Personal Strategic Planning (Putting it all Together)

\"Nobody plans to fail - but a lot of people fail to plan.\"

Anon

Most successful companies have a strategic business plan. This plan provides a frame work that the senior executives use to move their company forward. Wikipedia defines strategic planning as \" an organization\'s process of defining its strategy and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including capital and people. \"

Okay, but what has that got to do with me? Well if world class companies use strategic planning to achieve success, maybe strategic planning can work for you.

Let\'s break down the process. The first part of a strategic plan is to look at the current situation and define the favorable outcome (vision). Next develop goals and objectives and a set of actions needed to reach those goals. Finally decide what resources are required to accomplish the goals.

For example let\'s say you are 20 pounds overweight. You have a vision of a favorable outcome (looking good in a bathing suit). You set a goal of losing 20 pounds by summer vacation. Finally you decide to spend the money (resources) and join a health club.

Now lets expand this strategic plan to include not just losing weight but reinventing yourself and becoming the person you want to be: successful and happy.

The first step is to create your Personal Vision. A personal vision statement should inspire and motivate. Is this vision statement something you can really get passionate about? If not, now is the time to rewrite your vision statement. As you write use powerful words, adjectives and action verbs that vividly describe the you of your dreams. Take the time to really refine this statement. This is Important ! Your Personal Vision Statement is critical to your success. Everything else is based on this vision.

Once you have strengthened your vision statement, put it some place where you are constantly reminded of the words in your statement.

Now that you have your Personal Vision Statement it\'s time to develop a Personal Mission Statement. Whoa! wait a minute what\'s the difference between a Personal Vision Statement and a Personal Mission Statement? Is this just an exercise or is it important to my success?

There is a big difference between a vision statement and a mission statement and yes it is vital to your success. Let me explain.... A vision statement puts in writing your dream of who you want to become. Just as Martin Luther King had a dream which inspired millions, your dream will inspire you. The mission statement puts some detail to the dream. For example let\'s say you want to start a business; a coffee shop. Your vision statement could be something like this: \"My coffee shop will be the best shop in town.\" Okay that\'s a great vision/dream, but how are you going to achieve that dream? That\'s the role of the mission statement. \" I will own the best coffee shop in town by serving only the finest coffees at reasonable prices. Customers will enjoy a friendly and intimate setting. My wait staff will be knowledgeable and trained in providing outstanding service.\"

Now create your own mission statement by expanding on your vision statement detailing how you will achieve your dream.

Again put it in writing and/or print it out and carry it with you. Write it on a small card and keep it in your pocket book/wallet. Use it as a screen saver, tape it to your bathroom mirror and/or put it on a bulletin board. Don\'t hide it away! Keep it in front of you as a constant inspiration.

Now is also a good time to start a journal. On the first page put your Personal Vision Statement and your Personal Mission Statement. Next write down your goals. Use the journal to keep track of your progress. Bear in mind that no one rides their bike at full speed every day. Some days you\'ll just coast and other days you\'ll be soaring. The important thing is at the end of a week, a month or a year you will have made progress. Keeping a journal will allow you to look back on how far you have come and inspire you to keep on pedaling.

The key to success is persistence \"Stick to Itness\", the person who has a vision and an action plan will not fail.

Let me illustrate this with a personal story. I have a nine year old grand daughter. Recently her gym class started jumping rope. Well my granddaughter wasn\'t a very good jumper. She would mange one or two jumps and then the rope would get tangled up in her legs. She would get frustrated throwing the rope down and call it stupid. But she had a dream or vision. She really wanted to be able to jump rope like some of her friends. So she developed an action plan. She practiced ever chance she got. She would drag the jump rope out whenever we were around, saying \"Watch me jump\". She wanted us to count how many times she jumped the rope without stopping. At first she was lucky if she made it to the count of ten. But soon she was doing one hundred or more jumps in a row.

After a few weeks she was jumping like a pro, hopping on one leg, twisting and turning. Needless to say my granddaughter is very proud of herself. She can now jump rope with the best of them. Most important she has learned a valuable life lesson. If you put your mind to something, practice and don\'t give up you will be successful.

Lastly I would like to leave you with this story about Winston Churchill, the legendary British Prime Minister and great war-time leader. Churchill was asked to speak before a group of young people and give them some advice on succeeding in the world. According to the story Churchill walked up to the podium, grasp it with both hands, stared in silence at the audience for a moment and then in his gravelly voice said: \" Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!\" He then turned from his audience and sat down. So as you work on self improvement, set goals for yourself and create an action plan remember Churchill\'s words and never give up.

Start living your best life now! Download your FREE copy of \"THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH\" @ http://www.onelifecoach4u.com and subscribe to our coaching ezine and receive valuable life changing tips and advice. Coach Pete is a Life and Business Coach and author of several books including \"The Bike of Life\".

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