As we enter a new decade this new year, are you making a new plan for living your best life? As the saying goes, ‘A failure to plan is a plan to fail.’ Even if you’re perfectly happy with your life as it is now, planning can make sure you continue to be. And what better time than a new decade to review where you’re headed and how you’ll get there.

Ben Frankin’s success may just be because he lived a well-planned life.  In fact, he is credited with being the originator of the saying above. For more insight, below is an image of his daily plan.

To help you plan, here 3 of the maxims he followed to live his best life:

1. 1. “For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” Be organized.  One way to do that is to make a place for everything and put everything in its place. Not only can you accomplish more, but you might also save money! The average office employee spends over an hour a day, and the average executive as many as 6 weeks a year just looking for things. 23% of adults say they are late paying their bills because they lost them.
   2. “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” Learn new things. Consider skills or knowledge that might help you with a promotion or a new job.  Are there new skills, ideas, products or services that can take your company to the next level? We’ve listed some personal and corporate knowledge resources below.
   3. “Dost though love life?  Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” Value your time. Try including a list of things you’ll say no to in this year’s plan. You might also want to list your top priorities – and block out specific time for them.

Making The Plan

Your plan should identify where you are and where you want to go, the steps and resources you’ll need to get there, and a way to measure progress and success. One simple method for making a plan is to start with the goal and ‘back it down’, putting each step before the goal in backward order until you get to the first step you’ll need to take.

For instance, let’s say you want to increase production by 10%.  Your last step before the 10% increase might be to complete a training program or set up new equipment.  Just before that, you’ll need to enroll in the training program or receive the new equipment.  Continue with the ‘just before that” steps until you are at step one.  Now just add deadlines and how you’ll measure progress and voila, you have a plan!

Here are some resources you can use to help you along the path to your best life this year.

Apprentice Ohio
Ohio Higher Education
Lynda.com *Check your Library for FREE courses
Gale Learning *Check your Library for FREE courses
Ohio Means Jobs Online Training

And, if adding employees or finding a new job is in your plan for this year, we’d like to make it easier for you!