Creating a Life Plan

I recently downloaded and read Michael Hyatt's ebook (pdf) Creating a Life Plan. I think I'm going to take this up (create my own life plan), tweeking Michael's system for my own needs. It's all about intentionality--being thoughtful about what you're doing with your time, figuring out what's important to you and setting some goals.

As for the "tweeking," I'm probably not going to work all this out for every aspect of my life in a two day retreat (as Michael suggests), but will take one category at a time, giving myself a week to work out the details of the plan. Really it's pretty interesting. For me, it's simply a response to the recognition that I've been drifting through life of late and need to take the rudder, as they say, and set my course.

Categories? You choose. Michael's are, Health, Marriage, Family, Career, Finances, Ministry. He's talking about being intentional about all of these things. I'm not the most highly-organized guy around, and I do actually value the messiness of life. I don't want to eliminate that, and the idea that you can really plan your life may smack of hubris. But I don't really think of this as a plan so much as the setting of values and targets, which is something we all do every day without much thought.

I'm 55 this year and am thinking about the time I have left. Not morbidly, mind you, just facing up to the reality that what lies before me is a shorter road than what lies behind. I haven't exactly been carping the diem lately!

More on all this in a future post.