Column

Take the Initiative: Creating Your Strategic Life Plan
Perspectives from MPI’s Women’s Leadership and Multicultural Initiatives
By Jane Sanders

Modern-day philosopher and actor Shirley MacLaine once said, “You are the architect of your personal experience.”
The 49 attendees at the “Make It Happen! Create Your Strategic Life Plan” workshop during MPI’s 2004 Professional Education Conference-North America (PEC-NA) in San Antonio can now agree with MacLaine. The session gave attendees the tools, confidence and boost they needed to start commanding their lives and taking charge of their futures.

The session prompted insights that were truly life-altering. One woman understood for the first time that her most compelling dream was to write a book and that having children was a surprising second priority. One man began looking forward to helping his 20-something daughter develop her life plan. Some attendees could finally see their way to the top in their careers.

A few planners and suppliers realized that they wanted less responsibility in their professional lives, not more. Their definition of success in leadership did not translate specifically to career aspirations, but rather to success in their personal lives. Many learned that success manifests itself in different forms for different people. And everyone in attendance discovered that writing down goals and the specific steps to achieve those goals gave them a feeling of control and power they didn’t know they had.

Was it easy? No. Digging deep to uncover your true dreams, fears and priorities is not a cakewalk. But it can be enormously fulfilling and life changing.

The workbook for the workshop will soon be available online from MPI’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. It consists of more than 30 pages of activities and exercises designed to help you discover the direction you want to take in key life areas such as career, family, health, finances, relationships and spirituality.

The following activities were completed at the “Make It Happen!” workshop during the 2004 PEC-NA. Combine these with the suggestions outlined in “Aspiring to Lead? Make It Happen!” (The Meeting Professional, July 2003) and you will be on your way to taking the guesswork out of key daily decisions.

Your Life As It Is Now
1. List at least five things you are passionate about.
2. List at least 10 of your favorite things to do.
3. What are your accomplishments? Tackle this chronologically, starting with accomplishments made as a child. These do not have to be huge events; anything you’re proud of is an accomplishment.
4. What are you good at? This is not the time to be humble.
5. What’s stopping you? What circumstances, people or thoughts are keeping you from achieving what you want in your professional and personal time? Are these blocks real, or do they involve a trade-off you are not willing to make? Which of those blocks are really in your control? Who can help, advise or support you with the remaining blocks?

Your Life In The Future
1. Clarify your priorities by finishing the following statements: My best talent is… The most important thing in the world to me is … Every day I try hard to… The biggest contribution I could make in the world is… I think the purpose of life is… The three most important things I still want to accomplish in my life are… Some day, I want to look back and reflect on my life and think, “I’m glad I…”
2. Pretend you have one week to live. What task or goal would feel the most unfinished if you could not complete it? Answer this question for the following areas of your life: personal, family, work and career, other people, core values, finances, spirituality and personal growth.
3. Declare your purpose. What is your guiding inner desire or way of living that feels rewarding? How do you want to make a difference? Just let your pen flow with ideas. Your purpose and vision could take weeks to settle, so don’t stress out.
4. Clarify your vision, which briefly describes who you want to be and what you want to be known for, personally and professionally, toward the end of your life. It is much bigger and bolder than you currently are, and must seem nearly impossible today. Your mission also involves your purpose, which is the ultimate goal for your life.

Make It Happen!
Review what you’ve written. Below each activity, identify your “bottom line”—the most important responses. These should give you information and direction for your plan.
1. Identify your goals for the next two years. Where do you want to be, or what do you want to accomplish with your career? Family? Relationships? Health? Finances? Spirituality? How about your goals for five years from now? Keep in mind your plan is not written in stone. Things change, and it will need to be adjusted.
2. For each goal, write down the strategies you will use to achieve it.
3. For each strategy, identify all of the necessary steps.
Identify specific deadlines for every strategy and action step. The workbook has examples, many more activities to make developing your plan easier and sample purpose and vision statements.

You now have the tools to make a plan for the life you want and the leadership you desire. Don’t let writer Ashleigh Brilliant’s comment apply to you: “One reason things aren’t going according to plan is that there never was a plan!”

JANE SANDERS, president of Authentic Leadership Resources, is a speaker, trainer and facilitator in the areas of authentic leadership, gender communication, strategic life planning, presentation skills and facilitation. She is the author of GenderSmart: Solving The Communication Puzzle Between Men and Women (Full Gallop Press). Contact Sanders at jane@janesanders.com.