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

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. Focus your energy by deciding what’s most important right now and what can be done later.
  3. 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!

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51 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. Keith

    Thanks for the info

  2. 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.

  3. Andrew

    Thanks!

  4. Terry

    I am looking forward to implementing this… thanks,

  5. Joe

    thanks.

  6. Todd Cravens

    Looking forward to this

  7. San-man

    Is your mail server down? As I did not receive any email regarding activation, I was unable to activate my subscription.

  8. Duane

    thanks

  9. Dan

    Thanks!!

  10. D1277

    Thanks.

  11. San-man

    I had better success with the mailer today. Thanks! This is great!

  12. Duane

    Trying again today

  13. A very useful article..Thank you.

  14. CJ

    sounds like fun! i am waiting for that e-mail!

  15. 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

  16. Mike

    great.

  17. Brent

    good

  18. Mariusz Lewicki

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

  19. 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.

  20. Edgar

    Thanks!

  21. Stephanie

    Look fwd

  22. Dawn Reyn

    Sounds like a great plan. I can’t wait to get started

  23. Reuben R

    Looking forward to this

  24. Robert L. Chongthu

    Sounds good.

  25. ready to make 08 the best yet!

  26. michael debonis

    thanks!

  27. Joe

    thanks!

  28. vincent l

    cool, thanks

  29. Jamison

    Cant seem to get this page to do anything except submit a comment, would really like be able to receive the download

  30. 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

  31. djarsia

    None

  32. SARAT CHANDRAN VK

    please forward the plan at the earliest

  33. SARAT CHANDRAN VK

    rush me the master plan

  34. SARAT CHANDRAN VK

    thanks

  35. John D

    tx

  36. 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?

  37. Matthew Richard

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

  38. How do I download this guide. There is no submit button on your form!!

    :(

  39. 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!

  40. 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!

  41. 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

  42. greg cogswell

    please send me the personal master plan

  43. Michael Ryniker

    How do i get my copy? I looking forward to starting.

  44. Michael Ryniker

    How do i get started? Is the server down?

  45. Shoaib Ali

    Thanks!

  46. C. Vincent

    Can someone email me a copy of the plan? cvincent@trentcap.com

  47. M. Alamri

    I want to make this year my most productive year.

  48. I want a copy too !!
    I want everything that Mike Ryniker wants !!

  49. You can now download the “PMBA Guide to Personal Master Planning” by visiting http://personalmba.com/guides/. Enjoy!

  1. NEW: PMBA Guides Section - Apr 15th, 2008

About the Personal MBA


Business schools don't have a monopoly on worldly wisdom. If you're serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help you master business without the baggage of b-school. To get started, read the manifesto or browse the recommended reading list.


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