STRATEGIC LIFE PLAN.

My Strategic Life Plan.

Your strategic life plan considers all of the areas in your life that are important to
you. This plan is based on a framework of personal values, hopes and dreams. Straying
from your plan on a whim becomes a risk that’s quantifiable. So having any plan in
place provides a means to calculate risk and manage impulsiveness.
For a college student this is imperative, as the risks and available impulses are
many.
It’s just like surfing or snowboarding. They are exhilarating and sometimes
terrifying sports. For a few, calm moments, just before you launch off the top of the
wave or that enormous mountain that will propel you into the twists and turns below,
you can see almost everything in front of you. At once, you decide how to take the
turns, manage the risk, and if you gain too much speed, how to slow down or duck out
entirely. The more you practice, the better you get, and the more natural the decision-
making feels. Going through life without a strategic plan would be like a novice snowboarder
deciding to blaze down a treacherous black diamond course instead of a sensible bunny
hill. Imminent disaster.
This template is meant to help you organize your priorities, establish your life
goals and design your own plan.

Step 1: Establish Your Priorities
List the areas in your life that are very important to you. This list might include your family, career, health,
financial security, community service, and spiritual. Once you identify your valuable areas, number them from
extremely important (#1) to least important (#20, or whatever you ended up with)

Step 2: Establish Your Goals
For each of your priorities identified in Step 1 above, think about where you want to be in that area of your life
in the next one to two years, the next five years, and ultimately, at the end of your life.

MY LIFE AREAS    In 1-2 YEARS I want to be here:    In 5 YEARS I want to be here:     Ultimately, I want to be here:

Step 3: Develop Your Action Plan
Keep this in your mind at all times: What gets planned – gets done! Without specific steps and dates, all you have
is a wish list - not a plan.
Writing in the details of the plan is essential to your success. This is where you set in place the action steps and
deadlines to get you where you want to be and help you accomplish your goals.
Consider using the SMART Model: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and within a specific Timeframe.
You will need to identify detailed steps for each one of the “Goals” you wrote in Step 2 above. The following
page shows a sample of one Life Area (Education), one goal and its action steps.
You will only start your plan here, but it must end up as complete as possible. It needs to become a part of the
substance of your daily schedule, and thus, your life (so you can make your life happen.)
Remember, this is NOT written in stone - not your purpose, or any of the goals or steps. Just as in a strategic plan
in business, things change. Life has a funny way of shifting from time to time, requiring adjustments in timing,
steps, and resources. Sometimes you might simply change your mind, but to get anywhere, you must start
somewhere.