Life's Business Plan (or Lack Thereof)
Monday, June 7, 2010 at 2:51PM Don't forget to help support Western Mass literacy programs and the Springfield Public Libraries. Use that donate button in the left side bar!!
This past weekend I spent some time away from the computer screen and doing some reflection. I spent some of that time reading, some of that time having coffee and meeting with Melissa over at Insurance in Plain English, and the rest of it with family and friends. Out of everything that happened, including Melissa telling me I speak in great little sound bytes, what my thoughts kept coming back to was the importance of planning. Now I'm not saying that every decision in life should be measured against some spiral bound document but there's something about moving with purpose that intrigued me.
In general when I'm consulting I try to take a creative and holistic approach to every situation. But to solve any problem or to get better the client and I always create an action plan. Real plan, tangible actions, and accountable measurements. So this post is designed to give you my top 4 translations from business plan to life plan.
1.) Your personal mission statement - Now I understand that not everyone is in business for themselves but a good friend of mine showed me the importance of knowing your values and sticking to them. He made a choice that wasn't a popular one at the time and I was thoroughly impressed with his integrity. What are you passionate about? Being a good friend? Brother? Being reliable? Trustworthy? Your goals and aspirations. I know you're probably reading this and telling yourself you are and have all those things. What I'm trying to encourage is a little reflection. Fine tune your personal mission statement.
2.) Financials - This one I'm very biased about as I have been in financial services for years. Every great business has control and understanding of how their financials work. Are you running the business of your life as efficiently as possible or is there some leakage in the balance sheets and cash flow statements that could use some addressing. Financially Digital is full of great stuff about getting your financial life in order so I won't preach here and if you're looking for some of my favorites check out the Wealth Pilgrim, Well-Heeled Blog and the Financial Samurai. It's just like investing in the markets or Forex; you need to have a strategy for the good times and the bad.
3.) Marketing Plan - Everyone likes being recognized and appreciated - that's just human nature. One of my favorite books (that I actually have as an audio book) is Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People". The biggest thing I pulled out of that was in order to be well received you have to give. Everything from lending a listening ear to really supporting those close to you even when you might not agree with their choices. It's not a race to see how many friends on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter you can get but how genuine the relationships you cultivate are. The better you position yourself as a resource the stronger your personal brand.
4.) Operations - You can search all over the net about living a healthy and happy lifestyle. One of the common strings is having a little rhythm to the days as they go. Are you keeping your brain healthy by getting out and being active or hitting the gym regularly? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you burning yourself out like I am constantly working and worrying? Hey, I'm not perfect but I'm working on it! I am not advocating over planning or compartmentalizing everything you do in a day, being impulsive and spontaneous is what keeps life interesting, but finding a balance is important. The operations part of the business plan is where you would hash out all of the scheduling and how-to's of the business you're running - your life.
This post was probably a little hokey but it was something that I had to get off my chest. I'm constantly buried in the strategic plans and the metrics of my clients but, I recently felt my own personal plan taking a back seat. Hopefully it gets you thinking about how you approach your day-to-day living and at least gets you asking your own questions. We can always strive to be better - I'm a little competitive so that's what I'm rationalizing my over working lately too. When you can apply some of the adages of the small business world to your life that's never a bad thing either, right?
Leave in the comments how you find balance in your work/play life. Do you have a plan? Do you use some kind of rule of thumb that's different than my comparing a life plan to a business plan?
Business, Consumer Behavior, Planning, Self-Improvement in Behavior 
Reader Comments (3)
Why does this post remind me so eerily of GB 301... :)
Love it! Life requires a "business plan," particularly when it comes to laying out a mission statement. Who do you want to be? What are your values and goals? What really matters to you? What's the point of life if you don't hash these things out, or, at the very least, work towards figuring them out?
Nunzio, this is a great post. Don't mind the awkwardness which you've experienced. But I had to read it out loud and say, 'Man, he's got something here'. I appreciate you sharing some of your thoughts in this reflective tone. I enjoy reading reflections so if you've got any, don't hesitate to pitch them out. There's an ear listening.
Also, thanks for the pointers on creating a life business plan. It's not as technical as most are because you've reasonably put them in simple steps and personally made them doable. Second, I need more blogs to read about finances so those you've listed are on my list as well. Third, I recommend Permission Marketing by Seth Godin as well. The audio version he's got is very powerful and explains marketing online in a way which you'll find that traditional marketing is now outdated. Last, we all need to find our flow to life and whatever operations there is in our day to day work, there's a sanity and purpose involved. Thus, that's the plan as they say, for what? Only we ourselves know yet, what we do is powerful enough, others also see it as something worth looking into.
Thanks for sharing these thoughts and points Nunzio.
You're so right about the importance of that personal mission statement. In the career and business coaching work that I do, it's essential that we get clear on their core values before we can figure out the external stuff.
When people know their values and live in alignment with them, they feel fulfilled. And money starts flowing easier too.
The trick is that our core values are SO core to who we are that we can't see them ourselves. The way a fish can't see the water. To each person, they just feel like a "given." And that's why I think most people don't ever figure out their personal mission statement or core values, left to their own devices.
A coach or a thoughtful friend can help you figure it out.