Several times over the last couple of years, different pieces of my life plan have been documented; seven priorities, three life goals and five core values to name a few. A milestone birthday and the looming end to the year felt like triggers for a thorough review of these various bits and pieces, the objective being to meld these bits and bobs documented at different times into a coherent whole - if that was indeed possible. Thankfully one of the guidance documents that under pinned some of the earlier envisioning activities was Matt Hyatt’s Creating Your Personal Life Plan,  which I still had a copy of. That provided some of the high level guidance for this review, modified to better fit my thinking of where I am at the moment. So here goes.

The Premise Life does not occur in vacuo, but is lived in the context of community, with different elements (individuals, groups and/or organisations) interacting together. Sociologists capture these interactions - actions and qualities - as ‘roles’. If life consists of these interactions, it is not a huge stretch to then suggest that success in life consists of excelling in the various roles an individual has to fill; little daily, weekly, monthly and yearly successes adding up into a life well lived.

Roles, Spheres of Influence and Interaction Clusters One’s roles - multiplied as they necessarily must be,  can be clustered into a number of broadly similar categories, ones which I have chosen to call i nteraction clusters. These represent broadly similar groupings based on the number of people they affect (a sphere of influence) and social proximity, how closely related the two entities for which the role exists are. Based on these, my roles cluster into three main groups namely;

  • Personal: High proximity, Small Sphere of Influence (~1 to 20)
  • Professional: Medium proximity, Medium sphere of influence (~20 to 1000)
  • Public: Low proximity, Large sphere of influence (>1000)

My roles (current and future) thus fall into the groupings as below: Envisioning Success Borrowing from Michael Hyatt’s Creating Your Personal Life Plan, success can be envisioned for each interaction cluster as below:

Personal:

I am a loving husband of one wife and a father to two great children – preferably a son and a daughter. In these roles I provide, protect, lead and love them, am their biggest fan and live a life that is a role model for them to follow. In my role as a son to my parents, I respect, honour and provide for them as well as constructively engage and communicate with them, keeping them in the loop as I plan and do life. As a brother to my siblings, I provide leadership and stability, contributing to family life and ensuring we exist as a close-knit community of upwardly mobile siblings, each successful in our own right both professionally and in personal life. As a friend, I participate in mutually beneficial, sharpening relationships with my close friends, cherishing their time and companionship and prioritising them over the wider connections I may have.

Professional

As a peer or colleague, I deliver work of the highest standard, both as part of a team and when required to deliver as an IndividualTechnical Specialist. When working with others, as a boss ( or team leader) in addition to leading by example in delivering work of an extremely high quality, I treat everyone else with respect and value, taking time out to know them as individuals and ensuring the right atmosphere for them to flourish is created. Within the context of work I provide mentorshipto other less competent members of the team, and seek and receive mentorship for myself as required. As a Technical Specialist, I am dedicated to keeping myself on the cutting edge of knowledge in my (Corrosion, Materials and Inspection) discipline.

Public

As a Global Citizen, I hold dual nationality (one more in addition to my Nigerian one), and have settled long term into life in a great city. There, I live a life that is above board, in keeping with the laws of the land and the socio-political context in so far as it doesn’t go against my Judeo-Christian worldview. In the wider community, as a Responsible Social Citizen I contribute to life, supporting worthy causes, engaging the less privileged as appropriate and contributing to a vibrant conversation in the social sphere by voting and engaging with the wider social issues in my community. Beyond that, as a committed member of a local church, I contribute to life within that context and serve in some capacity. The over arching desire is to leave something of value in the lives of all I am acquainted with.

The Life Plan In essence: Three Life Goals (one for each interaction cluster) and Seven Focus Areas, from which an Annual set of personal goals and targets, and an overarching five year plan are derived, the key elements being as below:

Life Goals Focus Areasfocus areas Annual and 5 year Plans (At least) One overarching (SMART) goal for each focus area; with metrics for tracking and review (monthly, quarterly and annually). Previous versions (developed a lot less robustly are available by searching the Annual Goals tag.