You’re nervous.

Your heart is beating.

Your mind is racing.

And then you take a breath. In. Out.

And with that – everything calms.

Your pulse slows, the body relaxes, and the mind focuses.

Countless hours of preparation. The time is now.

You step into the room. Ready to give the greatest performance of your life.

And you’ve never been more ready…

Walking Blindly

What do you do when you have the most important interview of your life?

What does a team do when they are facing the biggest game of the year?

What does an actor do when they have a major performance?

They prepare.

Hours upon hours preparing, practicing, and refining.

Every single day – we wake up and stare the most important thing imaginable right in the face… Our own life.

And most of us face it blindly – with no plan in place…

You Are Playing The Game With No Plan

You say “I want to live an amazing life.”

Do you really?

There’s 9 seconds on the clock. You’re down by 2.

Are you prepared?

The coach weighs his options.

Do you even want to get in the game?

He points your way. Here’s your chance…

Would you hit the shot?

Our lives are the ultimate sport.

Every day, you wake up in your skin. You hang out with yourself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How you feel matters!

If you want to live an awesome life – you aren’t going to magically stumble across it.

And that is where the problem arises: Most people move through everyday with no gameplan. They say they want to accomplish big things, yet they don’t even try to implement a strategy to make it happen.

Is there any surprise this isn’t working…

Establishing a Game Plan.

So here’s the key: If you want to live an awesome, exciting, engaging life you have to create a plan that allows you have an awesome exciting and engaging life.

It’s logical: If I want to give a great speech – I must plan and prepare. If a team wants to win – they must plan and prepare If an actor wants to give an amazing performance – they must plan and prepare.

So… If you want to live an incredible life – you must plan and prepare.

Life is the ultimate sport!

If you want to succeed you must develop a GamePlan.

…

I LOVE THIS STUFF!

How to Develop the GamePlan.

Step 1: Mentally Prepare For The Biggest Game of Your Life.

Before you begin to really tackle your life, you have to step back and mentally prepare for this. Life is beautiful, incredible, but also incredibly challenging.

They say “there are no guarantees”… That’s a lie. I can guarantee that you will face challenges, struggles, and an endless foray of distractions.

Therefore it is critical you develop the right mental attitude before you dare to set up your game plan.

There are 3 very specific mental attitudes I have adopted that have revolutionized my life:

1) Everything Counts. Every single interaction, thought, and behavior either moves me closer to my goals or farther from them. There is no middle ground – if I’m not moving forwards I’m moving backwards.

2) Make a commitment to your commitments. Gary Ryan Blair, better known as “The Goal’s Guy” has a beautiful phrase. He says “Be committed to your commitments”. When I write down my goals I am making a promise, a commitment to myself. This means if I don’t follow through I am lying to myself! I am not a liar! I keep my promises.

3) Learn from everything No matter what the situation there is always an opportunity to learn. I always ask myself “What can I learn from this?” Failure is beautiful – because it allows me to get immediate feedback about what doesn’t work. Success is beautiful because it allows me to learn what does work. I learn from everything.

Step 2: Establish 3 Clear Goals with a specific deadline.

Before I take on any task I always have my goals in mind. Start with 3 goals. Not 8, not 20. Choose 3.

Most people don’t get stuff done, because they are trying to do too much. by choosing only 3 goals it will allow you to really focus

Make sure these goals are specific, measurable, and have a deadline.

This is not a goal: I want to be more healthy. (not specific, not measurable, no deadline) This is a goal: I want to lose 28 pounds by April 12th.

Notice the difference?

This is not a goal: I want more money. This is a goal: I want to increase my salary by $5,000 by May 10th.

Go ahead and write down 3 specific goals and put a deadline on them. If you aren’t sure how to turn it into a goal then put it in the comments below and I’ll help you (or you can email me at izzy@30yearoldninja.com).

Step 3: Establish 3 “Why’s” for each goal.

This part is crazy powerful.

A goal by itself isn’t enough. You need to have a deep seeded reason for accomplishing the goal.

For example: Why do you want to lose 28 pounds by April 12th? How will it change your life?

Look at each goal and develop 3 reasons why it would it be incredible if you accomplished this.

By developing 3 “Why’s” for each goal you are creating a rock solid base so that when you face challenges and struggles (I repeat YOU WILL FACE CHALLENGES AND STRUGGLES) you will be ready to push through them.

Go ahead and look at each of your 3 goals. Now create 3 “Why’s” for each goal. If you want to create more than 3 go for it! But at minimum go with 3.

Step 4: Create the GamePlan (the objectives)

So now you have set up your 3 goals. Each of your 3 goals has 3 very specific reasons why these mean so much to you.

The next step of the game is to create the “how you will achieve the goal”. I call these objectives.

When the marines head into a new location they have a set of objectives to accomplish. If they meet all their objectives they will achieve their goal.

So the objectives are the specific actions you must take to achieve your goal. Now, understand – this is a game plan! Game plans are not always perfect. You set up your game plan to the best of your abilities with the knowledge you have. Then you put it into play.

Take a look at your goals. Below each goal write up a list of specific actions you must take to accomplish this goal.

For example if your goal is: I want to lose 28 pounds by April 12th. Then some objectives could be: I run 4 times a week for 45 minutes by January 25th. I eat fruits and vegetables with every meal 7 days a week.

Notice how both of the objectives above are extremely clear. They show exactly what you need to do to accomplish the goal. Does it guarantee you will accomplish the goal? No, it doesn’t! But it is putting you in a position that makes it very likely.

Go ahead and write down a list of objectives for each goal you have in place.

Step 5: Script the Beginning of Your Strategy.

This part is my favorite!

Let’s go back to the sports analogy: When a coach is preparing for a big game, what do they do?

They script out the first 10 to 15 plays, then adjust based on the other teams response.

This is exactly what I am going to have you do.

Script out the next 10 days of your life using your objectives.

Below is the exact planning sheet I use to script out my plan (Just put your email below and you’ll get a free copy!).

This is a mock document… You might realize that once you look at the objectives.

This is what you’ll get a copy of by entering your email below.

The first thing you need to do is input your email so you can get a copy of the planning sheet. If you’re already a subscriber just put in your name and email and you will be taken to the toolkit immediately .

Next, go through the next 10 days of your life and put in all your appointments and responsibilities.

After that take a look at your objectives. Now you are going to place your objectives on the calendar.

You are establishing a clear plan for the next 10 days.

Once you have the objectives in the calendar you are ready to start the game.

The Final Word

Set up your GamePlan! Don’t tell me this is too much, too intense, or too serious.

Failure to plan, is planning to fail.

People who don’t prepare blow it when they get put in the game.