What Is a Personal Strategic Plan?

Life is indeed funny. People place greater priorities about vacations and even the common written grocery lists than they do their futures. Let me explain.

Most people have gone to the grocery store or market. In many instances, they take along a written market or grocery list to ensure that all the correct items are purchased. For many this list is written to be in strategic alignment with the store's interior space in mind.

Now sometimes the fates or distractions intervene and the piece of paper is left on the table, the refrigerator or near the phone on the desk. Then the buyer is frantically checking her or his memory to remember what to purchase. This failure to remember this simple little strategic plan generates the following outcomes:

• More money is spent
• Items not wanted are purchased
• Time is wasted walking up and down the aisles in attempts to remember what is needed

Then upon returning home, negative emotions kick in because some items were forgotten and now a second trip is required. The individual actually may think additional personal thoughts such as "How stupid could I be to leave the list at home?"

By all accounts this simple strategic plan is very important because of the wasted resources of time, energy, money and emotions. Yet, how many people have a personal strategic plan for their futures. Not too many is the answer.

Strategy comes from the Greek for a general to deceive the enemy. In life we are the generals and the enemy is everything keeping us from getting to where we want to be, to winning the war so to speak.

By investing the time to write down our goals (think the items on the grocery list) we as individuals now have far more control of where we wish to go than before. Returning to that market or grocery store analogy, who do you think is the happiest camper when shoppers leave that necessary document at home? Hint, he owns the store.

When personal strategic plans are not utilized, individuals now become pawns on someone else's playbook so to speak. They have relinquished control of their lives and willingly turned them over to someone else. I don't know about you, but I personally do not want to be a pawn in another's life.

A personal strategic plan, in my opinion, works much better when incorporating the Life Wheel concept. Buddha from my research was the first person to discuss the Life Wheel. After working with several different variations on this subject, I have created an 8 spoke Life Wheel that also employs a counter balance approach.

Draw a circle and divide it into eight equal pieces. Now starting at one o'clock label the eight sections as follow:

1. Purpose
2. Mental
3. Career
4. Family
5. Ethics and Beliefs (Spiritual)
6. Physical
7. Financial
8. Social

You will notice that Physical is directly across from Mental. This is because when we are not feeling well physically, our mental game suffers. The counterbalance effect can be found in the other areas of the Life Wheel:

• Purpose and Ethics and Beliefs
• Career and Financial
• Family and Social

Obviously there are written goals within each of the 8 key areas for the Life Wheel.

Additionally, a personal strategic plan should be simple and on one page. This document must also contain you:

1. Vision of where you see yourself in 3 to 5 years
2. Values those non-negotiable behaviors you will demonstrate 24//7
3. Mission for the current year usually 3 key goals
4. Personal motto statement
5. Dashboard of key performance indicators to ensure you stay on track

If you believe the common everyday written grocery list has significant value, then not having a personal strategic plan simply does not make sense. Invest the time to construct one and then work it. You just may be incredibly surprised by the results.

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Executive coach and consultant, Leanne Hoagland-Smith supports forward thinking leaders who are tired of the status quo and want dramatically improved results. Call 219.759.5601 CDT USA to just have a conversation about the results you are seeking.

P.S. Do you have a personal strategic plan for your life? If not, you may find this one page personal growth action plan of interest.