The only problem was that we didn’t have much money. Our competitors had seemingly every advantage, including piles of working capital (or so we thought). All we had was a dream and our ability to respond quickly.

I have met very few people who have a plan for their lives. Most are passive spectators, watching their lives unfold a day at a time. They may plan their careers, the building of a new home, or even a vacation. But it never occurs to them to plan their life. As a result, many end up discouraged and disillusioned, wondering where they went wrong.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can live your life on purpose. It begins by creating a “Life Plan.†This won’t insulate you from life’s many adversities and unexpected twists and turns, but it will help you become an active participant in your life, intentionally shaping your own future.

Several years ago, I wrote out a list of “100 Things I Want to Do Before I Die.†It’s really an amazing, audacious list. Whenever I review it, I am both inspired and stunned by how many of the items I have already accomplished. And yet, there is so much more. The list keeps growing.

I’ll bet you have a list, too. Perhaps you’ve written it down; perhaps not. Regardless, you doubtless want to accomplish things—probably a lot of things. Really important things. Unfortunately, life is short. I have more to accomplish than I could probably do in seven lifetimes.

I have written much about planning and goal setting. It would be easy to get the idea that if you just plan well enough or persist long enough you will succeed. Frankly, I don’t think this is enough.

I was reminded again this morning of a Bible verse that has become very important to me in recent years:

Last week, I received a letter from a well-known author. He had a fairly trivial question about foreign rights. Interestingly, his letterhead had no e-mail address. Nor did it have a phone number. I thought, How quaint.

I also thought, What a hassle. First, the letter sat in my inbox for several days. Why? Because I assume that anyone who wants a quick answer to something sends an e-mail or leaves a voice mail. About the only letters I get any more are direct mail solicitations or solicitations for charitable contributions. I assume that the only reason these don’t come via e-mail is either the sender doesn’t have my e-mail address or, even if he does, doesn’t want me to regard it as spam.

There are probably as many different philosophies of creating an annual budget as there are companies. When I came to Thomas Nelson initially, the philosophy was the push-up, pull-down philosophy. Management would try to get the individual units to push up their revenues budget as high as they could and push down their expenses as low as they could go.

This inevitably became a sort of dance. The business unit leaders would propose a low revenue budget and a high expense budget, knowing that they would go through several rounds of negotiations with management. The biggest problem, though, was that once people agreed to a higher revenue budget, it would have the effect of pulling expenses up, too. Then, if the revenues didn’t materialize, the unit had already compromised its margins.

In January, I issued a challenge to our employees to run a Half Marathon with me. The Dallas-based employees who accepted the challenge ran the Big-D Half Marathon on April 1. The Nashville-based employees ran the Country Music Half Marathon on April 28.

Interestingly, I received some criticism for issuing this challenge. I received an anonymous e-mail from someone outside the company who said, “What in the world has running got to do with work?†Well, the short answer is, “more than you think.â€

The secret to staying on top of your personal and professional life is to schedule regular times for review and reflection. You need to assess where you’ve come from and where you are going.

I wrote about the importance of the Weekly Review a few days ago. Today, I want to address the importance of a Quarterly Review.

The Quarterly Review is more extended version of the Weekly Review. In the Weekly Review, you climb to the top of the trees and peer at the forest. In the Quarterly review you take a hot air balloon up to a thousand feet or so and see how the forest fits into the overall landscape.

In almost every project I undertake, I get to the place where I “hit the wall.†You’ve probably been there, too. You’re too far in to quit, but you can’t quite see how to get through to the other side. I experienced this again last week.

If you regularly read this blog, then you know I am training to run a half-marathon in late April. So are 105 of my co-workers. I have been following a training plan I found on the Web and (of course) modified.

Vision and strategy are both important. But there is a priority to them. Vision always comes first. Always. If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.

I have seen this over and over again in my professional and personal life. Once I got clear on what I wanted, the how almost took care of itself. Let me give you an example.

In July of 2000, my boss suddenly resigned. I was already the Associate Publisher of the division, the second-in-command. With his departure, I was asked to take his job. I became the publisher of Nelson Books, one of the trade book divisions of Thomas Nelson.

There have been times in my life when I was utterly exhausted. Times when getting through the day was a big chore. Times when I had nothing left to give by the end of the day. Times when I just wanted to collapse into bed and pull the covers over my head.

But in recent years, I am been very deliberate about managing my energy level. I did a lot of reading on this and took the time to educate myself. I experimented. I tried some new things. I broke some old habits. Now, my energy level remains pretty constant through the day.

Here’s how I keep my energy level high:

Several weeks ago, I registered for the Country Music Half Marathon to be held on April 28. In addition, I extended an invitation to Thomas Nelson employees to run with me.

I offered to give employees who registered a special Dragon-slayer t-shirt just for registering. If they complete the race, I will reimburse their entry fee, give them a $100 gift card, and recognize them at the May “All Employee Meeting.â€

In addition, in a subsequent post, I agreed to give the employee’s spouse a t-shift and reimburse their entry fee if they also complete the race.

By nature I am a planner. I plan everything. And then I re-plan.

I probably spend 90 percent of my time thinking about the future and planning for it. I consider my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. I anticipate problems and consider contingencies. I have a Plan A.

But, unfortunately, Plan A rarely happens. When it does, it is awesome. But usually for me Plan B is the norm. Like an old friend of mine used to say, “Do-do occurs.â€

Like today. I'm sitting in the Delta Crown Room in Nashville. My flight to Dallas was cancelled because of ice in Dallas. I am scheduled on the next flight out, but I have a three-hour wait. Ugh.

Several people have indicated to me that they plan to accept my invitation to run the Country Music Half Marathon (or Full Marathon). Awesome. I get excited about doing it together. This will be great.

A few said that they planned to train with their spouses. So, that got me to thinking ... why not encourage this? The Bible says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up†(Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10).

So, here’s the deal, if your spouse will run, too, I will give you both a t-shirt and reimburse you both for your entry fee if you both complete the race. However, I will only give you one gift card to the Mirror. (You were going to take your spouse, right?) Make sure that you email Suzanne Thompson once your spouse has registered. That way we can add them to the list and get you an additional t-shirt.

My wife, Gail, loves to walk outdoors. She likes the fresh air. The scenery. The sense of connecting with God’s creation. For her, it is all about the process of walking.

Not me. I’m all about the destination—or the results. This isn’t necessarily better. In fact, it’s probably not. On the Strengths Finder test, “Achiever†is my number one strength. Unless I have a concrete goal, the process doesn’t mean much. (I apologize to my “Relator†friends.)

So, to be consistent at exercise, I need a goal. And, for me, the bigger the better.

So, at the urging of a couple of friends, I have decided to run the Country Music Half Marathon on April 28. This will be a challenge. I am currently running about 20–25 miles a week. Still, I have never run anything longer than about six miles. But I have 15 weeks to get ready. I figure that is plenty of time. (Said like a true first-timer!)

Iawoke this morning to the dragon’s hot breath on my face. I was disoriented, not quite knowing where I was. I struggled to open one eye. Then another.

And there he was. A dragon. A very big dragon. With three heads. Sitting in my bedroom, like so many mornings before, he was waiting. His heads swerved back and forth, dancing in the dim light. Each head alternately belching fire and hissing smoke.

I groaned. Here we go again, I thought. If only I could shut my eyes and will him away. No such luck. His presence only grew more menacing.

I knew that I had to act. I leapt from the bed and ran straight at him. I have learned by experience that my only chance at victory is to slay the dragon while it is still dark. Before the first rays of sunshine strengthen his already substantial advantage. Fortunately, once again I prevailed. But my victory is short-lived. I will face him again tomorrow. And the day after that.

Although this sounds like a fairy tale, it’s not. It’s my reality, day after day.

I face a dragon named Lethargy every morning. It has three heads: Pneuma (spiritual), Soma (physical), and Nous (intellectual). If I don’t slay this dragon before breakfast, he usually gets the best of me. After breakfast—when the days activities are crowding into my life—my chances of doing battle and winning drop dramatically. Sometimes I can emerge victorious. But rarely. My chances are better if I complete in my basic disciplines before I get assaulted with the demands of the workday.

So, before breakfast, I try to complete the following:

Recently, my friend and coach, Dan Meub, challenged me to identify my list of top ten, non-negotiable disciplines. He said, “View this list as the ten disciplines that if practiced faithfully would make the biggest impact on the quality of your life this year.â€

So, after a little thought, I came up with this list:

I planned to write a new post on goal-setting today. This is the perfect day for thinking about the year ahead. However, I re-read an article I had written on that topic a couple of years ago on my Working Smart blog. (I recently shut that blog down to focus on this one.) I didn’t think I could improve on what I said there, so I am re-posting it here—with a few minor tweaks. Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again. New Year’s resolutions, diets, exercise—and goal-setting. I continue to be surprised at how few people take time to write down their goals. Despite the fact that numerous studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between goal-setting and success, few people seem to ever get around to it.

I have been setting goals in one form or another for years. Every now and then, I stumble across an old list of goals. I am always fascinated by how many of the things I write down come to pass. And, I must confess, it often happens despite the fact that I do nothing more than write it down. The magic of this is all explained in a very compelling book by Henriette Klauser called Write It Down, Make It Happen.

Even if you don’t create an action plan for each goal and work your plan, there is tremendous power in simply identifying what you want and focusing some thought on the outcome.

For example, at the beginning of 1997, I wrote down this goal: “Write a a New York Times bestselling book.†Now understand: at that time I had never written a book. I had a book idea, but that’s all I had. Though I had worked in the publishing industry my whole career, I was scared to death at the thought of actually trying to write an entire book. Nevertheless, I wrote it down and took a deep breath.