Objectives
 Share an approach, guidelines, and references
 Imprint/Reinforce that Financial Planning is the base
of the pyramid
 Emphasize that Planning and Daily Practice/
Discipline is essential to controlling your time and
getting what you want
Overview
 Approach to Financial Planning
 Overview of “Personal Mastery”
 Finding a Tool for Planning
Paralysis by Analysis
Accepting Uncertainty and Change
The Way that is the Way is the Ever Changing Way.
The Dao that can be named is not the true Dao.
The Caveat: things change over time, but don’t let that stop you
from planning accordingly.
Abraham Maslow
 Psychologist who was studied healthy people, not the ill
 “A Theory of Human Motivation”
 Based Hierarchy on study of healthy people he knew who clearly met
the standard of “self-actualization”. – these all had similar personality
traits.
 “Reality-Centered”:
able to differentiate what was fraudulent from what was
genuine
 “Problem-Centered”: they treated life’s difficulties as problems that
demanded solutions
 Were comfortable being alone and had healthy personal relationships, with
only a few close friends and family rather than a large number of shallow
relationships
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Financial Planning = Building the Base of your Pyramid
Timelines and Uncertainty
 Income variability
Uncertainty
Most
People
CC
5
10
Time
20
30
Financial Planning: CC Benefits
 Significant Security/Certainty:
 You know what you are going to make and when you will
make it.
 Security in the long term – pay and pension
 Insurance: SGLI, Disability, Life
 You are not in it for the money.
Financial Planning – Step 1
“You have to start before you can finish”
 Know what you make
 Know what you spend
 Identify what your “essentials” are
 If “cost of essentials” > “what you make” – need to look
at those “essentials” again
Step 2 – Make a Savings Plan
 Set Goals
 Retirement
 Major Purchases (Car, Home, Education, Family)
 Rainy Day Fun
 Flex fund (Vacations, Donations, Events, Gifts)
 Set up accounts for each
 TSP/Roth
 Money Market, 529,
 Savings
 Checking
Step 3 – Educate Yourself
 Vocabulary
 Liquidity, Present Value, Dollar Cost Averaging
 Retirement Funds – TSP, Roth, Expense Ratios
 Insurance – Disability, Life, Term Life, Disaster
 Tax Planning
 Deductibles, Employee Business Expenses
 Get Help!
 USAA, Credit Union, AMEX, Your Bank
Step 4 - Practice
 Be Disciplined – pay yourself first in order
 Retirement – Purchases – Rainy Day - Flex
 Record it–
 Start daily/weekly tracking your spending habits

Decrease as you get better,/more aware, of your habits
 Figure out improvements
 Skipping Starbucks, saving on car usage (gas), bringing lunch
 Check In/Reassess
 Annually with accounts
 Major Life changes or expected changes

Spouses, parenting, caregiving, health, “acts of God”
 Be Careful about commitments
Have to take care of your base before
you can get to what you want
“Time is Money, Efficiency is Life”
Steven Covey
• Sold more than 15 million
copies
• Extended series of “7 Habits”
• Established Covey Leadership
Center, merged with Franklin
Quest in 1997 to form
FranklinCovey
• Mission Statement: “We enable
greatness in people and
organizations everywhere.”
Steven Covey’s Seven Habits
 Be Proactive
 Begin with the End in Mind
 Put First Things First
 Think Win-Win
 Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
 Synergize
 Sharpen the Saw
 Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional Wellness
Hyrum W. Smith
• Founded Franklin
Quest in 1981, merged
with Covey in 1997
• “When your daily
activities are in concert
with your highest
priorities, you have a
credible claim to inner
peace.”
Hyrum Smith’s Ten “Natural” Laws
Managing Your Time
Managing Your Life
 Law 1: You control your life by
 Law 6: Your behavior is a




controlling your time
Law 2: your governing values are
the foundation of personal
fulfillment.
Law 3: When your daily activities
reflect your governing values, you
experience inner peace.
Law 4: To reach any significant
goal, you must leave your comfort
zone.
Law 5: Daily planning leverages
time through increased focus.




reflection of what you truly
believe.
Law 7: You satisfy needs when
your beliefs are in line with
reality.
Law 8: Negative behaviors are
overcome by changing incorrect
beliefs.
Law 9: Your self-esteem must
ultimately come from within.
Law 10: Give more and you’ll
have more.
W. Edwards Deming
•Statistician
•Best known for his work in Japan
•Recognized as a hero in Japan
for his impact on Japanese
manufacturing and business
during reconstruction from WWII
•“Statistical Process Control”
emphasis
•“System of Profound Knowledge”
•“The first step is transformation
of the individual. The individual,
transformed, will perceive new
meaning to his life, to events, to
numbers, to interactions between
people.”
Deming’s 14 Points
1."Create constancy of purpose
towards improvement".
8."Drive out fear".
2."Adopt the new philosophy.”
9."Break down barriers between
departments".
3."Cease dependence on inspection.”
10."Eliminate slogans".
4."Move towards a single supplier for
any one item."
11."Eliminate management by
objectives".
5."Improve constantly and forever".
12."Remove barriers to pride of
workmanship".
6."Institute training on the job".
7."Institute leadership".
13."Institute education and selfimprovement".
14."The transformation is everyone's
job".
Peter Senge
•Aerospace Engineer
•Director of MIT Center for
Organizational Learning
•“Learning Organizations are
those where people continually
expand their capacity to create
the results they truly desire,
where new and expansive
patterns of thinking are nurtured,
where collective aspiration is set
free, and where people are
continually learning to see the
whole together.”
Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline
“The Art and Practice of Learning Organizations”
 Five Elements
 Personal Mastery
 Shared Vision
 Team Learning
 Mental Models
 Systems Thinking
Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline
“The Art and Practice of Learning Organizations”
 Personal Mastery – three steps:
 Articulate a personal vision

It’s not what the vision is, it’s what the vision does.
 See current reality clearly
 Choose: make a commitment to creating the results you
want.


This takes courage.
Takes a commitment of time and process.
The RunAround Dilemma
 Because we don’t know what is really important to
us, everything seems important.
 Because everything seems important, we have to
do everything.
 Other people, unfortunately, see us as doing
everything, so they expect us to do everything.
 Doing everything keeps us so busy, we don’t have
time to think about what is really important to us.
Planning Road Map
 The Time Matrix – Prioritizing and Performing
 The Productivity Pyramid
 Having a Planning System
Important and Urgent
 Important adj: of much import, carrying with it
serious consequences; weighty, momentous, grave,
and significant
 Urgent adj: presisng, compelling; calling for or
demanding immediate action; anything characterized
by urgency
Oxford English Dictionary
The Time Matrix
Important
Not Urgent
•Crises
•Pressing Problems
•Deadline-driven
projects, meetings,
reports
•Preparation
•Prevention
•Planning
•Relationship building
•Re-creation
•Values clarification
Not Important
Urgent
•Needless interruptions
•Unnecessary reports
•Unimportant meetings,
phone calls, mail, email
•Other people’s minor
issues
•Trivia, busywork
•Irrelevant phone calls,
mail, e-mail
•Time-wasters
•“Escape” activities
•Excessive TV, Internet,
relaxation
I
III
II
IV
The Time Matrix
Not Important
Important
Urgent
Necessity
Deception
Not Urgent
Productivity
and Balance
Waste and
Excess
Live North of The Line
Important
Urgent
Not Urgent
Necessity
Productivity
and Balance
Not Important
The Line
Deception
Waste and
Excess
To Get What you Want…….
….you have to Know What you Want.
(What determines what is Urgent and
Important to YOU?)
The Productivity Pyramid
Plan
Daily
Plan Weekly
Set Goals
Identify Values
The Productivity Pyramid – Identify Values
 Governing Values are:
 Standards, Ideals, Highest Priorities
 Sample Values:
Adventure
Freedom
Loyalty
Generosity
Patience
Beauty
Compassion
Health
Quality
Honesty
Respect
Creativity
Responsibility
Faith
Integrity
Professionalism Fitness
Leadership
Balance
Gratitude
Courage
Humor
Teamwork
Wisdom
“Have you ever considered the strength of your
relationships as a measure of your success?”
Relationships are the base for success
Productivity Pyramid – Sample Roles
Administrator
Architect
Artist
Brother
Supervisor
Neighbor
CFO
Challenger
Citizen
Coach
Companion
Consultant
Counselor
Caregiver
Teacher
Director
Peacemaker
Friend
Grandparent
Inventor
Manager
Musician
Daughter
Parent
Partner
Volunteer
Salesperson
Sister
Son
Spouse
CEO
Editor
Designer
Trainer
Writer
Reporter
The Productivity Pyramid – Identify Values
 Select Values, then right Clarifying Statement of what
those values mean to you
 Example:
 Value: Teamwork
Clarifying Statement: I work collaboratively with others
and positively contribute in a way that will help my team
move forward.
 Value: Creativity
Clarifying Statement: I reflect my unique capabilities
while being inventive and independent in the things I
choose to do.
Once you Know What you Want……
….. You have to have a plan to get
there.
The Productivity Pyramid
Plan
Daily
Plan Weekly
Set Goals
Identify Values
The Productivity Pyramid – Set Goals
 SMART(ER) Goals
 Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely
 (Exciting, Recorded)
 Other adjectives: Stimulating, Appropriate, Realistic,
Motivating
 Types of Goals
 Align with your Values/Mission/Roles
 Goal-Setting Tips
 Write it down.
 Give it a deadline.
 Break it down into doable chunks.
 Commit.
Once you have a plan…..
….. You have to work the plan.
The Productivity Pyramid
Plan
Daily
Plan Weekly
Set Goals
Identify Values
The Productivity Pyramid – Plan Weekly
 Three Steps to Weekly Planning:
 Review roles.

Think of your goals in terms of your roles.
 Choose “Big Rocks.”
 Come from:
Conscience. Values. Goals. Key Projects.
 Can be:
Tasks.
Appointments. Areas of Focus.
 Schedule the Week.
 Block Appts for time required.
 Assign To-do’s to specific days.
 Tips
 When? Before the week begins.
 Where? Someplace quiet.
 How Long?
20-30 minutes
The Productivity Pyramid
Plan
Daily
Plan Weekly
Set Goals
Identify Values
The Productivity Pyramid – Plan Daily
 Three Steps to Daily Planning.
 Check Today’s Appointments.
 Make a REALISTIC list.

Every day my goal is to complete everything on my to –do list for this
day.
 Prioritize (ABC,123)
 A: Must be done, vital, life or relationship sustaining.
 B: Normal, Routine
 C: Low, optional, trivial.
 Tips
 When? Morning or evening of previous day.
 Where? Someplace quiet.
 How Long? 5-10 minutes.
My Planning System
 Write out your Values, prioritize them, establish goals to
achieve them, then establish your roles and the tasks/todo’s to accomplish those goals.
 Using Outlook
 Tasks vs. To Do
 Create Folder for “Goals” – break down into doable steps, set time
targets
 Daily To-Do
 Appointments
 Commitments of time where you Physically have to be somewhere
 Assign times to do Daily To-do’s during your “Windows of
Opportunity”
 Notes
 Start each Note with the date – will automatically title it
Using Outlook: Set Goals in Tasks
 Task Title = Goal
 Set out Plan to meet Goal – steps
 Set Dates for completing steps

Can use “No Date” for Big Rocks
 Review Task List each week to identify priorities and
planning the week/days
 Put “Weekly Planning” and “Daily Planning” as
recurring task accordingly

Use “Daily Planning” to enter daily task (“To-Do”) items
 Use “Categories” to color prioritize
Using Outlook: Using
Appointments to Control your Time
 Set Appts where you Physically have to be somewhere
 Use “Windows of Opportunity” to do Daily “To-Do’s”
 Can move Task into Calendar
 To-Do’s that aren’t done will move to the next day
automatically (should only be low priority items)
Using Outlook: Use Notes to keep
record of appts and action items
 Title system: year-mo-date, i.e. 130429 for date
 Chronologic listing
 List action items and dates from your meetings
 Take time to enter action items into your To-Do list
Summary of Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Take Care of your health.
Practice financial planning to take care of the base of
your pyramid.
Figure out what you want. Set goals and timelines.
Identify your planning method and tools.
Practice diligently.
Accept the unexpected.
 The hard part about Getting What You Want is…….
…. Knowing what you want.
Questions/Insights?