Life Plan

       When I was in my late twenties, I almost ruined my life.

       No, I wasn’t on drugs.  I didn’t have a drinking problem.  I wasn’t addicted to golf.

       I was trying to do too much.

       I had just gotten out of law school, was practicing law, was an adjunct professor at several colleges, making major improvements on my first house, celebrating the arrival our first child, teaching Sunday School, serving on several committees at church and running for School Board.

       I was trying to live my life…in one year.

       My wife finally pulled me aside and said “you are ruining us.  We need you.  You need to start dropping something.”

       Enough said.  I started cutting back on so many activities. 

       I finally decided that I was a monkey with a banana in each hand.  In one hand I held my family and the other my career.  If I wanted to pick up another activity, I would have to drop my family or drop my career.  I couldn’t afford to drop either.

       That’s when I started my Life Plan.

       I took a spreadsheet and put my life on it.  

       Literally.

       In one column, I put my age from 35-120 and then put the corresponding years. (Send me a request and I’ll send you my template.)

       There are columns for family, money, hobbies, career, education, etc… It isn’t too detailed, but it at least covers a wide range of your life.

       I did this because there was always something I wanted to try or a place I wanted to visit.  There was something that I wanted to learn or a job I wanted to do.  I needed a place to store my hopes and dreams so I didn’t feel the pressure to try to do everything today. 

       I also needed something that would help me count the cost of my dreams and desires.  (Luke 14:28-31)

      It helped me realize what I would have to give up.  

      I found that some dreams just weren’t worth it.

       By the way, it took me about 30 minutes to get everything set up and it takes about 5 minutes a month to keep it updated.

       I then take each year use it as a guideline on January 1.  I take each row in that year and begin to plan out the year.

       Have I been successful in doing everything I’ve written?  No, but that was not what I intended to do with the Life Plan. 

       The Life Plan was meant to confront my character flaw which is to try to do too much all at once.

       You know what I found?  I found that sometimes the desires that I had at one time really weren’t that interesting to me after a year or two. 

       Not only is the Life Plan a great reminder, but at the same time, it is a great filter.

       You may be asking why 120 years?  I did this out of necessity.  I simply had too much that I wanted to experience.  It also made me start thinking of how I was taking care of my body.  If I wanted/needed to live to be 120, what sort of decisions would I need to make now to make it?  As a result, I started to eat differently.

       I would encourage you to make a life plan.

       You may be surprised at how closely your life reflects your plans.