Life Plan Week 3

I’m working on creating a Life Plan between now and the end of the year. You should totally do one too! That way I’m not the only dork on the block. Let’s be dorks TOGETHER!

 

There are six basic steps for writing a Life Plan:

Life Plan Week 1: Wants

Life Plan Week 2: Needs

Life Plan Week 3: Preparation

Life Plan Week 4: Goals

Life Plan Week 5: Plans

Life Plan Week 6: Accountability

 

Before I move on to Week 3 and delve into my Life Plan *PREPARATION*, let’s recap my *WANTS* from Week 1 and my *NEEDS* from Week 2.

 

WANTS / HOPES / DREAMS / NEEDS:

— complete my novel which didn’t happen during NaNoWriMo

— publish my novel which can’t happen until I get my ass in gear writing

— lose weight

— ride an elephant because YES

— increase income so I can:

…brand bloggy-blog

…buy another car

…hire a housecleaner

…fix house shit

— become economically stable enough to eventually:

…visit Europe and make mad love across the Old World continent

…move to Canada because this country is full of meanie-pantses

…go back to college with my sweetheart

…open a book shop

 

It should be noted that I am not including my Birthday / Christmas Wish List herein. I’ll hit up that topic in a separate post. Moving on…

 

PREPARATION:

Decide on a format before writing your life plan.

1. Choose between a narrative or outline form. Alternatively, find a decent template.
2. Consider drawing up a Life Map showing how your life is doing on a yearly level, recording important events and milestones.
3. Do you have a sense of Purpose? Have you identified your Life Purpose?

 

Duuuude. This one is heavy! Good thing I started thinking about this one a few weeks ago.

 

Psych.

 

It’s Friday afternoon and I have to complete this before my daughter gets home from school. Which is in two hours.

 

Fuck-a-doodle-doo.

 

A. FORMAT

All right, I think if I have to choose between narrative versus outline format, we all know I’d go with a nice mix of the two. First, because “combo” is not listed as an option and we all know how much I love breaking the rules. And second, because I can compose a narrative around an outline. Isn’t that kind of what I’m doing with this series? Yeah. That’s what I thought.

 

So. Narative Outline it is. I’m good with that. A talkie-talkie list is what I’ve been doing anyway. No template for me, thanks!

 

B. LIFE MAP

mmmm. Don’t know about all that. It seems like a repeat of the whole Life Plan process, only backwards — where you’ve BEEN as opposed to where you’re GOING. Did I mention I only have a limited amount of time to complete this before my daughter gets home from school?

 

*sigh*

 

I can hear you complaining that I’m not taking this seriously, and thus cannot possibly come up with a serious Life Plan. Okay, okay. You’re right. So then I will check out some Life Maps and report back momentarily…

 

So here’s one easy-peasy Life Map template that isn’t so very bad.

 

“To get the most of your life,

it is important to see

how your life is doing…

all of us should have a vision,

a life purpose,

that will guide our whole life

and provide measurement of our productivity.”

 

This exercise suggests writing down the milestones you have accomplished within the last few years of your life as a way of determining whether or not you are allowing the “years [to] just pass by without anything significant.”

 

So, for example, I might note that in 2006 I finally obtained my rinky-dink Associate’s Degree. And then later that same year found a job I really liked, which taught me so many professional and social skills that I wonder how I was able to get through the world prior to working there. I stayed five+ years, not accomplishing much else on a personal level during 2006-2012, when I finally quit because I needed to stay home.

 

So here I am, six years down the road, and the only thing I’ve accomplished between then and now is starting this here bloggy-blog and working on my novel. Okay, I also married my darling hubz sometime during that period, and we bought a house, but that’s mostly *IT* as far as great milestones are concerned.

 

Not that I’m depressed about it — I like where I’m at, and am excited to see where my writing takes me. You can only do what you can do, and I am happy to be at a place where I am able to pursue new things.

 

C. LIFE PURPOSE

Wow. I was wondering if we could cram any more giant, introspective ideas into ONE blog post. Seriously? This could be a separate series all on its own.

 

Um, that’s very funny, because there actually *is* an entire seven-post series on discovering your purpose. That’s kind of lengthy. I will read it, but methinks my response will have to wait for another day.

 

Here’s a shorter version of finding your life purpose, and why it’s important to do so.

 

“Your life purpose makes everything you do meaningful.”

Your life purpose can provide motivation by “helping you see beyond the horizon.”

Yikes, but even this “shorter” version still calls for more of an essay than I will be able to delve into for this post. Guess I’m going to have to do an extra one somewhere along the way. That gums up the works a bit, doesn’t it? I had my schedule all planned out, and now I have to find an extra week between now and the end of the stupid year.

 

Greaaaaaaaaaaaat.

 

Four pages of blather and the only conclusions I have reached are thus:

1. When I get around to actually writing this stupid Life Plan thingy, it will be in the form of a narrative outline.

 

2. The biggest milestones I have achieved in the last six years are obtaining a cereal box degree, marrying my lover, buying a shitty yellow house, starting this here bloggy-blog, and getting busy on my novel.

 

3. I will be writing an extra post at some point on my Life Purpose which will supposedly help me create my Life Plan.

 

4. I was ill-prepared for this stupid Life Plan thingy and I resent that for some reason. I feel a bit like an asshole. Like, the joke’s on me.

 

This isn’t supposed to be so exasperating, is it? What am I missing here?