We apply planning to so many situations, but rarely life itself.

You may like to live as free spirit. That’s ok. Admirable even.

If however you feel lost at times or simply that you’d like to make more of yourself, then make a plan. I’ve always used this basic structure:

• Headline focus
• Who am I?
• Where am I?
• Where do I want to be?
• How will I get there?

Headline focus

I have three areas of headline focus: Loved ones, health and career. For each of them I have my purpose and short term goals.

I use this as a summary of my plan and regularly check in to remind myself of the important areas of my life.

These priorities were created once I’d answered ‘Who am I?’ and was clear on what mattered to me.

Who am I?

I describe myself e.g. I’m an introvert who takes life quite seriously, but also someone who values being on time, exercise and learning.

Next is what’s important to me and makes me happy (this is what created my three headline focus areas).

I outline my roles in life e.g. father, husband, brother etc. and my vision for how I want to be seen by others in each of these. This helps reverse engineer my purpose in life, my mission, biggest fears and core values.

Finally I outline some life, work and personal truths – these are the realities I face that matter to me. For example life isn’t fair, my body will fail me one day, not everyone sticks to their word. It keeps me calm when life bites.

Where am I?

This is a simple summary of my current situation e.g. where I live and work, my interests and loved ones. I also outline my current strengths and weaknesses.

Where do I want to be?

I describe what happiness means to me e.g. great relationships with my loved ones, personal growth and giving something back.

I like to think about ‘The One Thing’ (great book by the way) that will help me achieve my meaningful outcomes e.g. health longevity.

A great question to ask yourself is what you want to be able to do in the last 10 years of your life e.g. walk your dog, climb stairs, travel, pick up your grand kids. This helps focus the mind on what actions you need to take today in order to be in that position.

Last is a straightforward bucket list! The most important things I set out to achieve in life.

How will I get there?

I’ve defined two primary mindsets that drive my action in any given moment. Each mindset has a set of characteristics, behaviors and mantras.

Underpinning these mindsets is my guiding compass – this is my inner voice, and I train it everyday. I’ve written more about it here.

I then have a high level set of actions, but I tend to use other tools for the everyday to do lists.

Final thought

You don’t need to have all the answers in one go, it might take you weeks to finish your plan. And it will change. But it’s a great way to get clarity on the direction of your life.