Over the course of the past couple months, I have taken advantage of the 8 hour workday by taking the time between working on projects to map out my own “Masterplan.” I was encouraged by a friend who was inspired by Elon Musk to take time to write it all down. I presume Elon sat down one day and basically wrote down “okay, this is what I’m going to do: I will do x by 20xx, I will create a fancy-ass environmentally friendly car by x priced high as a luxury product until the technology can trickle down into the masses, etc.” And then he did it. Bloody Elon Musk. I swear to god I will never be fantasized about by a man to the degree to which they fantasize about Elon Musk
Another notable person who wrote a master plan: remember that time Hitler literally wrote a book called “Mein Kampf” outlining his political ideologies and future plans. They should have just let him go to art school, man.
I have been playing around with these articles a lot of inspiration which are worth a read:
“Creating a Personal Masterplan” – Josh Kaufman
“Ideal Lifestyle Costing” – Tim Ferriss
Anyhoo, after numerous iterations I have reached a format that I am satisfied with:
A) There are the 5 categories (I have created 5 but of course more/less could be used): fitness, social, financial, spiritual, beauty.
I am still deciding whether this is too many to focus on at once, yet at the same time I think we are always going to be juggling a certain number of categories to work on in our lives. Therefore I think the idea is to focus on one thing within each category such that effort is actually focused rather than becoming overwhelmed by the sheer infinity of possibilities one could hope to attain within that category.
B) Within each category, a 6 month project is taken up. Within this a 2 week experiment or system is implemented.
This was inspired by a comment by Tim Ferriss I liked when I was browsing his podcasts. I’ll cite which one in particular. He spoke of how he personally used this method for his goal setting and I found these smaller numbers and less intimidating labels (project rather than goal, experiment rather than e.g. “diet”) resonated better with me. A short-term experiment is less intimidating than the prospect of changing one’s entire lifestyle for infinity. Further, I would argue that small changes cause a chain reaction of change and the two week experimental time frame may cause a new habit within itself.
I think it is also important to note that these projects should be defined in a way such that even if they are overly ambitious within the timeframe given, they are the actual dream goal that one wants to be aligning their life with. The projects should be defined such that even if the ultimate goal isn’t realized, one will have still developed useful skills along the way-inevitable success!
C) Each experiment will be monitored with a daily report—a few lines on how well one has stuck to the experiment, thoughts for future iterations/actions to stick better to the experiment, roadblocks encountered with the experiment, and what went well.
These reports will be reflected on at the end of the week (let’s say Friday), a habit encouraged by many successful people in business. Here one will consider improvements/changes to the experiment that could lead to greater success.
An example:
6 Month Master Plan
FINANCIAL
6 Month Project:
Have enough money to rent an apartment in Toronto in September
2 Week experiment:
Spend absolutely no money on food (source food at home from groceries, no eating out, buying coffee, buying lunch, going for dinner with friends, etc.) This is because I have noticed the majority of my reckless spending is spent on food ($400 in a month??) due it allowing for instant gratification, etc. This problem is sourced in my disorganization so to solve this I will:
-pack lunch the night before
-do proper grocery shopping for the week
-create more time in morning for breakfast (maybe plan outfit night before?)
Daily Log
Monday 13th – Successfully spent no money today. Brought cereal from home to work and used kefir from last week. Brought protein powder from home which kept me full (note: never buy chai flavoured vegan protein power yuck), as well as leftovers. Ate an egg breakfast at home in morning.
Tuesday 14th – Was super hungry, and not for the cereal I had at work. Went to Longo’s and bought sardines for the week’s breakfast (linked to beauty goal), crackers and splurged a bit on self-serve breakfast. Was disorganized the night before; I’m so tired when I get home I put off getting organized for the next day and say “I’ll wake up early and prepare” but I never do. How do I solve this?
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Depending on what you prefer, this masterplan may be great stored on a google doc and/or a dedicated notebook. I always find writing stuff down on actual paper feels great and you could always have it with you.
Another great practice to start would be to do a morning and nightly review of the masterplan. Start your day by meditating on your goals to focus your day and make your dreams a mantra.
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