Hey GirdleyWorld!
With the first newsletter of the year, I wanted to share one simple exercise you can do today to transform your tomorrow.
- My personal version of EOS
Let’s get into it!
P.S. Want to get the word out? Sponsor this newsletter and reach 30,000+ entrepreneurs, investors, seekers, and more. Email ty@girdley.com for more information.
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You can’t run a successful business without a plan.
But lots of people don’t bother when it comes to their own life.
When I was in my 20s, I was scared to make plans for more than a year down the road. But by my mid-30s, I realized I wasn’t getting where I wanted to be.
I just turned 49, and looking back I can see that my life turned around when I started making long-term plans.
Now I’m thinking a decade at a time.
And the best part: it’s super simple.
My system
I based my personal planning system on the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). I use it for all my businesses, so why not for my life? (It’s from a book called Traction by a guy named Gino Wickman. Highly recommended!)
I build a one-page plan. It puts your whole 10 year plan on the front and back of a single piece of paper.
The power of the exercise is that it forces you to be super concise. That makes it both more difficult and more valuable.
The whole thing looks like this. You can download the blank template, or just draw it up yourself on a piece of paper. Then I’ll show you how I filled mine out for this year.
The Front Page
The first page is about defining who you want to be as a person, then painting a 3 year picture with some specifics. Let’s walk through it.
Name
You got this. It’s the easy one.
Values
This is where you define what kind of things are important to you in how you live your life on a day to day basis. Here’s what I put:
A good way to think about this: would you feel offended if someone said you were the opposite of these?
If someone told me I wasn’t curious, or thought I was a pessimist, I would be insulted.
That’s a sign these are good core values for me. It’s the kind of person I want to be, and the kind of dad I want my kids to have.
Core Focus
This is about what you want to do in your life. One of my friends calls it a “noble cause.”
So what do you do to make the world a better place? Mine: I don’t teach people to fish, I provide the lake.
The niche is how you do that. This took me years to figure out. I tried a lot of things, and business incubation and ownership is what I get the most fulfillment out of.
10-Year Target
This is where a lot of other systems fail. Just going a year at a time, or focusing on habit building… I think that’s junk. Great things come from big visions.
I didn’t used to think this way (see my 20s.) But now at 49, I believe it’s the only way to win.
So set a big goal. And make it a single thing. It doesn’t have to be a whole picture of everything, but make it measurable and audacious.
I went with net worth. (And that’s a number I’m keeping private, sorry!)
Strategy
Here you fill out how you’re going to achieve that 10 year goal.
The Focus is what I’m going to spend my time on.
The Three Uniques are my special combination that gives me an advantage. This is an EOS thing that I love. I’m not unique in any one of them, but I’m unique in this combination of these 3.
The Proven Process is how I follow through on the plan.
3-Year Picture
Ask yourself: what would my life look like in 3 years, if I’m on track for the 10-year goal?
This is where your personal life comes in. So I add vacation weeks and date nights (that should be 4 date nights per quarter if you’re reading this, Mrs. G!).
And you start defining the things that quantifiably define your life. Happy marriage, my weight, spending the summer somewhere not so hot… if this is my life in 3 years, I’m happy.
The Back Page
1-Year Plan and Quarterly Goals
Now we’re flipping the page. You shorten the scope down to just the following year and then the next 3 months. What do you need to do to be on track for your 3-year plan?
Again, go for SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.
Don’t make 40 goals. You can accomplish a ton of things, but they may not all be important. But by picking 3 to 7 things, you’re forced to prioritize the really important outcomes.
(The blanks here are my secret stuff — I can’t share everything!)
Open Big Questions
This is an area of things to think about. You might not have answers to these at the end of the quarter, or even the year.
But figuring out what the big, important questions are will prompt your mind to turn them over.
And when you come back to look at this, see if your perspectives have changed.
Here’s mine:
That’s it!
The power of this system is all about how short it is. It’s like that line, “If I had more time, I’d have written you a shorter letter.”
Keeping it short requires clear thinking.
I’ve been doing it every quarter for seven years, and it takes practice. So give yourself some time to fill it out and learn the process!
I try to take a weekend on my own every December to do this exercise (though this year I didn’t). I take lots of long walks, and spend lots of quiet time. Then I’ll make a draft and come back and revise it after a few days.
One of the best things it unlocks: is the power to say “no”.
There are so many things we could be doing. And when a shiny object comes along, now you can see if it fits your long term plan. And if it doesn’t, you have a great reason to say “no”.
So download the blank form and take a crack at it!
3 things from this week
- Appetizer: I was a guest on the In The Trenches podcast with Steve Divitkos, talking about the rise of the holding company, and the $15000 (inflation adjusted!) computer my parents bought when I was a kid. Give it a listen on Spotify, Apple, or their site!
- Main: My pal Sieva Kozinsky wrote a great newsletter recently about the value of not giving up.
- I went on 150+ first dates before I met my amazing wife
- I met with 250 investors to raise money for my first company
- I posted 200+ pieces of content on social media last year
Think of going on 150 first dates...
I'm only human. Many times I was bored, or it was inconvenient and expensive. I could have given up and said, "I'll find my person when I find them". But I refuse to leave important things up to chance. I take control.
I highly recommend his newsletter! You can one-click subscribe here!
- Dessert: I crossed a big milestone on Twitter this week.
That’s all, folks! Have a fantastic week.
Thanks,
Michael
