Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 227 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – Framework #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 227 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint. On this Trek, we are mapping out the framework that will assist you in setting goals and creating a life plan for yourself. We have explored the purposes for an effective plan, some basic goal setting principles, and yesterday and today we are exploring the overall concept of the 6 step framework to create a successful life plan through an effective goal achievement. This powerful but easy to implement framework is the core for Your Life Plan Blueprint. 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 our 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. We are enjoying the time we are able to spend with our grandson Kip, who is staying with us for a few days while his parents are out of town. We cherish the teachable moments of everyday life and take our responsibility to be a positive role model very seriously, without the need to be too serious ourselves. Proverbs 13:22 tells us, “Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth passes to the godly.” This inheritance and wealth are so much more than money. It is the legacy that we live each day.

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

Your Life Plan Blueprint

Yesterday on our trail, we started an overview of the framework that makes up the Wisdom-Trek Life Plan Blueprint and consists of 6 steps for which I use the acronym 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.

Today we will explore some important facts about the WESPER framework.

Things to Know about WESPER 

1. The framework is applicable for any goal.

As part of Your Life Plan Blueprint, we will explore setting at least one goal in each of the seven areas on our wheel of life that we described on day 224. Those seven areas are:

1. Spiritual
2. Family
3. Physical/Health
4. Mind/Intellect
5. Personal/Social
6. Financial
7. Work/Career

The WESPER framework is applicable in all areas of your life. What goals do you have? Finding a job you love? Losing weight? Increasing traffic to your blog? Setting up your business? Improving your health? Buying a new home? Building stronger relationships? No matter what goal you have, WESPER is totally applicable and relevant. In short, it can be used for virtually any goal in the world.

2. Each step serves its own role and is pertinent to the success of the goal.

They are individual parts of a system that make it whole. While the only essential step is the fifth step of Execution, trying to skip any of the other steps will jeopardize your chances and degree of success.

3. The steps occur in succession of one another.

The steps occur in a succession of one another – meaning that the first step needs to be done and locked before going to the second, and so on. Thus, each step should be defined as accurately as possible before moving to the next to prevent disruption and rework. Say, for example, you set the goal for yourself to lose 30 pounds. You make a series of strategies and plans. But as you start losing the weight, you find yourself feeling tired, unhealthy, and weak. You realize that you do not exactly want to lose 30 pounds; you actually just want to be healthy. Since the basis of the goal is different, this changes in-between steps, like an increased focus on exercise and choosing healthy foods instead of just losing weight. The further down you are in execution and the larger the magnitude of change in the initial step, the more disorienting it will be to revise your plans to reflect the change. Thus, it is important to be rigorous with each step of the framework.

4. Progression through the steps symbolizes your goal being manifested from a mental creation to physical creation.

As you start off with the first step (Wisdom), it is essential that you seek guidance from God and/or trusted mentors to ensure the goal is wise and achievable. It is at this initial step that you can determine the “why” of this goal. After the first step, then you can confidently move onto the Establishment of the worthwhile achievable goal. This is the creative part of the process. As you move through the steps, you are essentially taking that virtual creation inside your mind and giving it physical form and shape in your physical reality.

5. The framework is best suited for taking big, long range goals and creating the steps (short and medium range goals) needed for completion.

WESPER is a framework for busting your big, long range goals into easy to complete smaller goals which you are reasonably confident in achieving. This will promote your ability to move forward faster with more efficiency in completing your goals. The Wisdom-Trek Life Plan Blueprint starts with the larger end goals in mind and works backward through the smaller steps that are needed to achieve the end game.

6. The framework sets  you up for success in your goal.

Having this systematic approach to goal achievement helps dramatically increase your chances of success for two simple reasons:

1. First, if there are problems with achieving the goal, you can always look back and identify exactly in which stage the issue arose and resolve it from there.
2. Second, it ensures all bases are covered, and you do not leave any stone unturned.

Starting tomorrow, we will be exploring in detail each of the six steps that make up the WESPER framework. I will be detailing the specifics of each step, the role each serves, and how to apply it in real life.

While I am a big proponent of life planning with detailed goal setting, I also realize that there are many unforeseen circumstances that happen in our lives. The WESPER framework has a way to handle those situations built into the system. We do not want to make excuses for inaction but also understand that ultimately God’s Word should guide the steps that we take. Psalms 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

This process dovetails into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, one step at a time.  Tomorrow we begin our detailed analysis of the 6 step WESPER framework starting with wisdom. 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.
2. On your smartphone, subscribe on iTunes, GooglePlay, Spreaker, Soundcloud or Stitcher, so the podcast will be downloaded to you automatically each day.
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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!