Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 232 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – 10 Principles (5-7)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 232 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint.  Just like our trek through life, we are making slow but resolute progress learning how to integrate your life plan with effective goals and objectives. We are hiking the trail of 10 key principles or stepping stones for setting goals. So far we have explored the first four, goal setting principles which were:

1. Ensure congruency with your life purpose.
2. Ensure your purpose represents your Wheel of Life.
3. Understand your motivations.
4. Identify your objective goal first and then define your activity goals.

Today we will continue with the next three key principles which are very important for setting and achieving effective goals and creation of your life plan.

These 10 principles are part of the establish phase of what we refer to as our WESPER framework which stands for: Wisdom, Establish, Strategy, Planning, Execution, and Review. As we navigate through this process, I am assembling the daily journals of this series on Your Life Plan Blueprint, which I will release as a downloadable course/workbook for your use. I will let you know when it is complete.

If you have any questions or would like additional information as we go through our daily trek leave a comment on Wisdom-Trek.com or email me at guthrie@venturecg.com. Your Life Plan Blueprint trek spans many days, and the concepts build on each other as we climb toward the summit. 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 The Big House in Marietta. Sunday I had the privilege of speaking at the morning service at Putnam Congregational Church. I spoke on how Life is Like Brewing Coffee. There are certain steps that need to be taken to brew a great cup of coffee. In the same manner, there are certain steps that we need to take in our lives to create a great life. If you would like to hear this information, listen to Day 104 of our Wisdom-Trek.

This week will be busy with client work and meetings. Also, we need to process tax information for several of our clients within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, I will also be able to get started on the woodwork and floors within the Big House. One thing for sure is that we will make it a great week.

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

Your Life Plan Blueprint^©

Let’s begin with another question today. Based on yesterday’s hike, are you clear on the difference between objective goals and activity goals?  If not, please listen to Day 231 or read the daily journal to gain the full concept.  As a quick recap, an example of an objective goal is a long-range 7-year goal which gives you a destination or target in each of the 7 areas of your life. This is the basis for your life plan. Activity goals are the steps or task that we need to perform today, this week, this month, and this year to reach your 7-year objective goal.

A couple of objective goals that we should all pursue are:

1 Corinthians 14:1 – Let love be your highest goal.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 – Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.

With this in mind, let’s move on to the next three key principles that are crucial in establishing your goals.

5. Plan for B³ goals.

A B³ is a Big, Bold, and Brave goal that is so visionary and ambitious that you have people going “wow” and telling you that you are nuts when you share it with them. B³ goals move you out of your comfort zone and are great for personal growth. B³ goal pursuits require you to take on an entirely different set of thinking and strategy rather than a normal goal. They stretch you to levels you were previously not aware of. These are paradigm changing goals. B³ goals are particularly important when setting objective goals.

You will typically factor in many considerations as you are setting your goals and could end up with half-baked goals in the name of realism and practicality. Do not do that. These considerations are all just “noise” and they are irrelevant at the goal setting stage. Focus purely on what you want and not how to do it. The “how” part will come in the later steps of your WESPER framework.

Your B³ goals should be big, challenging and motivating to you all at the same time. Be bold, but challenging realistic.  Setting small goals which don’t inspire or setting goals which are too big and discourage you defeat the purpose.

6. Be specific with your goals.

Be very specific about what you want, especially on activity goals. The more specific you are, the better guided you are in your goal pursuit. Some guiding questions you can use include: What do you want to accomplish at the end point? What is the exact end output you are expecting? What is the time frame you are setting?

Ambiguous goal leads to ambiguous results. Imagine trying to shoot at a target that did not have any markings. How can you aim when you do not even know what the target is? When your end point is clearly marked out, you have a clear target to focus on.

7. Make goals measurable.

This principle applies specifically for activity goals, rather than objective goals since objective goals are meant to be continuous directions to pursue (see Wisdom-Trek Day 231).

For your activity goals to be effective, they need to be measurable. They should come with:

• a deadline
• a value you can measure against

These measures will be your success criteria when you evaluate your performance. For example, if you have a goal to meditate or pray each day, your measurable step may be to “Get up 5 minutes earlier each day to cultivate the habit of meditating 30 minutes every morning by certain (but specific) date.”   If your activity goal is to lose weight, your measurable step may be to “Lose 20lbs by a certain (but specific) date.”

For tasks which are qualitative, find a way to assess it. Let’s say your goal is to be more confident. One way to make it measurable is to set a target for how many times you force yourself out of your comfort zone in the day and speak up when you would have otherwise not said anything. Another example may be a goal to be more disciplined. That in itself is too vague. You can attach it to an activity you want to achieve – such as waking up at 6 am and focus on self-improvement through disciplined tasks. It is then you will have measurable steps toward your success rate of performing that task.

As we explore the 10 principles to establish goals within our WESPER framework, you are learning the keys to set effective goals within your life plan which fulfill your life purpose. The framework integrates into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, one step at a time. Tomorrow we will continue to dig into the precious nuggets of wisdom as we establish meaningful and realistic goals in the seven areas of your life based on the 6 step WESPER 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 so we can continually improve.
2. On your smartphone, subscribe on iTunes, GooglePlay, Spreaker, Soundcloud or Stitcher, so the podcast will be downloaded to you automatically each day.
3. On your computer or if you have an iPhone or iPad, leave us a rating and review on iTunes.
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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 this 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!