Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 226 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – Framework #1

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 226 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint. On this Trek, we are slowly mapping out the framework that will assist you in setting goals and creating a life plan for yourself. So far we have explored the purposes for an effective plan and some basic goal setting principles. On our trail today and tomorrow, we will review the overall concept of the 6 step framework to create a successful life plan through effective goal achievement.

Your life plan does not have to be overly complex. A simple but concise life plan is sufficient to achieve significant results in your life.  Just like our trek of life, we will take the life planning trail one step at a time. If you have any questions or would like additional information as we go through our daily trek, either leave a comment on Wisdom-Trek.com or email me at guthrie@venturecg.com.

Since this trek on life planning will take several days, if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our delayed Chamberlain Christmas celebration this past weekend was such an enjoyable blessing for Paula and me. All five of our children, their spouses, and our six grandchildren were able to spend Friday evening and all day Saturday with us. While some of my time was spent on meal preparation, I was able to share in all the festivities as we have an open floor plan in our house that makes it great for hosting activities.

Sunday evening through late Wednesday, we also have the blessing of having our grandson Kip staying with us as his parents take a few days off together. It is always a special time when we can share life with our grandkids. These amazing times with our children and grandchildren are part of our life plan. To make a lasting impact on them is a very important part of living our legacy each day.

Let’s head on the trail for day seven of our Wisdom-Trek Life Plan process which we refer to as…

Your Life Plan Blueprint

I mentioned yesterday that the framework that makes up the Wisdom-Trek Life Plan Blueprint consists of 6 steps for which I use the acronym of WESPER, which stands for:

1. Wisdom: Seek guidance from God and trusted mentors.
2. Establish: Set the vision and goal in place.
3. Strategy: Devise strategies to succeed in the goal.
4. Planning: Identify plan elements based on the strategies.
5. Execution: Bring the plan and goal to life.
6. Review: Assess the outcome and next steps.

Through this WESPER framework, goals you never thought achievable that make up your overall life plan will start becoming within your reach and in a matter of time, achieved. I personally use this framework to achieve my goals, and it works wonders.

Do not let the simplicity of the framework fool you. While these 6 steps look very simplistic, they are the foundation for successful goal achievement, especially for massive goals where the “what” and “how” for achieving them becomes elusive.

That being said, WESPER is not a miracle pill that takes out the hard work of fulfilling your life plan through goal achievement. WESPER is not an elixir that allows you to achieve your goals without lifting a finger. At the end of the day, you still need to put in the time and effort to achieve your life plan. As Proverbs 21:5 encourages us, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”

With WESPER, you will find the whole goal achievement to be significantly easier and more manageable. Instead of success being a random, haphazard occurrence, it will become a predictable, securable result. You will start seeing your goal obstructions crumble before you so naturally that you will wonder why you struggled so long with them in the beginning.

WESPER is what is going to take the question mark out of your goal achievement process. WESPER is what will put your goals right within your grasp and lead you to success. On our trails for today and tomorrow, we will explore an overview of what WESPER is about. On the subsequent days, we will explore each part of the framework in detail. After that, we will then provide you with tangible tools that will help you to create Your Life Plan Blueprint.

Why WESPER Is the Single Framework You Will Need For a Successful Life Plan through Goal Achievement

Within most other goal planning approaches, they expound different methods to goal achievement.  Some talk about how goal achievement is all about not procrastinating, being motivated, persistent, self-disciplined, “just doing it,” and so on. At best, these are very fluffy, air-fairy methods to goal pursuit. While these soft skills are important in their appropriate context, they do not give you any insights as to “what” exactly are the key steps needed to achieve your goals, let alone how they connect to the “why” of your life plan.

Persistence and desire can take you far, but they can only take you so far without a proper strategy to hold everything together. Very few other methods or processes address the crucial or secret element, which is to change your habits and life you must change your fundamental thinking process.

You certainly cannot rely on persistence and desire alone to achieve your huge goals and life planning.  A more structured approach based on wisdom is needed rather than just randomly firing at different things. Let me ask you this question. Would you prefer to be firing 100 shots every time and hit only once, or funnel your energy properly and get an 80/100 hit rate with a properly constructed blueprint?

There are some other good frameworks like SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound) or GTD (Getting Things Done).  While these are great methods in themselves (I have used principles from both of these in my life), they are one-dimensional in the scope of goal achievement. For example, SMART only pertains to goal setting (the second step of WESPER), and it does not address the over-arching question of “why” you are setting this goal (where does it fit in your life plan).  It does not guide you on what is to be done between setting the goal and actually reaching the goal in the end.

In addition to that, SMART itself is not exhaustive on the principles of what makes a good goal. GTD is great for planning and executing (fourth and fifth steps of WESPER), but it deals with the lower levels of goal achievement. It neglects the higher levels of goal establishment and strategizing, which are pertinent to successful goals. It does not address the goals from an overall life planning process.

What is lacking in most other goal systems is a holistic, single system that captures the essential key steps for successful goal achievements and how those goals tie into your life plan.

WESPER is an overall blueprint – a single, holistic framework that covers all that is to be done in life planning through goal achievement, from start to finish. It starts off with seeking wisdom on how a goal fits into your life plan and then moves onto the establishing of your goal. From there it steps you through the strategy process to planning, the execution of those plans, and then the review of what you have done and the lessons you can learn from and adopt for the next time. It maps out the key steps you need to take for every goal you pursue as part of your life plan and guides you along throughout the whole process. WESPER is Your Life Plan Blueprint.

I mentioned yesterday, the Wisdom-Trek life planning process is not a quick fix process, but instead, it is a life-changing process. It is simple, yet complete. This process dovetails into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, one step at a time. Tomorrow we will finish the overview of WESPER, the 6 step blueprint for life plan framework. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, I encourage you to help us promote Wisdom-Trek in the following four ways:

1. Leave us feedback about the podcast on Wisdom-Trek.com.
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Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!