Practicing Significance

Glorifying God by fulfilling your own unique purposes through the never-ending

action of acquiring, using, and sharing diverse resources.

Making and Executing Your Life Plan

“If you want to, you will find a way; if not, you’ll find an excuse.”   Unknown

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”   Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.”  C.K. Chesterton

Introduction

This lesson presupposes that you have read and acted upon the Practicing Significance Lessons on Knowing Your Purposes and Setting Your Goals.  If so, you know why you want live your life a certain way, and you know what you want to accomplish in your life.  The purpose of this lesson is to provide ideas about allocating your resources so you can fulfill your purposes and accomplish your goals.

Reviewing the Past

Many people might recommend that you do a thorough review of your past year’s activities in order to find out how you have already been allocating your resources.  However, it is likely that you now have different purposes and goals than you had last year, so you are likely going to make a lot of changes anyway.  Therefore, our starting point is…knowing the status of our current resources; then we can begin the allocation process and the process of gaining additional resources. 

Tabulating Your Resources

Take the time now to take a detailed written inventory of your resources.  It might be a good idea to review this list with a trusted friend or family member.  In the process you will find that you have an immense amount of resources.  Some of these are common to all of us, while some are specific to you.  You will later find that in some cases there is a conflict between your goals and your resources.  In these cases, take special time and effort to determine the reason for the conflict and if it can (or should) be resolved.  You may find that you need to alter some of your goals.  God has or will provide you the necessary resources to accomplish his purposes and goals for you.  Therefore, if you do not have or will not have the resources, you may need to review your purposes and goals, or dedicate yourself to gathering more resources.

The following is a list of some resources:

· Time.  We are all given just twenty-four hours every day.  Since we have a limited amount, this is usually the most critical of the resources to allocate. 

· Money.  Since we all have a limited amount, this is usually the second most critical of the resources to allocate.

· Health.  We are all currently at a certain state of health.  For most of us, that state will very slowly erode.  However, many of us have the opportunity to improve our health, and thereby increase our physical resources. 

· Mental capacity.  As with our physical health, we are all at a certain state of mental capacity.  For most of us, that state will very slowly erode as we age.  However, there are many ways to improve aspects of our emotional well-being and our mental prowess.

· Personality.

· Skills and talents.  These include the skills and talents that you use at business, church, and at home.  Some of the more technical skills might include:  handyman, auto repair, homemaker, financial analysis, or counselor.  More mundane (but often critically needed) skills include:  dependability, reading, writing, driving, visiting, and shopping.

· Spiritual gifts.  These include discernment, generosity, teaching, etc. 

Writing Your Life Plan

At this point, I presume that you know and have stated your purposes, know and have stated your goals, and know and have stated your resources.  Congratulations, you have done most of the hard work.  Now you get to enjoy watching the pieces fit together, while having the comfort of knowing that you can make continual adjustments as you execute your life plan.

In my opinion, the first draft of a life plan should be used to see all the pieces, get close to a workable plan, and provide a basis for discussion with your spouse or trusted advisor.  It is not necessary for the plan to be too detailed or specific.  Further, if it is too restrictive or unpleasant, it is unlikely that you will try to follow it.  Appendix 1 shows my personal life plan which should be useable for at least the next year.  Although you may choose to set yours up much differently, I started by stating my goals, allocating my time to specific activities, then planning what I generally want to do with my financial resources.  As you can guess, it took less than an hour to write the plan, but many hours of thought and work prior to writing it.  The first time I wrote Appendix 1, it was much more ambitious.  However, I took the time to write Appendix 2 and had to revise Appendix 1.  Because of time restrictions, I was very disappointed not to be able to meet some of the goals I had set.  All of a sudden, I realized that instead of having too much time on my hands after retirement, I didn’t have nearly enough.  Therefore, I worked through Appendix 3 in an effort to squeeze out a little more time.

Successfully Executing Your Life Plan

Like most people, I have heard or read countless times about goal setting and planning.  For the most part, prior to age 52, I chose not to spend the time or the effort to plan my life.  Fortunately, I was still able to have an active and successful business and personal life.  Yet, in looking back, there was so much I missed because life just seemed to happen.  Maybe you have led a similar life.  If so, I urge you to go back and find your purpose, set your goals, and make a life plan, so you can enjoy the same feelings I was privileged to receive after doing so.

After completing Appendix 1 and Appendix 2, I felt exhilarated.  For the first time in my life, I felt like I knew what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it.  I felt that I was headed in the right direction to start fulfilling my life’s purposes.  It felt comfortable and enjoyable.  It felt right. I felt focused.

With all of those positive feelings, it would have taken a team of wild horses to hold me back.  It wasn’t a case of having to do something unpleasant, but a case of looking forward to a wonderful future.  I knew that there would be problems and changes, but I had a framework to make them and that I could do so with a positive attitude.  For the first time, I knew that executing a plan would be as simple as the old Nike slogan, “Just do it!”

Investors’ Business Daily is a wonderful business newspaper.  One of my favorite articles in the paper is about successful people.  From these articles, they have come up with their IBD’S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS which is shown in Appendix 4.  After finishing Appendix 1 and 2, I felt very good about wanting to apply the rules in Appendix 4.  They all fit together very well.

Conclusion

Making and executing your life plan begins with a simple process, but lasts a lifetime.  When you are able to make your purposes, goals, and plan all fit together, you will feel a sense of freedom and success that will grow as you successfully Just Do It.

APPENDIX 1 – PURPOSE, GOALS AND LIFE PLAN

The following is the simplified Life Plan of Philip Smith as of October, 2004.

Purpose:  Glorify God by stewarding all that is entrusted to me to meet spiritual, physical and intellectual needs of others.

Goals:

· Invest myself in my marriage.  Lose 5 pounds.  Take one significant trip per month. Learn incessantly. Keep the daily appointments God has made for me.

· Allot my family the necessary time and effort to meet their needs and continue our good relationships.

· Become part of my church family.

· Get involved with three micro-loan projects.

· Get focused on one mission project at my new church home.

· Develop my personal relationship with Jesus.  Join a men’s Bible study group.  Start the Practicing Significance radio program; reach 10,000 people by 2010.

Average Daily Time Allocation:     7 hours       Sleep

                                                          3 hours       Family

                                                          1 hour         Bible/prayer

                                                          3 hours       Church/non-profit

                                                          2 hours      Fitness

                                                          1 hour         Learning

                                                          1 hour         Leisure

                                                          2 hours      Travel

                                                          3 hours       Personal business

                                                          1 hour         Miscellaneous

In the above schedule, combine activities as much as possible.

Income and Asset Allocation:  Invest assets to provide enough income to cover annual expenses (reduce expenses if needed).  Determine “minimum” amount of assets to have at age 70.  Adjust current annual giving schedule to meet this minimum.  Finalize estate planning to meet personal goals.

APPENDIX 2 – DAILY TIME SCHEDULE EXAMPLE

After retirement, many people find that entire days, weeks, or even years seem to pass them by.  They are thrilled to live without a binding time schedule like they had in years past, but find that without a schedule weeks go by with nothing of importance getting done.  After you finish your personal life plan, it is helpful to do an actual daily schedule to see if you can accomplish your goals and purposes.  Fortunately, in the second half of our lives, our time schedules can often be very flexible. My current schedule is:  

Travel:  5 days a month for leisure, learning, and travel.  When traveling, try to maintain schedule below as much as possible.

Church/Non-profit:  1 weekday a week dedicated to non-profit activity.

5:15 AM     M-Sa          Exercise, shower, dress

                   Su               Sleep or walk

7:00 AM    M-Sa          Bible study, prayer, light breakfast

8:00 AM    M-Sa          Business, study, learning, Practicing Significance

                   Su               Ready for Church

12:00 PM  M-Su          Light lunch, then recreation or study or business

4:00 PM    M-Su          Begin personal relationship time

6:00 PM    M-Su          Dinner

7:00 PM    M-Su          Study or family time

9:30 PM    M-Su          Prepare for bedtime

APPENDIX 3 – FINDING MORE TIME

Multi-task

Sleep less

Reduce TV time

Reduce newspaper time

Hire a personal assistant

Exercise efficiently

Eat less

Eat out less

Own less stuff

Buy less stuff; shop less

Books on tape

Do activities with loved ones

Schedule time

Drive less

Talk on phone less

Limit time on internet

APPENDIX 4 – IBD’S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS

Investor’s Business Daily is a wonderful financial newspaper.  It often has wonderful articles concerning financially related topics.  One column that is printed often concerns its ideas concerning success.  The following is a copy of the column heading.

Investor’s Business Daily has spent years analyzing leaders and successful people in all walks of life.  Most have 10 traits that, when combined, can turn dreams into reality.  Each day we highlight one.

1. HOW YOU THINK IS EVERYTHING:  Always be positive.  Think success, not failure.  Beware of a negative environment.

2. DECIDE UPON YOUR TRUE DREAMS AND GOALS: Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

3. TAKE ACTION: Goals are nothing without action.  Don’t be afraid to get started.  Just do it.

4. NEVER STOP LEARNING: Go back to school or read books.  Get training and acquire skills.

5. BE PERSISTENT AND WORK HARD: Success is a marathon, not a sprint.  Never give up.

6. LEARN TO ANALYZE DETAILS: Get all the facts, all the input.  Learn from your mistakes.

7. FOCUS YOUR TIME AND MONEY: Don’t let other people or things distract you.

8. DON’T BE AFRAID TO INNOVATE; BE DIFFERENT: Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

9. DEAL AND COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE EFFECTIVELY: No person is an island.  Learn to understand and motivate others.

10. BE HONEST AND DEPENDABLE: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY: Otherwise, Nos. 1-9 won’t matter.