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When  I awoke the morning I turned 40, I realized that the life I had had thus far was largely not of my planning. So I decided to finally make my own plan for the next 40 years. I’ve always found it hard to write down what I want and even harder to put it in context from a time perspective. This process which I describe below worked so well that next month my wife and I plan to include our two children in their own goal planning process. This is how I finally broke through and wrote down my plans.

1. Open up excel or some other spreadsheet program

2. Across the top of the sheet place the year for as many years as you want to work with

2007 | 2008 | 2009 …

3. On the far left hand column list your name and the names of your immediate family members

Mark
Wife
Son
Daughter

4. Then place the ages of each person as they will be each year across the sheet like this:

Name: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 …

Mark: 40 | 41 | 42 …

5. Once you have inserted ages for each person, create a new table one with the names of your family on the left and this time place in each square across for each person the major event that each person wants to have happen in that year. Start by filling in the things you know are going to happen – like for the kids, I know that their school activities are most likely the most important aspects (i.e. 6th grade, 7th grade, college). My wife and I talked it through for a while and came up with things we want to do and achieve, places we want to go, etc. – then placed them into the sheet. The best part about this step is that you have to dream about what you want before you can put it down. Don’t worry about how you are going to get there or even if it is possible to achieve. Don’t let your past or your fears get in the way of the dream. Just dream and put your plans down on the sheet. You can go as detailed as you want – I have sections in each year that correspond to different aspects of my life (i.e. health, travel, career, investments, philanthropy) or just keep it high level:

Mark: start new business | build a house on the ocean | travel the world …

6. The last step is to put a concrete picture in your mind of the outcomes you want to have. For each of the achievements or goals, find a pictureby looking through magazines or searching the internet, that illustrates what you want. If it’s a house with a view of the ocean that you want, find a picture of that view. Get a bulletin board and post all the pictures on it then hang it in a place that you will see every day.

Now that I have a plan I have a new way to judge situations and determine if they will help me get where I want to go. Each week I look at the plan and imagine some of the things I might need to do, people I can talk to, books I can read, places I can visit, that will help me achieve a particular goal and add those things to my to do list.

What I found out after procrastinating for so long is that the process is simple if you find some quiet time and open your mind to the possibilities of the world. Again, don’t let the past, fears, failures, preconceived notions or projections get in the way. I don’t care if what you want is ‘realistically’ unachievable. Write it down anyway. Make a plan and take steps towards achieving it each week. Make it your own and make sure you share it with someone else – this part is important. Sharing the plan helps make it real and you accountable. Don’t wait another minute – time is short and you’re not getting any younger!

I don’t know if I will achieve all that I set out to do, but at least I know on a daily basis that there is a reason to get up each morning for the next 40 years.

-Mark