How to Plan Your Life: The 5 Steps and 3 Rules to Get Started With

Wondering how to plan your life? The following guide will help you get started with the first steps.

Paradoxically, but being young, creative and ambitious, having a lot of courage, often we spend these talents for something insignificant.

We make money at a part-time job to pay for things we actually don’t need. We communicate with the wrong people. Waste our energy on tons of different activities we’ll never get benefit from.

Sure, fun and adventure are the inseparable parts of adolescence life. However, it is rational to start thinking about your future in advance—even if you don’t know yet what path will make you happy.

The best way to do it is to start planning your life now, so it definitely becomes the one you’re dreaming about.

Here’s Where to Start When You Plan Your Life

1. Vision: The Core of Your Life Plan.

Make your vision clear and apprehensible.

  • What do you want to accomplish?
  • Where do you see yourself in one, two, ten years?
  • What makes you happy?
  • What person do you want to be?

Write the list of such questions and give honest answers. They will help you to imagine your life vividly, to create a picture in your mind.

If you’re a visual kind of person get a board and fill it with photos, stickers, motivational quotes. This will help you to stay on track when you feel a lack of motivation.

2. Preciseness.

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To learn how to plan your life, be precise as much as possible when creating your vision.

Think every little detail through. Describe when you wake up, what you eat for breakfast, what you do after that, what people surround you. Sometimes we unconsciously waste so much time in unproductive activities that only slow us down on the way to achieving our life goals.

When your goal is uncertain, you don’t know what to do exactly, thus you feel confused and procrastinate.

On the contrary, when your goal is precise, you know what you have to do to reach it step by step.

3. Create a Step-by-Step Plan.

Divide your life plan into parts. Plan for a day, week, month, year.

When we start dreaming, sometimes our dreams seem improbable. This is not true. If you can dream it, you can do it.

Just don’t expect to achieve your goals right away after you see how to plan your life. Take one step at a time.

Yet, do not let routine absorb you. Every step you take has to bring you closer to your dream.

For instance, if you want to become a Chief Editor, the reading of 50 pages might be a good everyday habit for you. But offering the first draft of your article without giving it a few edits to all the publishers you know in town is not the one.

If you want to start an online business, you’ll need to learn how to build a profitable blog first and then monetize it.

Increase your odds of making your dreams come true by developing simple habits, not by trying to take over the world offhand.

4. Work with Deadlines.

It’s all about preciseness, again. Set the deadlines. They will help you to keep the race.

Even if you think you’re organized enough, set them. Life is full of unexpected events, and deadlines will help you to stay focused.

Also, you can reward yourself when you meet your deadlines or did something before them.  Some extra motivation can make a huge difference.

5. Have Rules.

Simplicity is the key to successful life planning.

Allison Kress, PsyD, a psychologist in Laguna Niguel, Calif, suggested an easy 20-second rule for teens and youth. Before you make a decision that could influence how you plan your life, take a break and think it through for at least 20 seconds.

What are the consequences of this decision? Will it help you to become closer to your dream? How will it affect your lifestyle?

In young age, the temptation to act impulsively is great, but the consequences of such deeds could be painful. Learning how to plan your life gets easier when you just take your time to make sure you won’t regret anything.

6. Get Out of The Rut.

Life has its ups and downs for all of us, but sometimes those downs creep up and take hold without us noticing. All of a sudden we look around and realize that we’ve found ourselves stuck deep in a rut.

If you don’t know you’re in a rut, it can be very difficult to get out and this can lead to lasting negative effects on your health and happiness. However, if you’re struggling financially, you can always research title loans in your state for emergency cash. Check out these title loan reviews for more information about this loan option.

So how do you know when you’re in a rut?

And, more importantly, what can you do to get back on track?

One of the biggest red flags that demonstrate that you might be drifting listlessly through your own life is that you spend most of it daydreaming of being somewhere else.

It’s perfectly normal to spend some time in the office wishing you were laying on a beach instead, but if this is a permanent state of affairs, it’s a sign that you’re dangerously bored.

Try adding some spontaneity into your life to liven things up a bit, at least until that next vacation.

If you don’t have an exotic location to jet off to, you need to make sure you still have some things to look forward to.

If the only thing you have any anticipation for is getting into bed at the end of every day, then you’re definitely in a rut and need to start finding enjoyment in the little things in life, appreciating all of the things that come in between waking up and going back to bed again.

Social media is a great tool for lots of things in our lives. But it can also have a very damaging effect on your mental health because it’s easy to be fooled by the edited highlights of their lives people put on there.

This can leave you feeling envious because the day to day reality of your life doesn’t look like what you assume everyone’s life is, so stop obsessing over other people and shift your focus back to yourself.

Doing this shouldn’t come at the expense of actually ever seeing other people or doing anything, of course.

So if you’re finding that you are spending all of your time at home rather than getting out and seeing friends, or claiming that you don’t have time to do anything (when the reality is quite the opposite), these are all also signs that you need to think hard about changing your habits.

Nobody ever wants to get stuck in a rut, but in a world where work-life balances are getting ever more hard to maintain and technology is eating into face to face interactions, it’s easy to find yourself wondering where your life went.

How To Stick To Your Life Plan

Accessibility.

After understanding how to plan your life, keep your written day or week plan at your fingertips (it could be the app on your smartphone).

Thus, when you suddenly have free time, you’ll have the chance not to waste it, but spend it on accomplishing some points from your list.

Also, it’s a great way to fight procrastination.

As soon as you catch yourself confused or procrastinating, you can check your plan and choose one item you can do right now (no doubt, you have such there).

Besides, if you move beyond your life plan, you could reward yourself again, and experience that amazing feeling of carrying out the promise you make to yourself.

Boundaries.

If you want your plan to be fulfilled, learn to say “no.”

Inability to refuse must be one of the most popular problems people meet when they decided to stick to the plan.

Sometimes, it seems all the world is against you. Friends ask you to watch after their kids or siblings, everyone invites you to all the parties you can imagine, mates ask you to help them to run their start-up…

Stop. Take a deep breath, and make a decision that won’t ruin your plans. Learn to prioritize and stand your grounds.

Sure, communication, friends, and contacts are important for success, but sometimes it’s just the wrong time. Think about your life because no one else will.

Tracking.

To get the motivation to move further, track your progress.

Noting the results of your everyday work, you’ll realize that even 20 minutes a day make a difference, and it’s not that hard.

Thus, your dreams are attainable for sure. All you need is to truly desire to make them come true and follow your life plan.

It’s your turn now that you know how to plan your life. Decide to do it now now, and welcome all the opportunities that will come your way.

Tools and resources to make the ‘how to’ of planning your life easier:

Blog to Biz System – It took me 5 years to start earning $5K/month blogging. In this course, I share all that I’ve learned about it. It’s the formula for starting a blog, turning it into a 5-figure business, and living life on your own terms. Inside it, you’ll find answers to all your questions about becoming a full-time blogger, behind-the-scenes content, real ways to make money and build blog traffic even if you have no experience, a ton of video tutorials, how-to guides and screenshots.

Blogging Resources – To build a powerful site that turns visitors into buyers and monetize it well, you will need the right tools. In my Blogging Resources page, I’ve gathered the best of the best and the exact tools I’ve used to grow Let’s Reach Success and be able to make a full-time living as a location independent freelance writer.

60+ Side Hustle Ideas to Make an Extra $1000 a Month – Check out these side hustles you can start on your own when making a life plan, that can be your chance to achieve financial independence.

My Monthly Income Reports – If you’re curious how I make a living online, check out my income reports. I publish these monthly and share all the numbers together with the lessons I learned and the new things I’m working on. That’s a big part of planning the rest of my life.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – If you’re not earning money through affiliate marketing, then you are leaving money on the table. This step-by-step affiliate marketing strategy course shows you how to increase your affiliate income and make more money blogging. It’s by Michelle from Making Sense of Cents who went from $0 in affiliate income to over $50,000 per month (and also the first online course I’ve ever taken).

About The Author

This post was written by Kate Maurice, a freelance copywriter.

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You need a solid life plan. Here's how to plan your life the right way, and make sure you reach all your goals:
About The Author

Lidiya Kesarovska

I'm a blogger, author, course creator and the founder of Let's Reach Success and it's my mission to share my knowledge in lifestyle design, blogging, business and personal development with you so you can manifest all your desires and serve your purpose as a business owner.
I've been named one of the top 10 course creators and experts to watch in 2021 by Yahoo! Finance, have written for TIME magazine, have been featured on Thrive Global, Disrupt Magazine, and more, and quoted on publications like Entrepreneur, Fit Small Business and Fundera.
After turning my blog into a full-time online business, I now teach others how to do the same because financial freedom doesn’t need to be just a dream.
Want support on your blogging journey?? Check out our membership and community for bloggers.

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