Empower Your Life with 'Living Forward' by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy

I have had written goals for many years. I learned Franklin planner. I did 5 Choices as well as one other. I am in a habit of reviewing and updating my goals every month and havie been doing it for more than 5 years. What I found with this one is that it is easier to take your dreams down into smaller actionable tasks. I now have tasks to do from various SMART goals from several of my Life Accounts. I make sure each of my tasks will not exceed 2 hours. Most are less than 30 minutes. I feel more effective in the progress of my goals. I have already given copies to two close friends and loaned my highlighted book to another. I will take it back in a week.

Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy is about writing your Life Plan. The authors instruct you to go through each area of your life and write a plan on how you envision it to be. They emphasize how important writing your Life Plan is, and they urge you to take a whole day to do this, even if you have to take a day off of work to get it done.

I read another book by Michael Hyatt, Your Best Year Ever, that I liked and reviewed. In this book, Michael teaches us how to be more productive. After taking his advice, I became more organized by changing a few habits and am getting a lot more accomplished. So I wanted to see what Michael had to say in Living Forward and decided to read it.

Living Forward Synopsis

Living Forward begins by having you create a eulogy for yourself. What would you want other people to say about you at your funeral? This exercise will get you to think about what you can change in your life for people to think about you this way.

First, you will write down all the areas of your life and picture how you would like this part of your life to be. The authors emphasized throughout Living Forward that our lives are segmented, and we need to take care of each one. Michael and Daniel call these Life Accounts.

Most people will have 7-12 different Life Accounts that make up their life, and they are all interrelated. For example, some people make career goals but neglect their family relationships. Therefore, we need to work on all segments, not just one.

The authors give detailed steps on how to complete your Life Plan, along with many examples. Writing a Life Plan will help you have more control over your life and give you perspective on what your life is like now compared to how you would like it to be.

"Without a Life Plan, you most likely end up far from where you hoped to be, regretting the decisions or inaction that shape your life. Or you can roll up your sleeves and get serious about this gift called Life. The choice is yours." p. 157

Annual Review of Your Life Plan

Next, you will write out goals and new habits that will move you closer to where you would like to be in each area of your life. Then, each year you will review your plan and change it if your goals have changed or if circumstances in life have changed your Life Plan.

"Whether you change your Life Plan a little or a lot doesn't matter, provided it reflects your life as you want it to be. Some years, you might change it more. Some years, less. Much of it depends on what has transpired in the previous year and where you hope to go in the next." p. 143

Writing your Life Plan will help you keep things in perspective. For example, maybe you thought you wanted to reach a specific goal, but as you compose your thoughts, you no longer have passion for that. So then you design a plan that you want to happen in the next year.

Maybe you wanted to get that promotion because it would give you more money and prestige. However, you now realize it does not make you happy anymore. So you decide to take a different path in your career. You will now write goals to achieve this new venture.

My Analysis

I kept reading through Living Forward to see if there would be more instruction about making your life better. It doesn't. The whole book is about writing your Life Plan, reading it regularly, and tweaking it every year. Doing this will improve your life tremendously.

However, I am only concerned about the next few months. I do not need to look years ahead. Therefore, I was not interested in creating my Life Plan. Maybe a few years ago, I would have. But it is not necessary for me at this point. So instead, I am working on short-term goals.

I use the PUSH journal to write my annual and monthly goals and to keep track of my daily tasks.

Another great resource for achieving your goals is The Full Focus Planner created by Michael Hyatt. Here is my book review.

Living Forward would be beneficial for people looking to establish long-term goals in all areas of their lives. It is a worthwhile project to balance your life and stay focused on essential things in your life. I love the concept of the book. It is an excellent exercise to do.

I knew as a child what I wanted to do when I grew up. And then I found out that I couldn't do it because my eyesight was too bad. My backup plan was also shot down because exercise-induced asthma meant I could not pass the physical.
Then my entire life was turned upside down by a Major Medical Issue. Including losing my Happily Ever After, because the man I married wanted a healthy woman who would take care of him; he didn't sign up to be the caregiver. 25 years later I still haven't found a man willing to deal with my physical limitations.
Point being, you can plan all you like, and work hard toward the goal, and circumstances beyond your control will prevent you from achieving it. Most self-help books will make you feel guilty about not getting to the finish line.
Never beat yourself up for making the best of a bad situation. I will never have any of the careers I dreamed of, because my job has become looking after my health. Not by choice, but of necessity.
And I tune out anyone who tries to make it somehow my fault that I didn't try hard enough to get what I wanted. I spent two years confined to bed as a result of trying too hard to live up to other people's expectations.

These guys have lived it. My excuses were all identified and a plan and tools were made available. Life accounts was a hug insight.

Life lessons were understood. This book expounded on critical thinking and great life planning steps for greater outcomes. I’d recommend it.

My husband and I really enjoyed working through this book and creating our life plan! The resources are appreciated too!