Creating a LifePlan™
Pablo Picasso once famously remarked, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” LifePlan™ facilitates both endeavors. It offers a journey of self-discovery, creating a path to uncover one's unique talents and subsequently employ them in profoundly meaningful ways. Every one of us is uniquely designed and equipped to do things that no one else can. When we identify our inherent gifts and discern how to share them, we move toward a life of significance.
What Is Life Planning?
LifePlan™ is a transformational process designed to help organizational leaders discover clarity, direction, and purpose in their personal lives. Based on the Paterson Process, the participant is led through a structured framework of self-discovery, helping them gain insights into their core values, passions, strengths, and aspirations.
Through a series of guided exercises and reflective questions, LifePlan empowers individuals to articulate their life's purpose, set meaningful goals, and develop actionable plans to achieve a life of significance.
Who Needs a Life Plan?
Well, practically anyone can reap the benefits of having a LifePlan. While our expertise extends to guiding individuals at any life stage, our main focus caters to the following groups.
Executives and Business Leaders
A wise colleague once shared, "Success at work need not equate to failure at home." Unfortunately, many business leaders find themselves prioritizing work over personal life, leaving scraps for their loved ones. With LifePlan, this dynamic shifts, fostering growth and fulfillment both professionally and personally.
Career Professionals
Much like executives, career professionals feel immense pressure to ascend the corporate ladder. LifePlan offers invaluable insight into navigating the professional journey, fostering balance between short-term goals and long-term aspirations.
Business Owners
It's startling to learn that within a year of selling their businesses, a staggering 75% of owners regret their decision. Why? They struggle with the void left behind, having allowed their business to define their very identity. LifePlan steps in to prevent such post-sale regrets, guiding business owners towards a fulfilling entrepreneurial life.
Those Facing Transition
Life is a series of twists and turns, and navigating these transitions can feel overwhelming. A LifePlan serves as a beacon of clarity, offering a structured decision-making framework during these pivotal moments.
Retirees
Often dubbed as the "Third Half of Life," retirement doesn’t have to be approached with trepidation and uncertainty. LifePlan empowers retirees to embrace this phase with confidence, helping them realize the fulfilled life they've long envisioned.
Questions that Creating a LifePlan Can Help Answer
At various times in life, we come to a point where we need or want to make changes. But too often we don’t know what those changes should be. Perhaps you have found yourself asking questions such as:
- Why is what I’m doing draining me more than it’s energizing me?
- Am I making the right contributions? If so, why am I so frustrated?
- Why is it such a struggle for me to figure out my life’s mission?
- I’m considering a change, but what should I do?
- Why am I feeling out of balance and stressed?
LifePlan offers a pathway to address these inquiries by providing profound clarity and self-awareness that pave the way for genuine life transformation and fulfillment.
What Are the Benefits of Making a LifePlan?
The most significant benefit is finding your purpose and discovering what it is that makes you feel most alive. Knowing your life purpose — and how to get there — exponentially adds meaning and clarity to everything else you do. Creating and pursuing a life that matters (not just going through the motions) is a massive paradigm shift, and its benefits are wide-ranging.
Some of the benefits of having a LifePlan are:
- Improved self-assurance, deeper relationships, more effective communication skills, and smarter time management
- Elevated performance across various life domains: personal, family, vocational, spiritual, etc.
- Uncovering gifts and talents (sometimes hidden) that can give your life additional joy and meaning, naturally decreasing stress and anxiety
- Learning the art of discerning attainable objectives and executing them with steadfast determination
- Built-in accountability, keeping your feet to the fire as you live out your life plan
The Paterson LifePlan Method
The Paterson LifePlan is a facilitator-led discovery that provides insight into how one is wired, what one is being called to, and how to build a life of significance. The process includes the following phases:
- Perspective: Reflecting on your life’s story, perspective is gained to help answer the question, "Where am I now?"
- Planning: Developing an action plan with specific goals and steps for movement toward significance in each area of life
- Management: Predictable patterns for regularly assessing how you are doing in living out your LifePlan
- Renewal: The annual process of asking, "What must change?", giving you what you need to renew and refresh your plan
Why We Use Paterson for Life Planning
There are many good life planning processes available today, so why do I use Paterson's LifePlan? There are a few reasons:
- It prioritizes perspective. Tom Paterson once said, "If you gain the proper perspective, the plan almost writes itself." The Paterson Process for gaining perspective is better than I've ever seen. Participants review their life story, their motivations, their mode of thinking, their current talents, and so much more.
- It’s one-on-one. The LifePlan process is a one-to-one dynamic: one person, one facilitator. As opposed to a group session or workshop, this allows the participant to have 100% of the time focused on them.
- It’s digital. After the LifePlan session, each participant receives a digital playbook that they can reference online at any time. The playbook can be updated in real-time as the LifePlan is renewed and refreshed.
- It works. The Paterson LifePlan methodology has a proven track record of delivering tangible results for individuals across diverse backgrounds and circumstances.
What Happens During a Life Planning Session?
In preparation for the two-day LifePlan session, I engage in conversations with each participant, either through phone calls, Zoom meetings, or face-to-face interactions. These discussions serve to build rapport and deepen our understanding of one another. Additionally, participants do some preliminary "pre-work" exercises to help clarify their goals for the LifePlan experience.
Throughout the two days of the session, I facilitate conversations using prepared tools on flip charts. As our conversation progresses, I capture key insights and details on these charts, which we then display on the walls. By the end of the session, the collection of charts forms a comprehensive visual narrative of the participant's LifePlan.
Following the session, we photograph each chart and upload them for transcription into a digital playbook. Participants typically receive their personalized playbook approximately one week after the LifePlan sessions. Subsequently, follow-up coaching calls may be arranged to ensure accountability and support in implementing the LifePlan.
What a LifePlan Facilitator Does
As a LifePlan facilitator, I bring the process; the participant brings the content.
For over two decades, I've been coming alongside people from all walks of life to help them move along the journey to where they can be. My approach is to ask questions, make observations, and throw in a story here and there. This process allows the participant to uncover their own narrative. I serve as a guide, helping the LifePlan participant on the journey toward significance.
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Ready to get started?
Let’s Schedule Your First Life Planning Session
The first step on your LifePlan journey is contacting me. We’ll have an unhurried phone chat about your life and your expectations, with a chance to ask each other questions about the process.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably eager to maximize your potential and take your future to the next level. Now it’s time to sit down with an action-oriented guide who’ll help chart your course—and have a good time doing it!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Is Creating a LifePlan Different from Coaching?
The facilitated LifePlan is a holistic approach, addressing various aspects of life across different stages. Unlike other coaching specialties that may focus solely on professional success or specific areas, life planning delves into personal development goals, uncovering true purpose, deeper meaning, and overall fulfillment.
While a LifePlan may intersect with business roles, the primary aim is to foster self-actualization and internal growth beyond the confines of the workplace. Amidst the array of coaching options available, a LifePlan facilitator emerges as the optimal choice for charting one's overall future.
What Will I Need to Do During a Life Planning Session?
The LifePlan process is anything but passive. You’ll be expected to actively participate in the conversation.
Your role will include listening to that “still small voice”, being open to change, and communicating your thoughts and feelings. I’ll expect you to be honest with yourself. My ongoing role is also to listen — and use what I discern to guide the process, draw out truths, and share my perspective.
Together, we'll trust the process to lead to breakthrough and clarity.
How Much Does Creating a Paterson LifePlan Cost?
The LifePlan journey demands a significant investment of time, energy, and resources, but the dividends are invaluable. Pricing for the LifePlan process is tailored to meet individual needs.