The biggest challenge we face today is clutter. We live in an era where there is so much of information thrown at us every single day, and we rarely ever stop to think. How do declutter in a world when more is considered better?
Many of us are on auto-pilot, and we are doing things that are irrelevant or not helping us reach our intended goal.
I see a lot of high powered professionals who have attained substantial amount of success in their career, and are powering their companies all the way to the top. They seem to have it all figured out when it comes to work and business, but they struggle in their personal lives.
A lot of times, it is because their personal lives lack the structure they have in their jobs. What if all these successful career professionals started planning their personal lives? And started running their personal lives just like their business? Would they be happier?
Most organized businesses have a strategic plan. But how many individuals have a personal strategic plan?
Even among my highly successful friends, very rarely do I see anyone with a written personal strategic plan.
How to declutter with a personal strategic plan?
Creating a Framework For Decision Making
We all know the meaning of a strategic plan. It is a framework for decision making. It gives direction and purpose. It is mostly created by CEOs and decision makers to guide their companies towards a common purpose.
However, as individuals, we too need direction and purpose in our everyday lives.
The purpose of a personal strategic plan is:
- To provide direction and purpose to our life
- Get clarity about values, principles, and goals
- Focus on things that are most important, and stop wasting time on things that are irrelevant.
- Leverage our skills more effectively
- Have more meaningful relationships
Sometimes, it’s important to take help from a coach. If you watch sports, you’ll observe that some of the best players have the best coaches.
What to include in a personal strategic plan?
When it comes to personal strategic planning, one of the best coaches I know is Gary Ryan Blair. His personal strategic planning program includes:
- Your Vision Statement
- Your Legacy Statement
- Your Mission Statement
- Your Personal Philosophy
- Defining and Measuring Your Values
- Developing Your Personal Code of Ethics
- Developing Your Lifetime Objectives
- Developing Your Goals
- Developing Your Action Plans
- Developing Your Organizing Themes
- Developing Your Personal Board of Directors
- Measuring and Monitoring Your Performance
Gary’s program also includes a visualization exercise to help you get clarity about your life, a balance profile that identifies where you are now and how to get from where you are now to where you want to go, a series of forms to keep you on track with your highest priorities, a planning template and pdf document to create your plan easily and make changes as and when necessary.
Finding clarity and doing only the things that are important in our lives can be very liberating. But to do that, we need to identify what is truly important in our lives.
Check out Gary Ryan Blair’s course Personal Strategic Plan to create an organized strategic plan. I hope this answers the question how to declutter?