Life Mapping in 4 Steps
Mapping my life has helped me in so many ways. Having goals make me feel "unstuck", motivated, alive. I can't function as well if I am just meandering along, I need to be moving towards something. When I began aligning my goal-setting with my values, I saw a tremendous increase in my focus and happiness. It is for that reason that I absolutely love the 1st of January. Winter is a natural time to look inward, to chart a course for the year, to spend time alone performing various checkups and check-ins.
This is the first time I’m sharing my full Life-Mapping approach. Subscribe to get the template today!
I’ll start by saying that life mapping is the antithesis to New Year’s resolutions. The two are so far apart they can’t even be considered cousins. Life mapping considers the ways in which accomplishments build and culminate into a much more holistic vision for your life. Resolutions are doomed to fail because of their lack of connection to intrinsic values and motivation, and very little thought to how they fit into the larger picture. Do you really think the most successful people perform at high levels because of the quality of their resolutions or perhaps, is it that they put a lot of continual effort into building a blueprint for their life? Hmm…
Today we’ll break down the 4-steps I use to build a Life Map. It all begins with values— who you are is largely attributable to the things that inspire you to keep going when things get tough. These are your values. You can think of this as the “purpose” portion of the Life Map or, the guiding principles of your life. Once the foundation (values assessment) is in place, it’s a great time to look back and spend time reflecting on the year that you’ve had. Don’t gloss over any of the disappointments, successes, or lessons; spend time to sit with those memories, record them, and look for patterns. Experience is the teacher of all things. Synthesizing the events of your last year is a critical step, without which you will lack an understanding of which obstacles you most need to overcome. And lastly, the creation of 1-year, 3-year and 10-year goals. Perhaps fewer readers may be in the habit of looking 10 years ahead, but I’ll share why I think you should.
Let’s get started!
Check-In on Values
I take the approach of using values as the “north Star”, an important guide for my life. So a check-in to determine whether my values and priorities have shifted is important. I posted here about the values that guide my life..
If you are having a hard time determining what you value, check our these methods and inspiration to make it more clear for you.
Year in Review
There needs to be enough time to reflect on what was accomplished, significant moments and memories, and areas where you fell short. Over time I’ve developed my own format for this review but this shouldn’t limit you by any means. I spend a day in front of my office calendar, reviewing what I was doing each week to help jog some memories. I feel the calendar is a huge help in being able to review the year because not every item is memorable, but helps me dive into the exercise by recalling sequences of events in greater detail. As I re-trace the steps of my last year, I’ll write notes on my experiences, grouping them into themes like:
Hard Lessons
Favorite Memories
Things I’m Grateful For
Goals Completed
Goals Missed
Barriers
The “Year in Review” provides the foundation to begin assessing the barriers (internal and external) that have caused you to fall short. This step has been instrumental in me course correcting my life a few years ago when I suddenly realized the source of a massive drain on my energy.
There are nightly exercises that help slowly reveal the identify of these barriers. It goes like this:
Picture in great detail your goals from the previous year that were unmet.
What are/were the obstacles preventing you from attaining these goals?
Picture in great detail the ways in which you can eliminate these obstacles.
Take action immediately to create a written summary of the problem and solution, such as “I did not meet my goal of reducing the number of times I order in per week. I struggled with being disciplined about using my Sunday's to meal prep, and let my “busy” schedule dictate my dinner choices. I will stock up on frozen, healthy meals so that I can bridge the gap while I make it a habit to prep on Sundays”. Writing it down is helpful as it forces you to further visualize the barrier and solution.
Check out this great insight on the 9 most common obstacles that stop you from accomplishing a goal.
1-Year, 3-Year, and 10-Year Goals
The 1-3-10 format has been with me since I was 12 years old, thanks to my mom who made this a “norm” in our household. Goals are intentionally the final step, rather than near the beginning. The completion of the check-in, year in review, and barriers exercises is necessary to help form a coherent whole view.
1-Year Goals
The creation of 1-year goals is just as the name implies. What are you going to accomplish in 2020?
This is a good time to use your values as the basis for determining your Goal Groups. By doing so, you can better align the goals with the overall picture you want for your life. Since about 2008 I’ve been using the headings:
Growth
Gratitude
Family
Wellness (mental, physical, emotional)
Coincidentally enough, these groupings still appear today on my list of top values. As a reader of The 60/40 Rule, you are aware of my desire to find a suitable balance between my desire to grow a HUGE business or “leave it all on the court”, so to speak, and to fully appreciate each step and each day without a constant need for more and more.
3-Year Goals
An opportunity to think big about current and past goals can propel a longer term win. Some accomplishments are sequential, able to be built upon and with a specific purpose in the future. The point of a 3-year goal is to check that your 1-year goals are well-aimed and attainable as well as to function as a placeholder for goals that are indeed important but cannot be crossed off in a single year.
10-Year Goals
This is the ultimate test of your creativity— to not only imagine the future but the steps that take you there! These goals should feel lumpy and heavy, not fine-tuned and fluffy. Some examples of the goals that fall into this category:
“Diversify income from at least 5 sources”
“Build an 8-figure business”
“Write a full-length book”
No need to go into specifics, these are simply the big highlight reel one-liners that truly set your soul on fire or keep you up all night. They’re the accountability partner you’ve always dreamed of. You’re going to use these 10-year goals on a regular basis to perform and alignment check with your values, 1-year and 3-year goals.
Summary
Above all else, creating a life map should not be guided by your own beliefs and desires for how you want to live. The biggest source of unhappiness is that terrible battle between what you “want to” do and what you “should do”. Should Do leads to major intrapersonal conflict and is largely based on our perception of how others want us to show up in the world. Want To is your most authentic, unapologetic self.
If it helps, make sure you’re the only reader of your work, in case the map you create is a reflection of any external pressure or need for validation. That is largely the reason I keep the specifics of my plan to myself— my perfectionism would get the best of me and I wouldn’t want to own some of the messier or difficult-to-admit goals.
I hope this was helpful! Would love to hear from you anytime Chelsey@the6040rule.com
Additional Reading
Have more kick-ass days with “8 Reasons Why Your Morning Routine is Not Working for You”
Free yourself from the Want/Should trap with this advice from Harvard Business Review.
Additional reading on the basis of “want” and “should” thinking.
