PLANNING PROCESS OVERVIEW DIAGRAM
NECESSARY TO EFFECTIVELY "CLOSE THE GAP"


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If there is no clear path, there is no arriving at success...


SIMPLE:  CAN'T LEAVE ANY STEPS OUT OR YOU'LL NOT GET WHAT YOU WANT

Life is full of cycles, so you'll improve and revise as you go - and even what you want will be more of what is actually true and right.

Scan the overall process.

Click on the links to do the pieces (or, if not linked, use the search engine).

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


THE PLANNING PROCESS PIECES


        WHERE I WANT TO BE        ------------------------------------------                        (If you don't know this clearly and rightly, you can't
                                                                       ^                                                   live a full life)
                                                                       ^
                                                        CLOSE THE GAP:  WHAT I WILL DO, REMOVE BARRIERS
                                                                       ^

         WHERE I AM                      ------------------------------------------                         (You can't chart a journey without a true starting
                                                                                                                      place.)  
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WHAT I WILL DO TO "CLOSE THE GAP" INCLUDES

   Remove barriers, after identifying them - Poor strategies, beliefs, opposers, habits....
   Implement the behaviors needed, identifying 1st - Especially, change habits (gradually)
   Learn and install the necessary knowledge inside yourself
   Implement the steps needed to do the journey, identify and plan those


THE SEQUENCE AND THE LINKS - Follow these

1. DETERMINE WHAT I WANT (DECIDE, SPECIFY)

            ("Measure twice, cut once.")

Values
Dreams 
Mission, Purpose, Calling 
Vision
Goals, objectives (benefits) [Quickly specify then
   come back later to refine)
   Type 1:  Outer
   Type 2:  Self (well-being, who be, happiness)
Prioritize - Specify relative impact and time it is worth


2.  DETERMINE WHERE I AM (SPECIFICALLY)

Test, rate, and identify "the gap":
Overall life test (then one can go to individual ratings/tests
Required:  Ruthless acknowledgement in deep truth about "what is so")


3.  CLOSE THE GAP Plan, Learn, Support, Act, Review, Improve

Commitment/declarations  

Knowledge/training/learning
     Skills - Right Thinking, Problem Solving 
     Principles  
     Success factors - Identify

Support
     Systems for efficiency, tracking, etc.
     People for partnering, inputs, contributions (support groups)
     Mentors, Models, Examples   

Obstacles, Barriers - Handling/eliminating - What are the
    barriers?

Marketing needed (Not just for a company)

All "to do" steps
     Schedule and coordinate - See "To Do" System

Prioritize - Put everything in order of impact/value.


3A. SPECIFY PLAN steps/resources - (Use systematic process/forms.)

Support system - People, resources, systems
Use principles
Self-management - Practices
Solid foundation - Philosophy Of Life, beliefs
                       - Standards, Rules, Creeds, Codes

3B. ACTUALLY DO IT

Quarterly Plan - 90 day goals, 90 day "game plan" forms,                                                          


4. FEEDBACK/MODIFY - If you don't know how you're doing, you'll drift.  If you don't act on the feedback, you'll not gain.
                                  
4A.  FEEDBACK -  Monitor, based on full accountability, necessarily Measuring Performance                                                
                    
4B.  MODIFY, ADJUST to what works better, learning what is needed and implementing it.

      Update plan - As go in little pieces, but quarterly for perspective and comprehensive coordination of the pieces.
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BEFORE YOU BEGIN:  (If you want to work with me or a coach, you must do the homework and make these commitments or you'll end up like The Football Player And The Coach, assuring the coach's failure while you succeed in failing.)

You must complete, or you don't get the result

Read Completion and decide if you will go all the way through to "harvesting your crop".  In life, if you don't "finish", you don't get the results! (Duh!)  (The test for whether you are doing this is whether you are repeating problems:  What you do not complete, you
are doomed to repeat!) 

You must make a commitment, in writing, and include it in your plan (see Declarations and commitments)

You must finish the learning, not just accumulate

Part of completion is doing Authentic Learning.  You know you are not doing this by, of course, your results in life, but the specific lesson here is that some people just gather information, some being dilettantes, but do not finish what is needed to complete the purpose of learning - which is to be able to actually run one's life effectively.  Ken Blanchard writes about this, citing people who go to seminars but never do anything about the information - they are mistaking the "successful" gathering of information, holding it as the goal instead of getting actual results in life as being the goal!!!!!   The simple book:  Know Can Do, a play on words, but if you don't develop the "can" (ability to do it) and then do the completion step called, amazingly enough, "doing" (acting) you can't possibly get
the result!!!!! 

In real life, if you were living in a cave, you would have to go all the way to the stream to get the water.  If you were distracted and found lots of other things to be amused by or relieve the pressure of life, you and your family, would soon die of thirst.

Somehow in this life, we have a "disconnect", where we confuse one of the early steps being completed with the actual result being obtained - we quit early!  We think that grabbing the pail and walking toward something is an accomplishment, but it isn't. 

You must make a commitment, in writing, to only engage in authentic learning (and to quit wasting your time on low payoff "gathering of unused information"). 

If you want to get anywhere efficiently and effectively (for sure), you must do it systematically with expert information.
                                      
If you don't use a system, you'll wander around and also use less effective ways to try to get what you want.

If you use "unexperts", you'll be operating on poor data and with poor guidance, wandering around in "The Land Of The Unuseful". 

And you'll not get the results you want in life.

Everything you learn and do is in discrete steps; don't expect miracles!

Of course, if you get a miracle that is fine, but you can't control miracles.

If you have "unrealistic expectations" of yourself with regard to how great you should be or how fast you should get there, then you're just creating an Unhappiness Gap.  Everything you do is one bit at a time, followed by another bit,  (aka "steps) and so on, to your destination.  If you berate yourself for your lack of progress and characterize it as a "character flaw" or a flaw in you, you are engaged in fantasyland operating off of cultural myths and/or kooky assumptions about life.   You will only get to the place of having good habits by doing little pieces at a time and installing them through repetition (in relatively easy steps) and letting them build (and accumulate) - then you'll end up with alot of brain rewiring plus an easy life where everything is automatic and effortless (i.e. habitual, pre-programmed, easy).   Basically accepting that there are lots of steps to take and they must be taken, plus accepting the gradualness of progressing is key; why resist reality; covered in The Progression Curve.

Start off with the "lite" version

If you try to do a complete and perfect plan, you'll burn out quickly - and that's not what we want.  Start off doing everything really, really fast and incomplete - and then you can go back later to do whatever completion is needed to finish off what would have your goals achieved.  For instance, you might first use the Medium Brief Plan Workbook spending no more than 15 minutes a page initially. 




Planning Section Contents/Links Page
Planning Forms Contents/Links - Grab the forms to use in planning.
Plan Components Schematic - Some extra detail for planning