Whether you’re planning out your next career project, your fitness goals, or your new business, having a plan is critical in the ultimate success of that endeavor.
I deliberately call this planning a Battle Plan because each and every week, you and I go to battle. We battle in our careers, we battle the naysayers, we go to battle for our marriages, we battle for our ability to build wealth, we battle with the temptations that will keep us from the healthy lifestyle you and I are trying to live.
And, it’s important to know the enemy is real. The enemy is working against you. The enemy does not want you to succeed. Yes, there are external enemies that we will have to face but, unless you’re in a life or death struggle with a criminal or in war, the enemy that you’re more likely to face can also be your greatest ally – it’s the man you look at every day in the mirror.
That man in the mirror wants everything right now. He doesn’t want to work for it but he wants it. He doesn’t want to wait for it. It doesn’t want to have to exert any amount of effort.
And, wouldn’t it be nice if we could have all the things we wanted this instant without having to put forth any effort? Nice? Yes. Realistic? No.
So, with that said, and knowing we our working against ourselves, it is critical that you and I consider coming up with a simple plan that will allow us to combat the immediate gratification and the laziness we all fall prey to.
This is the plan I call a Battle Plan. And, it consists of three very simple sections. I don’t care if you take notes about this podcast and draft your own Battle Plan. I don’t care if you download a free digital copy of my Battle Plan (which, if you’re interested you can get at www.orderofman.com/battleplan. or if you buy our physical annual Battle Planner (which, if you’re interested in that, you can find it at www.orderofman.com/battleplanner). What I do care about is that you incorporate this type of planning in your life.
And, this isn’t something that you do once a year or once a quarter. This is something you do every single day without fail. Because that’s what it takes. It’s going to take relentless discipline in scheduling out some time each and every day to complete your battle plan.
I know this is difficult to schedule especially if you’re not used to scheduling time in your day for planning but I know as I incorporated even just 15-30 minutes in the morning to come up with a plan of attack I have been so much more effective in producing results in my life.
I want to get real tactical with you here as I walk you through what needs to be included in this type of planning. There are three major components to this so let’s break this down.
NON-NEGOTIABLES
First, there’s your non-negotiables. These are activities that you do day in and day out without fail – things that you’ve identified as helping you get your mind, body, and soul right for conquering the remainder of the day.
As for me and my non-negotiables, I use Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning (you can find my podcast interview with him at www.orderofman.com/070. Those six things I do every morning are:
- Exercise
- Meditation
- Reading
- Journaling
- Planning
- Visualization
You can incorporate those into your daily life or something completely different. You’re going to have to experiment to see what works for you.
I would recommend making a chart so that you can literally check these things off as you get them completed. There’s just something about checking these things off on a list.
DAILY TASKS
Next are your daily tasks. These are the items that you need to get done today. You may have a list of five or six things and you may have a list of a lot more. Either way, you need to write down things you need to get done.
If you don’t – and I know this has been true for me – you’ll lose track of what you need to get done. So, I like to keep a running list of calls I need to make, blog posts and podcasts I need to complete, emails I need to send, etc. Writing this stuff down make it significantly more likely that I’ll get it done and it helps me to prioritize what item I need to get done first.
If you can’t see this all in one location, I promise you, you are going to run a very inefficient life.
Now, a lot of people will ask me about prioritization. My prioritization strategy is very simple. I pick the task that I can done with the least amount of effort that will yield the highest result. That’s it. That’s how I do it.
Once I have completed that task, I check it off the list and only then do I move on to the next item. This allows for maximum flexibility throughout the day because you’re not pigeon-holing yourself into task and times they need to be completed by. Again, ultimate flexibility.
DAILY OBJECTIVES
And, the third component of this is your daily objectives. I know this might sound similar to your daily tasks but it’s not. Task are those to-do’s that have to get completed in order to reach your objectives – your goals.
When it comes to my daily objectives, simplicity is key. I don’t need to hit homerun after homerun. I just need to get on base as many times as possible. This is how you succeed of sustained periods of time.
So, when it comes to my daily objectives, I focus on four key areas: Condition (health), Calibration (self), Connection (relationships), and Contribution (wealth).
I come up with ONE specific objective in each of these categories that will help me move closer to success.
For example, with regards to condition, I might choose to go for a run with my 20lb weighed vest. When it comes to calibration, I might decide to go shooting for 30 minutes or so by myself. When it comes to connection, I might choose to play catch with my son for 30 minutes, and when it comes to contribution, I may choose to balance my checkbook.
Compounding these very small steps day after day after day will yield huge results in your life.
So there it is – my daily planning strategy. I know that might be a lot especially if you haven’t done any planning in the past so let me share a couple of resources we’ve made available that will help.
First, there is a free digital copy of our Battle Plan which you can download at www.orderofman.com/battleplan. You can print it out and fill it out each week.
Also, we’ve made a journal available with 52-weekly Battle Plan pages. It’s a leather journal and the notebook insert is replaceable so when you get through a year you can just order another insert. If you’re interested in that version, you can pick one up at www.orderofman.com/battleplanner.
Guys, take your planning seriously. If you truly want to accomplish big things in your life, you’re going to have to plan accordingly and this very simple planning strategy I shared today has literally transformed my life.
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104: Building Your Social Capital | Jordan Harbinger
Great podcast, FYI some links on this page are broken; looks like there’s an accidental parenthesis included in the link.
Dave – your browser should not be picking up that paranthesis. Still having trouble?
I receive an error message when I try to download the battle plan.
Justin – what is the error message?
Ryan –
Yesterday I listened to your podcast on creating a battle plan. This really inspired me to develop my own. I downloaded your Excel file to use as a template but quickly began wondering how I could most effectively create and manage this plan on my iPhone. Since I have my phone with me all the time. I already rely on my phone to keep me on track every day and thought that a digital battle plan would help keep me accountable by using reminders and allowing me to track on my phone. Anyway, I was wondering if you had any app suggestions to use for a battle plan. Not sure if this has come up before but would appreciate your thoughts.