The Pledge: Your Master Plan for an Abundant Life

As leaders, we are involved in providing strategic direction and vision for the organization. It's part of the job. But who helps us provide strategic direction and vision for our lives? Michael Masterson is here to help.

In his new book, The Pledge: Your Master Plan for an Abundant Life, Masterson provides practical advice on making your life vision a reality. I've read six of his previous books and numerous e-mail, newsletter and web site page he has written.

About half of the material in this book I've seen before, but the rest is new and was very helpful. On page 8, Masterson asks the reader to commit to "The Pledge" by signing and dating it. It reads:

"I have committed to creating a master plan that I can use to succeed this year. I commit to following that plan without question or complaint. I further commit to keeping a journal on my progress and investing the time and money needed to achieve my goals. At the end of the year, I promise I will write to you and explain exactly what I have accomplished." (page 8)

Several things I like about this, including:
1. You have to write it down. Studies have shown that written goal are more likely to be accomplished.
2. It includes accountability. You have to write Masterson at the end and tell him how it went.
3. It removes doubt. By removing questioning and complaining. These are a couple of my biggest road blocks.
4. It provides measurement. You can't manage what you can't or don't measure. Keeping a journal helps you measure the progress you are making.

The Pledge starts with a test called "How Good is Your Life?" If you buy the book at the deeply discounted Amazon price, this test alone is worth the price.

I've already read this book cover-to-cover, underlining as I went. Then skimmed back through it again and underlined some more. I anticipate more encounters with this book in the years to come.

As a practitioner of personal development and planning for over a quarter century, I found suggestions for dealing with some of the issues I find particularly troublesome. Masterson includes advice on: information addiction and "being in a rut." A couple of things I excel at.

Favorite quotes:

"The single biggest reason that people fail in life is that they never take effective action." (page 6)

"The cost of failure, successful people know from experience, is very modest compared to the cost of inaction" (page 7)

"That was the shape of my delusion when my father said, 'If you want to be a writer, you have to write. A writer is someone who writes.'" (page 114)

"Attitude can change behavior, but it is much more common for behavior to change attitude." (page 174)

The 25-25-50 rule for preventing analysis paralysis (courtesy of Bob Bly).
"No more than 25 percent of your time studying."
"No more than 25 percent of your time observing."
"At least 50 percent of your time actually doing the things you are studying and observing." (page 155)

Hopefully, this whets your appetite for more. You can get you own copy here: