Life Plan 101

It is said that there is a time and a season for everything.  And indeed there is.  And for each season, there is what needs to be done, which if not done will affect other seasons.  And so it is with life.  Your life is set out according to a plan, a life plan.  And in the life plan, there are times and seasons.
Imagine that your full life is divided into four equal periods.  Assuming a full life of years, each quarter would be approximately 20 years.  In each of these quarters, there is what would need to be done, in order to maximise the impact of that quarter, and also in order to best position oneself for the next quarter.  In my view, the quarters and their respective objectives are set out as below.

The objective of each quarter is to exit on top, and one can define what exiting on top means for each quarter.

In Quarter 1 (Q1) your objective is to build a foundation.  Everything is aligned to help you build a foundation; you have parents to support you, guide you, feed you, and to educate you.  It is not generally expected that you are generating money or bringing up other children.  Your role in this quarter is to focus on building a good foundation that will best position you for the next quarter.  Exiting on top in this case will mean getting a good education, keeping healthy and avoiding bad habits.

In Quarter 2 (Q2) your objective is to build a career.  You are expected to get into a trade and develop expertise in that trade.  If you are employed, you are expected to grow in responsibility and knowledge exiting in top management.  If you set up a business, you are expected to build it into a successful enterprise, solving problems and creating employment.  While you may generate money and even some savings in this quarter, it is not expected that you will get very rich.  Exiting on top in this case means that you have risen in responsibility and knowledge.  You will also have built significant networks and build a family.

 

In Quarter 3 (Q3), you are now perfectly positioned to learn on your expertise, knowledge and networks to build wealth.  Wealth is built by using your savings and putting them in the right investments, and leaning on your knowledge to steward towards growth and acceleration.  The right investments will come out of the conversations you will be involved in due to your good networks.  Exiting on top in this quarter means that you are well invested, in good health and within a loving family environment.

In Quarter 4 (Q4), you have done what you set out to do in this world and you are now ready leave a legacy.  In this quarter, you are a peace maker; you want to make peace for other people and to make your own peace with your maker.  You want to leave a legacy of peace.

 

Having understood this framework then, it is easy to understand underachievement and overachievement.  If one consistently exists each quarter at below optimal level, then overtime, the overall result is a lifetime of under achievement.  On the other hand, if one consistently exists each quarter ahead of the pack, then the individual records a lifetime of overachievement. 

The overall objective across generations then becomes a yearning for moving further and further up on the overachievement side, and therefore successive generations will record higher achievements in each lifetime than previous generations.