In this post, you'll learn about how to use a Future Life Map when you are considering changes in your life. Change is certain in life, but making change happen is often difficult as we weigh up all the pros and cons for one alternative or another.

You'll be doing this all the time I'm sure but perhaps in a random and haphazard way rather than with order and some structure. That's where a Future Life Map comes into play.

You can use it whenever you want some clarity around the options you face and where you need to weigh up and judge your options.

The map addresses four key areas of your life.

1. Work.
2. Home/Location.
3. Partner, Family, and Friends.
4. Personal Growth.

The tool itself has space for you to write down answers to questions relevant to each of these categories. When you've finished the map you'll have a visual representation of the implications of the choice you are considering.

You can download a copy here. Print off a blank copy and then write down the key...

Cheryl was born a worrier.

Her father is a worrier.

It's easy to see how growing up as a child she's inherited or copied certain behaviours as we all do infants and toddlers. We take both the good and bad, the stronger and weaker characteristics from those around us, especially parents.

I'm on the other end of the scale. Things I should be concerned over I'm often ignoring. I've been described as soo laid back at times, that I'm almost horizontal! I do worry though, but I don't often share those concerns.

But over the years together Cheryl and I have made good use of the concept of the Circles of Influence. It's a simple approach to understanding the difference between control, influence, and concern.

I first came across the Circles of Influence when following the work of the late Stephen Covey but I'm not sure whether or not he was the first person to develop the concept or whether it's borrowed from elsewhere.

The concept divides the things we face in life into three...