not? With all that's happened in the world market and the choices made by certain countries regarding war and terrorism, it's not recommended to stick your head in the sand and ignore everything.

What about when change occurs in a more microcosmic level, i.e. what happens if you're among the casualties of the current'downsizing' of companies from the City so that your life changes in a much more immediate fashion? Or what if your life changes in a positive manner? You get married, get promoted, have a baby - you could even win the lottery!

Reactive to Opportunity

Life plans are a fantastic idea but for them to work, they need to be flexible so they can continue to be helpful when situations change. It's necessary for them to be not quite so specific as to ignore any chance that just presents itself since it's'not quite what you wanted,' or if you believe the chance has come along too early or too late. There's a saying that"chances are seen as more significant with the vision of hindsight" but this may be reversed to say that chances when they first present themselves can be considered risks too large to deal with.

Bring Your Dreams to Life

So how do you plan your life in the first place?

There are many techniques which you can use for planning your perfect lifestyle, but the one that works best is when you really and truly know inside and out what you would like, how it would look and what it might feel like to be there.

Picture Who You Want to be

You can begin by simply imagining what you would like to do on a particular day in the future, such as 1st January 2020. Flesh out the everyday tasks - where are you living, who with and how busy is the day? What do you look like, how do you behave with other people and what are your relationships like? All of the areas of your life should be included within your plan:

Career,

Friends and Family,

Physical Environment,

Health,

Personal Development,

Money,

Significant Other,

Fun and Recreation.

This isn't an exhaustive list - if there's a significant portion of your life that's not included above, add another group or rename one.

Pay Attention To Detail

As soon as you know what you would like, it is vital that you break each goal down into smaller ones which you could work towards on a daily basis. By way of instance, if you would like to be healthy enough to run a marathon next year, you could sign up to the neighborhood gym now and start going regularly, or find a local running group to join, and then begin doing smaller sponsored runs before running is a daily part of your life. Needless to say, just doing the physical exercise is only one thing you can do to make this dream come true - for a objective of becoming healthy, you also have to eat healthily, sleep well and sufficient for you (sleep levels differ from person to person), be able to handle stress, among a number of other things.

Life Comes Around To Perform

However, what happens when you get sucked into the daily drag of life and wind up realising that a year has gone by and you have not done anything towards your targets and you can hardly remember what they were in the first place?

So what CAN you do with your strategy when life gets in the way?

Be Realistic

One way that life can get in the way is through sheer overwhelm: you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer size of each class if you do break each large goal in the life plan down into smaller ones. It's actually important that you keep motivated and do not ask too much of yourself. If you're asking yourself to do 4 hours worth of work once you only have 30 minutes a day, do not be disheartened, be sensible. You might realize that if you place yourself something a day to do, and get that done quicker than you believe then you may find another one done and get in front of the strategy.

Be Adaptable

Another way that life could be annoying? is through unexpected twists: this is where keeping your plan flexible comes into play. Based on what life has thrown at you, there are various methods of doing this. Firstly, you want to stay in control of your strategy as opposed to letting it control you. Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Reviews are extremely useful methods of making sure your plan fits in with what's actually happening in your life and this sort of avoidance system can help you anticipate and manage unexpected conditions in the best way for you.

Be Eager to Reconsider

What if you change your mind about segments of the strategy? No problem - you can redesign your strategy as many times as is necessary as it's YOUR plan. Just return to the drawing board and rethink - you will realise that one change in your strategy may impact more regions than the 1 area you would like to alter. It's important to keep in mind here that it's your life and anything is possible, so if the prospect of replanning is daunting, just imagine where you would like to be and start taking some action!

Be Honest with Yourself

It's important to understand that whatever you plan it has to be ideal for you - if your goal involves activities that you're either not capable of or activities you're not ready to do, you need to review what you would like and be honest about the probability of you actually finishing the activities you set yourself.

Consider a Coach

Imagine if life keeps getting in the way and you get angry about having the life you desire? Or if you do not have any idea what you want as each scenario you try on in your head just does not feel right? Here you might need to deal with your more basic requirements and the true situation you're dwelling in. It might be the case that you would benefit from having a mentor to give you a hand in sorting through the top layers of life to the real you under - the one that you have hidden away and ignored. A mentor can help you realise what your true values are and help you work out ways to translate this to your present life.

If you do decide to hire a coach, do try a few out to see what different styles are available - many trainers offer a complimentary consultation where you are able to get to know the character of the trainer and their training style before deciding whether it's for you. Prices vary greatly, so this is where trying out many potential coaches can be particularly useful because you are able to decide whether the service you've just tried is well worth the asking price.

Proactive & Adaptable

Life is all about change. How you adapt to this change and how proactive you're in pursuing your ideal are what makes the difference in using a fulfilled life. Having a plan can assist you in being prepared for whatever life decides to throw at you while keeping you on track to achieving your dreams.