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Day 236 – Your Life Plan Blueprint – Strategy Guidelines 1-5

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 236 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – Strategy Guidelines 1-5

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 236 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint. Yesterday we started our exploration of the third phase of the WESPER framework which is strategy.  As you are creating your life plan that fulfills your life purpose, you must establish goals as part of your plan. But, setting a goal does nothing by itself. Strategy is the core of your blueprint, which enables you to do planning which leads to execution and review.

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I am incorporating all of these daily concepts along with worksheets into an easy to use workbook, and I will let you know when it is complete so that you can download it. 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. 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, Ohio. It looks like we will be receiving a few inches of snow in southeastern Ohio on Friday night into Saturday – not nearly as much as the northeast but a decent amount. Even with all of the sophisticated radar and weather equipment available, you can never predict with certainty, so we will see. It is nice that on our virtual hike of Wisdom-Trek we can remain indoors during bad weather and visualize much warmer days.

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

Your Life Plan Blueprint©

Yesterday we explored three points about strategy which were:

  • What is strategy?
  • Strategy is underutilized.
  • Develop your strategy.

On our trail today and tomorrow, we will discover the 10 guidelines for creating a successful strategy for any goal or objective that you set.

1. Understand your goals thoroughly.

Start with each of your 7-year objectives, and then I will ask you the following questions. What will you need to have completed by the end of year 1 to meet that objective?  Then drill down. What do you need to be completed at the end of month 1 to stay on schedule?  What will you need to complete by the end of week 1?  What tasks do you need to accomplish each day for that week?  Do you have all the information needed for the goal to create this strategy?  What is the gap that exists between you and completing the 1st week of daily tasks? You must understand the overall objective including the information and knowledge needed to reach your short-term activity goals.

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2. Pre-plan for obstacles so you can address them.

Visualize that you are now pursuing your goal. What obstacles do you anticipate standing in your way of success? Write all these obstacles down and rank them in order of magnitude. The bigger the obstacle is in diverting you from the goal, the higher the rank.

Pre-plan for how you will handle each obstacle so if they do crop up they won’t derail you from completing your tasks or goals. Don’t leave life to chance, use the Boy Scout motto of “Always be prepared.”  This concept should be applied to all areas of life. When you do this, you will have a set of ready solutions at your disposal when you face these obstacles later on. Instead of getting distracted in the middle of your goal pursuit to troubleshoot those barriers, you can easily brush them aside with the solutions you have developed.

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3. Identify the best route, but plan for alternatives.

After you have set your 7-year objective and obtained all the knowledge on your activity goals, identify all the paths you can take to reach your destination.  Take the time to analyze the potential paths that can be undertaken to move toward your goals.  Rank these in order of efficiency and effectiveness. When you implement this strategy, you will always know your best route and have alternative routes available if you run into obstacles or detours.

The best route refers to the path which gives you the most reward for the least effort, as opposed to other paths which may give you a low reward for low effort, high reward for high effort, or low reward for high effort.

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4. Identify key activities or best actions for success.

After you have identified your best route, identify your key activities for success. Key activities for success are the few action steps that give you the bulk of the results. They absolutely need to be executed for your goal to be a success.

Rank your key activities in the order of importance. This strategy of prioritization will guide you as you move to the planning and execution phase of the WESPER framework. To identify these activities, you need to understand how your 7-year objectives integrate into your life plan and purpose. Focus or invest the majority of your time on the most important activities that will bring you the most impact. We will talk more about this in planning.

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5. Remain faithful and focused on your daily activity goals.

Your Life Plan Blueprint is designed to be simplistic but powerful. Once you have obtained the wisdom needed to establish your 7-year objectives, break down the activity goals into ever smaller nuggets. Remain faithful and focused on your daily activity goals so you will achieve success.

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You must be willing to make the small sacrifices required every day so that you do not have to make large sacrifices for the rest of your life.  You must remain dedicated, persistent, and consistent on completing you daily task each day without fail. You must be willing to live a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t. If you remain faithful on these small daily tasks, then you will reap a harvest of results in Your Life Plan Blueprint. This lesson is taught to us in the Good News according to Matthew 25:20-21, “The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’  The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

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On our trek today, we explored the first five guidelines to develop your life plan strategy with the WESPER framework.  Tomorrow on our trail, we will dig deeper and explore the remaining 5 guidelines for creating an effective strategy. We are hiking the trail with determination as we lay the foundation and build Your Life Plan Blueprint.

This framework integrates into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, taking one step at a time. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

Strategy

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.
  4. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

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!

Day 235 – Your Life Plan Blueprint – Goal Strategy

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 235 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – Goal Strategy

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 235 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint. Yesterday we explored the four checkpoints needed after establishing goals based on the 10 key principles. It is now time to head out on a new trail which is the third phase of the WESPER framework which is strategy.

As you are creating your life plan that fulfills your life purpose, you must establish goals as part of your plan. An important concept that you must understand is that establishing goals does not complete them. Strategy is the core of your blueprint which enables you to do planning which leads to execution and review.

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I am incorporating all of these concepts along with worksheets into an easy to use workbook, and 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. 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, Ohio. Temperatures remain quite cold, and we are having some light snow today. It is not predicted that we get any significant amount, but it is really pretty. I am thankful that I can work indoors and enjoy the view from our 2nd-floor office with its large windows.

I am making slow but steady process on the woodwork in the library. Since our work schedule is quite heavy during the day, I am using my hour exercise time first thing in the morning to work on it. There is a lot of movement while I work, so I am still able to get in a workout while completing the work.

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

  Your Life Plan Blueprint©

I mentioned earlier that our next step in the WESPER framework is creating a strategy for your goals. It is the catalyst for planning, executing, and reviewing those goals. Let me ask this question…

1. What is strategy?

Strategy refers to a game plan that enables effective pursuit of a specific goal or result. It is a set of underlying principles which determines your action plan toward achieving your end goal or objective. WESPER itself is the framework or underlying strategy for successful goal achievement. The “S” in WESPER refers to the specific strategies that pertain to your goals.

Strategy is a core part of Your Life Plan Blueprint for a rich and satisfying life. Think of strategy as the compass, trail map, or your GPS that shows you the best trail to lead you to your goal or plateau.

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In war, generals gather together to devise strategies to secure an ensuing victory. In the world of business, companies invest millions in research to develop strategies to win in the marketplace. In stock markets, the most successful traders spend years studying market trends of the past, identifying strategies and applying them.  If you were to trek up Mt. Everest, you would need a detailed strategy to ensure success. It is really not much different when it comes to any of your goal achievement.

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Strategy is the one step that most people completely miss in the process of life planning and goal achievement, which then leads to their failure. Remember that for every goal, there is always a certain strategy or blueprint underlying it that guarantees its success. If you are able to identify and create the proper strategy, your chance of successfully completing the goal is guaranteed.

If you are able to identify and create the proper strategy, your chance of successfully completing the goal is guaranteed.

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2. Strategy is underutilized.

The ability to precisely follow instructions is viewed as the epitome of a good student/citizen/employee. Most school and work environments teach people to do, not think. Most school systems and work environments have only one method of teaching. We receive good grades or marks, if we apply those methods to our learning. Other methods, even if it leads to the same or better output, are discouraged. Styles of thinking or behavior that do not conform to the norm are viewed as defiant or insubordinate. As a result, many people are great in execution but weak in strategizing.

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I have worked with many people who are unaware of the importance of strategy and try to follow a structured set of goal planning tools. Instead of studying their goals first and developing a strategy, they establish goals and then jump right into the execution of their goals. Without the proper strategy and plan, a cycle of self-sabotage, lack of self-worth, lack of confidence, and negativity immediately follows. In the process, people waste their energy, get burnt out, and put themselves in a worse situation than before.

3. Develop your strategy.

The most solid strategy that you can develop is to look holistically at Your Life Plan Blueprint within the WESPER framework. To create the best strategy, you first need to determine and have a solid understanding of what your purpose in life is. This purpose does not have to be grand or world changing, but it should positively impact your world. Your purpose will then drive the overall 7-year objectives within the 7 areas of your life. Your Life Plan Blueprint is unique to you alone. No one else in the entire world has your blueprint, which is why you must develop your strategy.

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As King David wrote in Psalms 139:14, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

Once you establish your 7-year objectives, start creating your strategy for yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily activity goals. Think about how you can break down each objective into smaller and smaller goals. How does each step tie into Your Life Plan Blueprint?

All activity goals should support the next higher level. For instance, your daily tasks must support your weekly goal, which must support your monthly goal, which must support your yearly goal which must support your 7-year objective, which becomes your life plan.

Conversely, each 7-Year objective needs to be broken down to the smallest daily task. Work top down breaking your objectives into ever-smaller pieces until they become daily bite size nuggets. No matter how huge your objective is, there will be an underlying set of nuggets which will allow you to conquer it. This will create a successful strategy that is unique to you.

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On our trek today, we looked at an overview of the strategy phase within our WESPER framework.  Over the next two days on our trail, we will dig deeper and explore the 10 guidelines to develop your strategy. We are hiking the trail with perseverance as we lay the foundation and build Your Life Plan Blueprint. This framework integrates into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, taking one step at a time. So, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

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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. This will help to promote Wisdom-Trek.
  4. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter or in person so they can come along with us each day.

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!

Day 234 – Your Life Plan Blueprint – 4 Checkpoints

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 234 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – 4 Checkpoints

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 234 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint. Yesterday we discussed how the Wisdom-Trek plan is a powerful and unique concept and worthy of taking our trek slowly through the process. We also looked at some examples of how the blueprint is powerful, yet very easy to implement and achieve results. During the past four days, we hiked the trail of the 10 key principles of setting goals. Those goal setting principles are:

  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.
  5. Plan for B3 goals.
  6. Be specific with your goals.
  7. Make goals measurable.
  8. Start with long-term, and then break it down into short-term.
  9. Set your objective goals as end outcomes, not tasks.
  10. Use positive framing.

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Today we will explore the checkpoints of how to manage goals once we create them.

These 10 principles and today’s follow-up 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.

I am incorporating all of this information, along with worksheets, into an easy to use workbook, and 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. 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, Ohio. The single digit temperatures continue in southern Ohio this week, and it is possible we may receive some significant snowfall this coming weekend. It is still a bit too early to tell, but we will be watching. Since we have no place that we have to be, and since we work from home, I am inclined to say, “Let it snow.” I am not sure everyone would agree with me.

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Work is very brisk this week, which requires putting in a lot of hours to make sure we are able to accomplish everything necessary, particularly to meet the quickly approaching tax deadlines. For some reason, the tax entities don’t understand that we are just too busy.

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

Your Life Plan Blueprint©

After you have set your goals within the guidelines of the 10 principles, you are almost ready to move on to the third phase of the WESPER framework. However, before that, there are 4 steps, or checkpoints, about your goals you need to understand first.

1. Write them down.

Write down your final objective and activity goals in each of the 7 areas of life. Follow the example that we explored yesterday. Begin with the end in mind. Which is your overall objective goal in each of your 7 areas of life? Then move backward into your activity goals for 1 year, 1 month, 1 week and each day. These goals should be placed prominently where you can always refer to them. I will include worksheets you can use for this process in the course I am creating.

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2. Develop absolute mental clarity of your goal.

As you pursue your goals, you need to develop such a clear mental impression of your goals that you are able to perceive them with all your 5 senses, as if you have already achieved the goals. Visualize how you will feel in 7 years when your objective goals for each of the 7 areas of your life are completed. In fact, make it a habit of visualizing your outcomes every day in the morning before you start your day. The clearer the image is in your mind, the easier it is for you to manifest it in reality. You can also practice this habit for each of the 4 activity goals for each objective goal. This will allow you to ensure that you are on track.

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Every goal is always created twice, first in the mind and then in reality. If you are unclear on how your goal looks like in your mind, how can you expect the physical manifestation to be what you really want?

For example, if your goal is to be able to run a marathon at the end of the 7 years. Close your eyes now and visualize the picture of you crossing the finish line. How do you feel? Excited? Exuberant? Capture that moment in your head and never lose sight of it. As you are increasing your running distance slightly each day, especially on the difficult days, and keep the picture in your mind. This level of mental clarity needs to be present and right in your mind throughout your goal achievement process.

Every goal is always created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.

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3. Be in constant reminder of them.

Post your Wheel of Life diagram in a prominent place with your goal clearly written for each area so it will be a constant reminder to you. We will also have a chart available to track and remind you of your yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily activities. Reminding yourself of your goals is extremely important to keep them in the top of your mind awareness. It creates the drive and energy to pursue it every day. Always make it a point to review your goal sheet every morning after you wake up. It will move you toward the activities you need to take on for the day and keep you conscious of what is important and not important in achieving your dreams that make up your life plan.

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4. Review periodically.

Review your objective and activity goals regularly. You should review your activity goals more often. A suggestion is to review daily goals daily, weekly goals at the end of each week, and monthly goals at the end of each month to make sure you are on track. While your objective 1-year and 7-year goals can be reviewed at longer intervals such as the end of each quarter since they are less subject to change.

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It is important to review goals regularly since they can become irrelevant over time. None of us can predict the future with certainty, and just like hiking on life’s trek, there are obstacles, detours, and any number of unforeseen circumstances that can change the course of life. Our life purpose and overall life plan may be fixed, but there are many trails that can help us reach our destination. Changing your trail is certainly not a sign of failure (unless you give up), but it is an opportunity to learn a different path to fulfill your God-given purpose for life. The key is to keep moving forward as is related in these two Bible verses.

Luke 9:62 – But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Galatians 6:9 – So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

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On our trek today, we explored the 4 checkpoints that tie into the 10 key principles of the establish phase within our WESPER framework. Tomorrow we will venture onto the third phase of WESPER, which is strategy. We are hiking the trail, one step at a time as we lay the foundation and build Your Life Plan Blueprint. The framework assimilates into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, one step at a time. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

WT - WESPER Life Plan Buleprint

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.
  4. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

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!

Day 233 – Your Life Plan Blueprint – 10 Principles (8-10)

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 233 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Your Life Plan Blueprint – 10 Principles (8-10)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 233 of our Trek, and we are continuing on our current Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint. Since the Wisdom-Trek plan is a powerful and unique concept, we are taking our Trek through the process slowly. When Your Life Plan Blueprint trail is followed, it will result in an effective life that has impact and allows you to live your legacy each day.  Even though the process is powerful and unique, it is more simplistic and easier to implement than traditional goal setting systems. Currently, we are hiking the trail of 10 key principles, or stepping stones, for setting goals. So far we have explored the first seven 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.
  5. Plan for B3 goals.
  6. Be specific with your goals.
  7. Make goals measurable.

Today we will explore the remaining three key principles all of which are very important for setting and achieving effective goals and creating of your life plan.

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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.

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We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Winter has finally hit the Mid-Ohio Valley this week. The temperature this morning was 7° with a wind chill well below 0°.  We also received about an inch of snow. Our newly renovated upstairs office is remaining warm, as we have a vent right above the large floor furnace in the eating area below. The downstairs is a bit cool, especially with the front rooms empty due to our current renovations. The weather will remain cold for a couple of days before moderating again at the end of the week. I was able to start removing the old varnish from the woodwork in the library and will be working on that for several days. I always begin with the end results in mind. It keeps me focused on the tedious process.

Let’s head on the trail for day fourteen 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 our concept that we discussed yesterday setting B3 goals, which are big, brave, and bold, did you decide on your own B3 goals for the 7 sections of your Wheel of Life?

WT - B3 GoalsWe should not be fearful of setting B3 goals for we have everything we need to pursue them successfully. We may not succeed in everything that we attempt, but we can always learn from everything that we attempt. The only way you truly fail is if you fail to try.  Fear not as Romans 8:15 tells us, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’”

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

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On our daily trek, let us seek out discernment and insights, and then boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. With this in mind, let’s move on to the last three key principles that are crucial in establishing your goals. 

8. Start with long-term, and then break it down into short-term.

Always start off with your long-term objective goals so you can get the complete picture. This is your overall life plan. Set one 7-year objective goal for each of the 7 areas of your life. This will allow you to start with a total of 7 major outcomes that are in balance with each other, as much as humanly possible.

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From there, break down each area of life into smaller segments. I recommend establishing an activity goal for each of the 7 areas of life for the end of year 1, the end of each month, each week, and then daily. Two common criteria to break down are:

  1. Time
  2. Magnitude

If your goal is to lose 48 pounds by the end of year 1, your shorter term goals would be to lose 4 pounds each month, and 1 pound per week. Since 1 pound equals approximately 3500 calories, you would then need to either eat 500 calories less each day and/or do additional exercise to burn off 500 more each day. This is the simplistic beauty of the Wisdom-Trek Your Life Plan Blueprint.

9. Set your objective goals as end outcomes, not tasks.

This initially refers to the end outcome that you want to see, not the task that is needed to get the result you want. As an example, your objective goal is to be debt-free by the end of the 7-year plan. By focusing on the end outcome, you pursue the fastest track to goal achievement and actions that need to be undertaken naturally fall into the picture. To reach this objective, you may have to set activity goals in several areas of your life as part of your overall life plan to reach this objective, once again maintaining proper focus and balance in your life.

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Focusing with the end in mind is much more effective because you learn to anticipate and plan for contingencies for successful goal achievement, rather than being driven by external factors. Instead of placing your control on external factors, you take responsibility for outcomes within yourself.

10. Use positive framing.

Your purpose in life is a positive one. Your life plan should be structured in a manner to fulfill your positive purpose. Your long-term objective goals should all be set in a positive framework. Your shorter-term activity should always lead you to achieve those positive objectives. No matter what your current status is in life, you can fulfill your God-given purpose and live a rich and satisfying life.

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We all have so much to be thankful for that our lives should be filled will praise each day. As written in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus:

Ephesians 1:3-4 – All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.  Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

We have now completed our trail of the 10 key principles to establish goals within our WESPER framework. It is now up to you to put them into practice as you begin or continue on Your Life Plan Blueprint. Tomorrow we will explore how to manage the goals that we are creating. The framework integrates into our concept of Wisdom-Trek as we look at life as a trek, one step at a time. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

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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.
  4. Share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you in and 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!

Day 232 – Your Life Plan Blueprint – 10 Principles (5-7)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
  4. Share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

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!