create a personal strategic plan

Accountancy SA,  Dec 2007/Jan 2008  by Kaplan, Leon

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Any auditor knows how critical it is to prepare an audit plan. Businesses prepare strategic plans. So too, individuals should consider preparing a Personal Strategic Plan.

Personal strategic planning is based on the premise that life will not go according to plan, if you do not have a plan.

Success is not an accident. It begins with a well-conceived plan. You can and will achieve more in the next year than you have in the past ten with a disciplined Personal Strategic Plan.

Personal strategic planning is a disciplined thought process, which produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide who you are, what you do, how, when and why you do it and where you are going. All of this is done with a focus on the future.

The purpose of personal strategic planning is to help you:

* provide direction, meaning and purpose for your life,

* make decisions that positively affect your future,

* focus your energies on what's most important,

* achieve the greatest results in the shortest period of time,

* significantly increase your level of performance,

* enjoy more time, money, balance and freedom,

* eliminate uncertainty, anxiety, doubt and fear,

* leverage your skills more effectively,

* enhance your quality of life and overall peace of mind, and

* be more, do more and ultimately have more from life.

A successful plan must include the following:

1. Personal Philosophy: Every person has a personal philosophy, consisting of some rules adopted from one's parents, culture, religion, acquaintances and so on.

Generally speaking, these rules, as a body, are not well thought out and contain a wealth of inconsistencies and contradictions.

2. Legacy Statement: Your legacy serves as your life's defining statement. It serves a twofold purpose. First, it provides an overarching framework for all mission statements and goals to follow.

Second, it answers the question, "For what do I want to be remembered?"

3. Mission Statement: A mission statement is a declaration of who you are, why you exist and what you intend to accomplish.

In business, the organisational mission answers the big question: "What is our business?" In personal planning, the question is "What is my life's business?" In both cases, the answer must define the reason for being.

4. Core Values: Our values act as our compass, guiding us through life's terrain.

One certain way of knowing that you are living in accordance with your values is by defining guidelines and measurements for value centred living.

5. Code of Ethics: Words quietly influence our attitudes and opinions.

Codes of conduct, personal creeds and pledges all reflect an effort to make sense of things, to organise behaviour and to understand ourselves better.

6. Lifetime Objectives: Your objectives should be written within the framework of your Legacy Et Mission Statements.

The key to any Personal Strategic Plan is to visualise your desired outcomes in advance. Be sure to write and rewrite your Lifetime Objectives as affirmations of the future you are working to realise.

7. Goals.-The key in writing your goals is to make them measurable, specific and time-bound.

Goals need to be written for each of the ten critical areas of life, to include: Personal, Health, Recreation, Family, Friends, Community, Career, Financial, Household and Spiritual. (Figure 1)

8. Personal Board of Directors: A personal board from family, friends and acquaintances will accelerate your progress by providing both wisdom and support for the attainment of a specific purpose.

9. Maintenance ft Performance Check-Ups: On a monthly basis, you should pause to evaluate your performance. What progress have you made? Where have you been challenged? What do you need to do differently or more of?

It is also important to step back and consider whether any of your goals are unachievable.

10. Personal Reason Why: You won't become successful until and unless you identify, support and empower your reasons why. Your why's provide fuel for achievement and are the reasons behind any action or inaction.

The hallmark of all high achievers is a burning why. They know what they want, how and when they will achieve it, but most importantly they know WHY they want to become successful at achieving their goals.

In Summary

You can significantly increase the odds of success in any endeavour, if you know who you are, what you want, where you are going, how you will get there and what you will do once you arrive.

The best way to predict your future is to create it. Therefore, a well-defined personal strategic plan, properly executed, is your meal ticket to success; as it will focus your thinking and challenge you to reach for new heights in every area of your life.

Leon Kaplan BCom, CA(SA), F.lnst.D, is the founder and proprietor of GoalsGuy Africa.

Copyright South African Institute of Chartered Accountants Dec 2007/Jan 2008
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