7Life System: The Simple Structure That Will Change Your Life

Today I have been given the honor of sharing with you a simple system that I have found to be an excellent way of structuring goals into an achievable format. It’s easy to follow, doesn’t take long to implement and is flexible enough to work around your life. If you keep an open mind, commit to trying the system for a few weeks and are diligent in its application, I am confident it will help you greatly… it might even change your life.

Learning How to Eat Elephants

We have all, at some point, fallen prey to “New Years Resolution” death bug, where the ambitious goals we set in January are already a distance memory by February. I believe the problem lies with the fact that we try to take on these huge “goals” all in one go. When it look like we aren’t making progress, we become disheartened and give up.

They say if you want to eat an elephant, break it down into small chucks. The same can be said for big, ambitious goals. Taking on the entire goal in one go is setting yourself up to fail. This is what the 7Life System aims to do — create a structure for making the most out of this coming year, while establishing habits that will ensure each day, week, month, year and decade of your life are as equally productive and fulfilled.

What Will This System Do For You?

Many of you have no doubt heard of Pareto’s Law, which states that “20% of all input will account for 80% of all output”

This system ensures the individual reduces the time wasted on things that are not important or core to their dreams and goals in life. The system allows the individual to be more relaxed when things get hectic in the short-term because it keeps them focused on the long-term.

Positive progression is one of the greatest creators of happiness in life, and having targets and goals is the map by which you navigate.

As shown in the graphic above, goals keep you moving in a generally forward direction to your dreams. Although it will never be a straight line, nor would it be any fun if it was, having targets will help you keep moving in the right direction. If you do not know where you would like to be in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years or 10 years, how will you know how to get there. It would be like trying to get to somewhere you have never been, without a map. Having a target to aim for, therefore, is critical so you know what to shoot at. Set your targets and watch as your life aligns to meet those targets.

Integrating Your Goals Into A Structure

The 7Life System is structured as below.

• 7 Life Principles
• 7 Life Goals
• 7 Before [20/30/40/50/60] Goals
• 7 Year Goals
• 7 Month Goals
• 7 Week Goals
• 7 Daily Goals

This makes 7Life a top down system, you start at the top and work your way down. Your 7Life Principles are the most important, followed by your 7Life goals, then your 7 before 30/40/50 goals and so on. Let’s begin.

Your 7 Life Principles

If you have never had any personal life principles then it’s probably time to consider setting some.

Your principles are the foundation on which you stand, and if you don’t define them, you leave it to the world to do so for you. The 7Life system has you define seven principles – those core values that state who you are, how you behave and how you operate.

Sample Life Principle: ‘Love People. Love Life. Love Circumstance’

Take some time now to write down your 7 principles that define you, or who you wish to become. These sentences may and will be tweaked as you go on, so just start by getting something down on paper. Writing down your goals is a powerful process. It helps you clarify them, make them real, and etches them onto your subconscious.

Your 7 Life Goals

Don’t worry, your life goals will not be defined overnight. Let’s make a start today at writing some down.

What seven ambitious goals would you like to achieve in your life? I challenge you to dream big here. Think now about what your perfect life would look like, and what it would involve you doing. Then think about what life goals would get you there.

Sample Life Goal: Complete An Iron Man Marathon

Your 7 Before [20/30/40/50/60] Goals

Now we break the goals down into more manageable chunks. Jot down seven goals to aim for in the coming nearest decade, something you will aim to achieve that will help you ultimately achieve your seven life goals. For an example, I am 27, so my next nearest decade is 30. If I want to complete an Iron Man at some point in my life, then I could set the goal of completing a Triathlon before I am 30.

Before 30 Goal: Complete a Triathlon

Your 7 Year Goals

What are your seven goals for this year? The seven things you can aim for, that will help you to achieve your before [30] goals.

You probably see the pattern that is forming as we break down our goals into ever smaller and more manageable chunks. Your seven goals this year should focus on moving you towards achieving your seven before [30] goals, which in turn are focused on achieving you life goals. Again, as an example, if one of my goals was to complete a triathlon before I am 30 then a goal I could set for this year might be to complete a marathon.

1 Year Goal: Complete A Marathon

Your 7 Month Goals

Using the marathon example again, I could set the goal of running a 10 miles this month.

1 Month Goal: Run a 10 Miler

Your 7 Week Goals

For running a 10 miler, this month I could set the goal of running a 5 miler.

1 Week Goal: Run a 5 Miler

Your 7 Daily Goals

What small task can we do today to help us achieve our week goals? For achieving the 5 miles this week I might set the simple task of just putting my trainers on and going for a short run. In doing this I am taking a small but definitive step towards my life goal of completing an Iron Man.

Today’s Goal: Go For A Run

Review Your Goals

Take a moment to look back over all your goals, pick out a few and jot them down in order. You can see how the large “elephant” has now become an achievable series of small streaks. For reference, lets look at the Iron Man goal and how it breaks down:

Life Goal: To Complete An Iron Man

Before 30 Goal: Complete a Triathlon

1 Year Goal: Complete A Marathon

1 Month Goal: Run a 10 Miler

1 Week Goal: Run a 5 Miler

Today’s Goal: Go For A Run

The Flexibility Of The 7 Life System

You don’t always have to achieve all your daily goals, or even all your weekly goals, every single time. Sometimes life gets involved and ruins our best laid plans, no one is immune from this. However this is ok, you can be flexible by using the 7Life System. You need only focus on trying to always achieve your monthly goals, and definitely never miss any of your yearly ones. The daily and weekly goals are flexible, and this allows life to flow a little easier. If something comes up, they can always be shuffled around, put on hold temporarily, or done in bulk.

The KEY To The 7 Life System

The key to this method is REPETITION. Place these goals in descending order somewhere safe and commit to reading them EVERY MORNING when you get up and EVERY EVENING when you go to sleep. On Sundays plan your weekly goals so you hit the ground running on Monday. In the evenings, plan your goals for the next day.

This is where the power of the system lies, where the goals become ingrained in your subconscious and become a part of you, forcing your mind to find a way of achieving them.

Now get to it!

Have a fantastic day.