LifeQ (eBook)

PREFACE

Businesses create strategic plans so they can be successful. Could you use that same process to create a business plan for your life?

The answer is YES! After all, your personal life is your most important business!

In our coaching practices, we apply the same strategic planning principles we use in business to help clients achieve success in their lives. When it comes to coaching, we mean business!

What will you learn?

Consider this book a “Do It Yourself Toolkit” for living your life based on your values and purpose. Once you discover your LifeQ, you will be able to enhance your life quantitatively and qualitatively! Taking the LifeQ QUIZ is your first step. 

You will learn how businesses create strategic plans and how to use these same elements in your life. The three parts of the plan are: 

1. Become aware of your current reality - confirm your purpose and values, calculate your LifeQ score to show you where you are and steps to take you where you want to be, and eliminate obstacles that are blocking you.
2. Develop a winning strategy - set SMART goals, make promises, and identify your Personal Board of Directors. 
3. Take action and prepare for setbacks as you execute your plan - learn to act plus how to get back on track when you are off-course.

In every chapter, we share case studies to show everyday examples from clients, offer research and expert advice from our experience, provide practical exercises, and often give examples of how we apply these business principles in our lives.

Who can benefit from LifeQ?

LifeQ is for you if you want to achieve break-through, long-term results in your personal and professional life. It could be that you want to examine your career path, overhaul your financial plan, or create a retirement strategy. Maybe you want to find new love, thrive as you become an empty nester, develop better relationships, get healthier, or develop a new talent or skill. Perhaps you are just curious and want to measure how well your life is going and clarify the areas going well. Maybe you are at one of life’s crossroads and need to make crucial decisions, or perhaps you are stuck and need help figuring out your next steps.

What is unique about LifeQ?

LifeQ is a system that measures the quality of your life based on what you think is essential. It is like a GPS that shows you where you are and then how to get where you want to be. It is based on your values, your purpose, and how you see your destiny. You can develop your own personal strategic plan, tailored to you, and that provides a roadmap and milestones for leading the life you choose to live.

The LifeQ QUIZ illustrates how well you are doing in 12 parts of your life. You will see clearly which Components are going well so you can appreciate and celebrate those areas. Plus, it will provide you specific steps you can take to improve scores in the Components with lower scores. 

Is it hard to think strategically? 

No, some people do it naturally. Others can learn it. By using the same 3-part process that we use in our book, we have acted strategically throughout our lives, even before we heard the words “strategic planning” in business school. Below, we describe an example from our early adulthood when we were stuck and applied the 3-part process for creating our personal plan by assessing our current reality, developing a winning strategy, and taking action. We have since learned that most people do not make changes until the pain becomes intolerable, or the pleasure is so great that it is worth the effort to change. As you will see in our stories below, we were in pain when we decided to change. Our stories may remind you of times in your past when you have already been thinking and acting strategically.

Susan’s story:

It was a cold, dreary evening in Boston when it hit me that I was 25 years old and not very happy. Although I had carefully made the move from Atlanta to Boston one year before for adventure and growth, my spirits were at an all-time low. I was tired, lonely, and my job was zapping all my energy. It was time for a change and to take action. So, I did what I named my “Self-Analysis.” 

I assessed my current reality and then developed my plan. I wrote three lists: Assets (things going well), Liabilities (things not going well), and Action Plan.

First, I wrote down my Assets: education, health, a loving family, good job, good income, close friends, sense of humor, faith.

Secondly, I listed my Liabilities: fatigue from working shifts and not sleeping well, limited outside activities despite moving to Boston for adventure. 

Thirdly, I created my Action Plan for living a happier, more joyful life: focus on having more fun, take exciting classes, work fewer off-shifts and evaluate how working 4 days per week (vs. 5) would affect my take-home pay, meet interesting men, pray every day.

Results of Planning and Taking Action: Within two months, I was working four days per week. Within 4 months, I was taking a Fannie Farmer cooking course, met some fun people outside of my job, and attended some classes at Harvard. I began dating interesting men, one of whom I married.

Jasenka’s story:

When I am at a crossroads in my life journey, I use a type of SWOT analysis. Several years ago, after going through many challenging personal changes, I was unsure which path to take. Although I had found shelter in San Francisco as a Bosnian refugee, I was depressed. I had been through a war and survived. Now what? I knew there was something more I had to do – I knew I had to find my Purpose. 

I wrote down my Strengths that the war had not taken from me: education, health, risk-taking, persistence, a loving family, close friends, sense of humor, spirituality.

Next, I listed my Weaknesses: pain and anger I carried from war, inability to create deep connections with people, no time for fun, plus I disliked my job. 

Then, I evaluated my Opportunities and Threats (which included my limiting beliefs). What were my options? What could be obstacles? I started therapy and learned to ask for help. 

My Action Plan began with finding my Purpose and then starting a career search aligned with it. Additionally, I began to practice gratitude, have fun, and meet new people.

Results of Planning and Taking Action: I found a mentor who guided me into my coaching career that reflects my Purpose of helping others find peace. I started working for a coaching company, took salsa classes, and met many interesting people. This same strategic planning process continues to guide my decision-making.

Why did we write this book? Why now?

Hundreds of our clients and other coaches have asked us for several years to create this toolbox that contains the LifeQ QUIZ, business theory, client stories, exercises, and planning worksheets. The LifeQ QUIZ has been life-changing for many. Clients have found the business principles are logical and invaluable, and their results have been extraordinary and long-lasting. 

As a result, we became determined to share our coaching methods. When was the last time you became focused on an idea, and you could not stop thinking about it? It could have been developing a product idea, buying a red sports car, or traveling to Hawaii. For us, it has been our goal to create the LifeQ QUIZ and write this book that we knew could help others live more abundant, joyful lives with measurable results. We have succeeded in our goal of providing a reader with measurable tools for improving your life. We have wanted to do it for years!

How do you begin your journey?

We recommend that you begin your journey by first reading through the LifeQ book to introduce yourself to the concepts, exercises, and flow. Then you can understand the context and process for building your plan and creating the abundant life that you want. Once you know the fundamentals of your personal plan, then you can design it. 

Your life journey started at your birth and will continue until your last breath. You have already traveled many miles on your journey and had many successes and probably some setbacks. This LifeQ book involves a dynamic process that you can enter at any point in any chapter, but each chapter is an essential building block. Each part is fundamental and impacts others. 

No matter where you are on your path, this book will allow you to measure your LifeQ and will teach you to think strategically just as businesses do. 

We invite you to take this journey with us. Work at your own pace and enjoy the journey.

As you read this book, we would love to hear from you. Our website is...