What is a life plan and how could it help you in seasons of pain?
When our life takes a sharp turn from the path we thought we were on because of an unexpected loss, trauma or transition, we can find ourselves spinning out when it comes to a purpose. We can struggle to think past the chaos and destruction of our circumstances and unable to look towards anything beyond the immediate pain right in front of us. It can be hard to regroup but one of our primary motivations as humans, according to neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, is to find meaning and purpose for our lives, to make a plan for what we are going to do with our time here on earth.
Yet, learning to make a plan, especially in the ashes of the life we thought we’d have, can guide us through the uncertainty and keep us aligned like a north star. There is no autopilot, no default settings when it comes to arriving at our destination because living without some sort of course will inevitably lead to drift. It is only through careful design we reach the endpoint of a life lived on purpose.
But, how do you make a life plan, especially when it can be hard to even see anything past your suffering?
1. Design Your Legacy
When creating a plan for your life, it is important to begin with the end in mind. Who do you want to be at the end of your life? What legacy do you want to leave? People don’t remember you by your resume, but rather, as Maya Angelou once said, “by how you made them feel.” Becoming a person who leaves others with a feeling of being loved and seen, known and cared for, requires us to be mindful of what our real end goal is. Determine what your legacy will be: love, compassion, kindness, a life lived for the glory of Jesus, and then work backwards in order to think about what decisions you will need to make to reach that goal.
2. Determine Your Priorities
Once you’ve arrived at what it is exactly you hope your legacy to be and you’ve started to work backwards, think about how you will get there and reorder your priorities accordingly.
If you want a legacy of love in your life, then people and relationships will have to take precedence in your daily decisions. It may mean choosing to work less so that you can invest in the relationships that matter most. It could be intentionally planning time with those who are in need of your love and the love of Jesus.
Realizing how you’ve been designed, what unique roles you have that no one else can fulfill such as parent or spouse, and recognizing the opportunities in front of you will help you understand what needs to be prioritized in your life.
Whatever they may be, your priorities will help you make the day to day decisions when it comes to what you say yes to and what you say no to.
3. Chart Your Course
After you’ve thought about your legacy and determined your priorities, it is time to write it down. Research shows that writing things down will encode those goals and plans into our brain, making it so we actually do the plan we’ve laid out.
Write down your life plan, break it down into actionable steps, and find someone who you can share with in order to have accountability.
A life plan will help you stay tethered to your purpose, especially when the storms of pain threaten to unravel your connection to what God designed you for. That purpose will help move you forward, even if the course you are on looks nothing like what you had once envisioned for your life. Being able to think towards a future, one filled with hope and meaning, can bring healing even when it seems like brokenness is all around you.
Adapted from Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s book, Living Forward
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