Use this 4-Step Personal Strategic Plan to Make Sure You Achieve Your Goals
We all have goals. Some of us want to get promoted at work, some of us want to start our own businesses, and some of us want to get healthier and lose weight. However, to achieve our goals, it is not enough to just work hard - we have to work smart, too. That is where having a personal strategic plan comes in.
When most of us hear the words “strategic plan,” we usually imagine well dressed executives gathered around a conference table, shuffling through polished PowerPoint slides or jotting down ideas on flip charts while discussing their company’s strategic vision and plan. But strategic planning is not just for boardrooms. Strategic planning is essential for achieving your goals.
A personal strategic plan is your road map that will help you achieve your goals. It’s like having a GPS system for your life.
Having a personal strategic plan is beneficial for several reasons:
Instead of feeling lost and uncertain about achieving your goals, you can gain the confidence and direction you need to succeed by creating a personal strategic plan.
A personal strategic plan connects your values and goals with your daily actions. It allows you to be deliberate or intentional in how you approach your personal and professional life. When you have a personal strategic plan, you don’t leave your goals to chance or luck, but you’re focused and deliberate about how each step you take leads you to achieve your goals.
Before you can lead others, you have to know how to lead yourself, and a personal strategic plan is the best self-leadership tool that you can have.
I’ve previously written about the importance of goal setting. Perhaps, you were one of my enthusiastic readers who downloaded my smart goals template, and you are now writing down your goals. Creating a personal strategic plan is the next critical step for achieving your goals. And you don’t need to be a certified life coach or have years of experience in goal setting to make your own personal strategic plan.
I am going to share the simple 4-step approach that I have used to achieve my goals over the last several years. I call it the 4-Ps of strategic planning: purpose, products, parts and priorities.
Purpose
Define your why or your purpose. A roadmap with no destination leads you nowhere. So, understanding and defining your purpose and values has to be the first step, and it’s a step that you should have taken even before writing down your goals. It's a step that you have to revisit continuously as you craft your personal strategic plan.
Here are some guiding questions that can help you think about what you want and why you want it.
What are the principles and standards that weigh heavily on your personal life scale?
What matters most to you?
What does success look and feel like for you?
When your goals and strategic plan are tied to your values and purpose, it gives you fuel and enthusiasm for achieving your goals. It gives you passion that keeps you focused and intentional about your actions.
Tying your strategic plan to your purpose and values also helps to establish boundaries so that you can confidently say no to things that are not aligned with your plan.
As my career advances, I am presented with many wonderful opportunities. And, like most women, I feel the need to be agreeable, and sometimes feel pressured to say “yes.” However, once I started making strategic plans, saying no became very easy. When I am presented with an opportunity - no matter how good - I immediately think about how it fits into my strategic plan for the year or quarter. If it doesn’t fit, I say no.
Do you help defining your values? Read more here and subscribe to receive the Time Matters workbook.
Products
What are the products or tangible results that indicate you have achieved each of your goals?
Every goal that you make needs to have an associated deliverable or product. How will you know that you have achieved this goal? What is the product (i.e. tangible item or result) that you need to show to yourself (and, perhaps, others) that this goal has become a reality?
Don’t overthink this. It’s rather simple. Let’s consider the three goals below. What do you think are the associated products?
Have a healthier lifestyle
Launch a new business
Get a job promotion
Let’s try this together.
If your goal is to have a healthier lifestyle, what product do you need to have to be satisfied that you have achieved the goal? 30-lb weight loss? Run a 2K or 5K or even a marathon? It really can be any of these depending on what you value.
What are the products of a new business? State registration and federal tax ID? Website? Social media page? These are just a few examples.
Here the tangible result of this goal may be the actual promotion and the associated raise or a new title.
For every goal you set, write down what your “product” or tangible result will be. Sometimes the product may even be a feeling or state of mind, so it may only be tangible to you. But most of the time, the product will be something you can deliver to someone else (i.e. boss) or will be visually apparent to others around you.
“A goal that does not have a tangible result that is meaningful to you is not worth pursuing. ”
So, do not gloss over this step of strategic planning. Ensure that you understand and write down the product (s) of each and every goal. It is essential for making sure that you achieve your goals in a meaningful way.
Parts
What are the parts or components of each product that you want to deliver?
I have no software or engineering background, but, a couple years ago, my younger sister - a systems engineer - introduced me to the basic concepts of agile product management, where teams build and release products in incremental steps rather than all at once. The lessons I learned from her completely changed my approach to goal setting and strategic planning.
You see, if Apple wants to release a new Mac - the product - they have to consider the various parts that will make up the Mac. As I said, I have no tech or engineering expertise, but I believe that every computer needs a processor, motherboard, hard drive, RAM, monitor, battery, touchpad or mouse, keyboard, and speakers (I am sure there is something I am missing, but you get the idea). Each of these components, or parts, make up the product. So, before Apple can release their new product, they have to build each of these components and then assemble them together to make the final product.
Similarly, each product that you have identified above needs to be broken down into all of the parts or components that you need to deliver incrementally to achieve your overall result.
Before you can lose a total of 30lbs, you need to lose 5lbs, then 10lbs, then 15lbs, etc. If you want a raise or promotion, you have to identify the incremental steps that you have to take to get that raise or promotion. If you want to have your new business registered with a website for services, you need a business name, tax structure, etc.
The parts of your strategic plan are the checkpoints or milestones that indicate that you are in the right direction towards achieving your goals.
This will be the most detailed portion of your strategic plan. Write it all down!
Priorities
“Busyness ≠ progress.”
The purpose of strategic planning is to help you work smarter, not harder to achieve your goals. So, you need to prioritize effectively and deliberately by ensuring that every product that you deliver has value, for yourself and those who are important to you.
How do you prioritize effectively? You guessed it. Purpose, purpose, and purpose! For each product that you want to deliver, you have to ask yourself again and again, “why does this matter to me? How is it linked to my values?”
Additionally, our goals are interrelated, achieving one particular goal can make achieving the next one easier. To prioritize effectively I often ask myself this question from the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller, “what is the ONE thing that I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?” I keep asking this question until I have attached a priority or timeline to every product that I want to deliver in my strategic plan. I also do the same with each component that make up by product.
By following my 4P strategic planning template, you will have a detailed and personalized strategic plan that includes all of the deliverables associated with each of your goals prioritized by deadlines. This is your roadmap for successfully achieving your goals.
Wrap-Up
Having a personal strategic plan is essential for achieving your goals. Most people think that strategic planning is only for businesses, but that is not the case. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to have a plan and work towards that plan. You cannot just work hard - you have to work smart, too. So what are you waiting for? Make your own personal strategic plan today!