Make 2008 Your Most Productive Year Ever by Creating a Personal Master Plan

Photo courtesy of JKim1 on flickr.com.
It’s the beginning of February. If you’re like most people, you probably made a few New Year’s resolutions to improve your health, your relationships, your career, or your business.
We’re now a month into the New Year. Did you keep your resolutions? If you didn’t, it’s probably for a simple reason: you didn’t make a plan.
A Recipe for Achievement
To achieve anything you want in life, you absolutely must to do three things:
- Identify what you really want (vs. what you think you want) and create a positive, immediate, concrete, and specific goal that captures that desire accurately.
- Focus your energy by deciding what’s most important right now and what can be done later.
- Create a simple plan to ensure your daily actions will ultimately lead to the accomplishment of your most important goals.
Each and every one of us has a few things we’d like to improve about our health, our relationships, our career, our business, and our opportunities for relaxation and fun. Creating a “Personal Master Plan” is the best way to stop dreaming and start doing.
Introduction to Personal Master Planning
A “Personal Master Plan” is a short document that captures what you want to achieve most within the next three years, then systematically breaks down those goals into the most important actions you need to take this week in order to achieve them.
Once you’ve created your Master Plan, planning your day is a simple matter of choosing 2-3 things to accomplish today from your weekly list, then doing them before you do anything else that day. If you follow this method, you’ll achieve your goals quickly and with ease.
During the past year, I’ve experimented with using a Personal Master Plan to guide my daily actions, and the results have been astonishing. After creating my plan, I knew exactly what I needed to do and why I needed to do it. As a result, I’m in the best shape of my life, I’m eating healthfully, meeting new people, doing good work, and the PMBA is growing every day.
Download The PMBA Guide to Personal Master Planning
To help you make 2008 your most productive year ever, I’ve created a special lesson about Personal Master Planning exclusively for members of the PMBA Insider. This short lesson will take you through the entire process of identifying your goals and creating your own master plan. Along the way, I’ll also teach you how to use two simple tools (Backpack by 37 signals and David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner) to manage your plan and schedule your day.
To get your free copy of the Personal MBA Guide to Personal Master Planning, sign up for the PMBA Insider using this form. You’ll immediately receive the guide, along with other premium content that’s not available anywhere else on the net. (Your information is safe and secure.)
Creating a Personal Master Plan is one of the very best gifts you can give yourself this year: a clear vision of what you want and a plan to make your dreams a reality. I hope you find this guide informative and useful. Seize the day!
Related Posts on the PMBA Blog
NEW: PMBA Guides Section
PREVIEW: Personal MBA Recommended Reading List, 2008 edition
Weekly Update: What’s New with the Personal MBA








51 Comments, Comment or Ping
Keith
Thanks for the info
Feb 4th, 2008
Jeff
Man you guys rock. I have been putting together a life plan and was looking for a system to help me do that. Thanks so much - Jeff.
Feb 5th, 2008
Andrew
Thanks!
Feb 5th, 2008
Terry
I am looking forward to implementing this… thanks,
Feb 5th, 2008
Joe
thanks.
Feb 5th, 2008
Todd Cravens
Looking forward to this
Feb 5th, 2008
San-man
Is your mail server down? As I did not receive any email regarding activation, I was unable to activate my subscription.
Feb 5th, 2008
Duane
thanks
Feb 5th, 2008
Dan
Thanks!!
Feb 5th, 2008
D1277
Thanks.
Feb 6th, 2008
San-man
I had better success with the mailer today. Thanks! This is great!
Feb 6th, 2008
Duane
Trying again today
Feb 6th, 2008
scott
A very useful article..Thank you.
Feb 7th, 2008
Gideoni Silva
Trying again
Feb 7th, 2008
CJ
sounds like fun! i am waiting for that e-mail!
Feb 7th, 2008
RobGTX
Josh,
I am absolutely enthralled with your program. The later part of 2007 was a big challenge for me. While promoted into the ranks of an executive at my company I had no formal post-Bachelor education and at 40 years old dropping everything for a 2 year MBA or even a 1 year EMBA just was not an option.
I began seeking alternatives and came to find your site. Your program has thought me that there is another way to advance.
Prior to 2008, I had not picked up a business book in years. Fast forward to today and I have devoured StrengthsFinder, The Personality Code, All Marketers Are Liars, Made To Stick, First Break All the Rules and the Little Green Book of Getting your Way and I am thirsty for more.
While my appetite for knowledge has been awakened, I fear that my motivation will soon drop, your concept of a Personal Master Plan is just what the doctor ordered.
Thanks for the motivation!
Rob
Feb 7th, 2008
Mike
great.
Feb 7th, 2008
Brent
good
Feb 8th, 2008
Mariusz Lewicki
Make 2008 Your Most Productive Year Ever by Creating a Personal Master Plan
Feb 8th, 2008
Duane
Has anyone had luck receiving the “Master Plan”? If possible, could someone email me a copy to duanes1277@yahoo.com? I’ve been trying for days.
Feb 9th, 2008
Edgar
Thanks!
Feb 9th, 2008
Stephanie
Look fwd
Feb 13th, 2008
Dawn Reyn
Sounds like a great plan. I can’t wait to get started
Feb 13th, 2008
Reuben R
Looking forward to this
Feb 13th, 2008
Robert L. Chongthu
Sounds good.
Feb 14th, 2008
blas becerra
ready to make 08 the best yet!
Feb 16th, 2008
michael debonis
thanks!
Feb 16th, 2008
Joe
thanks!
Feb 18th, 2008
vincent l
cool, thanks
Feb 21st, 2008
Jamison
Cant seem to get this page to do anything except submit a comment, would really like be able to receive the download
Feb 23rd, 2008
Stephanie
Has anyone been lucky enough to actually be able to download or recieve the personal master plan? If so, please email me how? thanks!
savy033@hotmail.com
Feb 23rd, 2008
djarsia
None
Mar 1st, 2008
SARAT CHANDRAN VK
please forward the plan at the earliest
Mar 1st, 2008
SARAT CHANDRAN VK
rush me the master plan
Mar 1st, 2008
SARAT CHANDRAN VK
thanks
Mar 1st, 2008
John D
tx
Mar 2nd, 2008
Geof Lory
What is going on with this? Can’t even see how to submit a request for the Personal Master Plan. Did I miss something?
Mar 4th, 2008
Matthew Richard
Make 2008 Your Most Productive Year Ever by Creating a Personal Master Plan
Mar 4th, 2008
Tori
How do I download this guide. There is no submit button on your form!!
Mar 6th, 2008
Josh Kaufman
All,
Apologies for the issues - I’ve identified a problem in the form displaying correctly in Internet Explorer, and I’m working to resolve the issue. (The submit button on the form displays briefly, then is hidden for some mysterious reason.)
If you don’t want to wait, the form is working correctly in Mozilla Firefox (http://getfirefox.com), or you can enter your information in the “Join the PMBA Insider” form in the right hand column, which appears to be working correctly. You’ll receive the guide via e-mail after you confirm your e-mail address.
Thanks for your patience!
Mar 6th, 2008
Mick Winters
This is an outstanding personal planning tool! I went through it last weekend and found it very helpful in clarifying my goals. Thanks Josh!
Mar 7th, 2008
hernan
I confirm my subcription but i have not received the Master plan back.
How can i obtain the copy.
can someone mail it to sanesco@une.net.co ?
thks
Mar 11th, 2008
greg cogswell
please send me the personal master plan
Mar 11th, 2008
Michael Ryniker
How do i get my copy? I looking forward to starting.
Mar 13th, 2008
Michael Ryniker
How do i get started? Is the server down?
Mar 13th, 2008
Shoaib Ali
Thanks!
Mar 18th, 2008
C. Vincent
Can someone email me a copy of the plan? cvincent@trentcap.com
Mar 24th, 2008
M. Alamri
I want to make this year my most productive year.
Apr 8th, 2008
Jill Cooley
I want a copy too !!
I want everything that Mike Ryniker wants !!
Apr 10th, 2008
Josh Kaufman
You can now download the “PMBA Guide to Personal Master Planning” by visiting http://personalmba.com/guides/. Enjoy!
Apr 15th, 2008