Success is more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success

is about mapping out all the aspects of your life. When considering how

to map your life, as with any hiking excursion, you need to define the

following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and

route.

Origin: Who you are

A life map has a

starting point. Your origin is who you are right now. Most people when asked to

introduce themselves would say, “Hi, I’m Jean and I am a 17-year old, senior

high school student.” It does not tell you about who Jean is; it only tells you

her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look

closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic,

professional, cultural, and civil status.

Moreover, you can also reflect

on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits,

skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon introspection, Jean realized

that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her

inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that

life must serve a purpose, and that wars were destructive to human

dignity.

Destination: A vision of who you want to

be

“Who do I want to be?” This is your vision. Now it is

important that you know yourself so that you would have a clearer idea of who

you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes,

habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and

targets for the future would also be unclear.

Your destination should

cover all aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and

spiritual. Continuing Jean’s story, after she defined her beliefs, values, and

principles in life, she decided that she wanted to have a life dedicated in

serving her fellowmen. The exact same criteria is needed for a person wanting to

plan for wealth. Without addressing all aspects of your being, reaching your

destination will become more complex.

Vehicle: Your

mission

A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your

destination. It can be analogized to your mission or vocation in life. To a

great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about

yourself.

Based on Jean’s self-assessment, she decided that she was

suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen

vocation was a medical doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to

live a life dedicated to serving her fellowmen as a doctor in conflict

areas.

Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and

attitude

Food, drinks, medicines, and other traveling

necessities are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you

also bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine

your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a

need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present

and what you need to gain along the way.

This two-fold assessment will

give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. Jean realized that

she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills on medicine so that she

could become a doctor. She knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she

realized that this was something she wanted to change.

Landmarks

and Route: Smart objectives

Landmarks confirm if you are on the

right track while the route determines the travel time. Thus, in planning out

your life, you also need to have landmarks and a route. These landmarks are your

measures of success.

These measures must be specific, measurable,

attainable, realistic, and time bound. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks

such as earning a master’s degree and a doctorate degree within a period of

three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master’s degree is

two years.

Going back to Jean as an example, she identified the following

landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor’s degree in biology by the age

of 21; completing medicine by the age of 27; earning her specialization in

infectious diseases by the age of 30; getting deployed in local public hospitals

of their town by the age of 32; and serving as doctor in war-torn areas by the

age of 35.

Anticipate Turns, Detours, and

Potholes

The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and

spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But oftentimes our

plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other

situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and

potholes; thus we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.