The 100 Year Man · www.the100yearman.com

Free Guide

Your Life
Planning
Starter Kit

How two of the world's most powerful frameworks
come together to build a life worth living

This guide shows you how to apply Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Dr John DeMartini's model of the 7 Dimensions of Life to design a written Life Plan — and how to set SMART goals that turn that plan into daily action.

Want help putting the plan into practice? I coach men 50+ one to one — see the programme.

Covey's 7 Habits

DeMartini's 7 Dimensions

SMART Goals

What's inside

Why most men over 60 are reacting to life instead of designing it
The 7 Dimensions framework and what it reveals about where you are neglecting yourself
How Covey's 7 Habits map onto a Life Plan — habit by habit
What SMART really means — and how to use it
A one-page goal-setting template you can complete today

Albert Theyse Founder, The 100 Year Man

www.the100yearman.com

The Foundation

Most men react to life.
A few design it.

If you are 50 or beyond, you have spent decades solving other people's problems — at work, at home, in every direction life has demanded. And somewhere along the way, the question of what you actually want your life to look like got quietly shelved.

This guide is about putting that question back on the table — and answering it with the same rigour and specificity that you would bring to any other serious project in your life. Not a bucket list. Not vague intentions. A structured, written plan built on two frameworks that, when combined, give you more clarity about where you are and where you are going than almost anything else I have encountered.

The honest truth

A Life Plan is not something you write because life is going perfectly. You write it because you are ready to stop leaving the most important dimensions of your existence entirely to chance.

Framework 1 — Stephen Covey's 7 Habits

Published in 1989, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People remains one of the most widely read books on personal effectiveness ever written. Covey's central argument is deceptively simple: sustainable success is not a function of what you do — it is a function of who you are and how you think. The 7 Habits move from private victory (how you lead yourself) to public victory (how you lead your relationships) to renewal (how you sustain the whole). Applied to a Life Plan, they provide the mindset and the sequence for building something that lasts.

Framework 2 — DeMartini's 7 Dimensions of Life

Dr John DeMartini — philosopher, educator and human behaviour specialist — teaches that a fulfilled life is not built in one or two areas. It is built across seven distinct dimensions: Spiritual, Mental, Physical, Financial, Familial, Social and Vocational. Most men have thought carefully about two or three of these dimensions and left the rest to chance. DeMartini's model forces you to confront all seven simultaneously — and to allocate your time and money accordingly. The result is a complete picture of your life, not just the parts that feel urgent.

Why these two frameworks belong together

Covey tells you how to think and behave as a person who designs their life deliberately. DeMartini gives you the map of what to design. Together, they are the most complete starting point I have found for building a Life Plan that is both philosophically grounded and practically executable.

DeMartini's Framework

The 7 Dimensions
of a Complete Life

Where are you thriving — and where are you leaving things to chance?

Most men, when they sit down to write their first Life Plan, discover that they have been living almost entirely in two or three dimensions — usually the vocational and financial — while neglecting the rest. The exercise of mapping all seven is often uncomfortable. It is also the most important thing you can do. Here is what each dimension covers, and the honest question you need to ask yourself about each one.

Spiritual

Your sense of purpose, values and guiding principles What do you believe your life is for? What are the non-negotiable values that govern your decisions? Most men have never written these down. Until you do, every major decision is being made without a filter. Ask yourself: Do I know clearly what I stand for — and does the way I live my days reflect it?

Mental

What you are learning, reading and developing The man who stops learning stops growing. The mental dimension covers your reading habits, the new skills you are building, and the quality of your thinking. Ask yourself: Am I growing mentally at the same rate I expect my circumstances to grow?

Physical

Your health habits, energy, sleep, movement and nutrition Your body is the vehicle for everything else on this list. Without it, the plan collapses. The physical dimension is not about vanity — it is about building a body that can carry out the life you are designing. Ask yourself: Am I treating my physical health with the same seriousness I give my financial health?

Financial

Where your money goes, what it is building and what it needs to achieve The financial dimension is not just about retirement — it is about the specific legacy goals you have set: the property you want to leave your spouse, the inheritance you want to give your children, the seeds you want to plant for your grandchildren. Ask yourself: Does my current financial behaviour match the goals I claim to have?

Familial

How you show up for your spouse, children, parents and grandchildren The people who depend on you — and the people you love — deserve a version of you that is deliberate and present, not the leftovers after everything else has taken its share. Ask yourself: Am I allocating time to my most important relationships in proportion to how important I say they are?

Social

The community you are building and the influence you are developing Men over 60 often allow their social world to shrink — friends retire, colleagues disappear, routines narrow. The social dimension asks you to be intentional about who you surround yourself with and what you are contributing to your broader community. Ask yourself: Am I building connections or allowing them to quietly fade?

Vocational

The work you do, the value it creates and how it evolves over time For most men over 60, the vocational dimension is in transition. The question is not just what you do now — it is what role you want work to play in the next 10, 20 and 30 years. Ask yourself: Am I building toward work that generates income without requiring me to trade every hour for money?

Covey's Framework

The 7 Habits — Applied to Your Life Plan

Covey did not write a book about productivity. He wrote a book about character.

Each of Covey's 7 Habits maps directly onto the work of building and living a Life Plan. Here is how to use them — not as abstract principles, but as active tools.

1

Be Proactive

"You are the creative force of your life."

The Life Plan begins the moment you accept that the years ahead are not going to design themselves. Being proactive means choosing your response to where you find yourself — financially, physically, relationally — and deciding to act on that choice. The very act of writing a Life Plan is the most proactive thing a man can do.

2

Begin with the End in Mind

"Start with a clear destination."

This is where your Vision Statement lives. Covey asks you to imagine your own funeral — what would you want people to say about who you were? That answer becomes the compass for every goal you set. Your Vision Statement should capture this in a single sentence: not what you want to have, but what you want your life to mean.

3

Put First Things First

"Manage from your centre, not from your inbox."

Covey's time management matrix asks you to distinguish between what is urgent and what is important. Your Life Plan — and the SMART goals within it — should be scheduled as Quadrant 2 activities: important, but not screaming for your attention. This is where most men fail. They are busy, but not productive in the areas that matter most.

4

Think Win-Win

"Seek mutual benefit in all interactions."

Your Life Plan does not exist in isolation. The goals you set in your Familial and Social dimensions require you to show up for others — not from obligation, but from genuine investment. Win-Win thinking applied to your Life Plan means asking: how does my growth benefit the people I love? Legacy is, by definition, a gift to others.

5

Seek First to Understand

"Diagnose before you prescribe."

Before setting goals across the 7 Dimensions, you must be honest about where you actually are. Not where you wish you were — where you are. The 7 Dimensions exercise on the previous page is your diagnostic. The discomfort you feel reading it is the information you need.

6

Synergize

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

The 7 Dimensions are not independent. Better sleep (Physical) improves your thinking (Mental). A clear purpose (Spiritual) makes financial discipline easier (Financial). Daily exercise compounds into decades of independence. Build your Life Plan with this compounding in mind: one well-placed habit can improve three dimensions simultaneously.

7

Sharpen the Saw

"Preserve and enhance your greatest asset — yourself."

The 7th Habit is renewal — physical, mental, spiritual and social. Covey understood that a Life Plan is not a document you write once. It is a practice. You review it. You adjust it. You hold yourself to it — not perfectly, but honestly. This is the habit that keeps all the others alive.

From Plan to Action

Setting SMART Goals
Across All 7 Dimensions

A Vision Statement without goals is a wish. Goals without structure are intentions. SMART goals are the bridge between where you are and where your Life Plan says you are going. Here is what the acronym means — and why each element matters.

S

Specific

Exactly what do you want to achieve? Vague goals produce vague results. "Get healthier" is not a goal. "Walk 30 minutes every morning before 8am" is.

M

Measurable

How will you know when you have achieved it? If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. Numbers, dates and clear criteria are your friends.

A

Achievable

Is this goal realistic given your current resources and constraints? Ambitious is good. Impossible is demoralising. Set the bar high enough to require effort, low enough to be credible.

R

Relevant

Does this goal actually serve your Vision and your Life Roles? The best goals are not just achievable — they are worth achieving. Filter every goal through your values.

T

Time-bound

By when? A goal without a deadline is a wish with a label on it. Every SMART goal needs a specific date — not "someday", not "soon".

Example — Financial Dimension

"I will invest €300 per month into a diversified index fund starting 1 January 2026 and maintain this without exception for 12 consecutive months." — Specific ✓ Measurable ✓ Achievable ✓ Relevant ✓ Time-bound ✓

Your turn. Write one SMART goal for each of your 7 Dimensions below. Start with your weakest dimension — the one you have been neglecting. One goal per dimension. That is all you need to begin.

My SMART Goals — One Per Dimension

Spiritual

Write your goal here...

Mental

Write your goal here...

Physical

Write your goal here...

Financial

Write your goal here...

Familial

Write your goal here...

Social

Write your goal here...

Vocational

Write your goal here...

This is the beginning, not the whole plan.

Every week on The 100 Year Man I share one insight on intentional living, staying strong and building for the long game — from a 63-year-old South African who is figuring this out in real time. No noise. No spam. Just what is working.

Join the weekly letter at the100yearman.com

— Albert · Founder, The 100 Year Man

Your LifePlanningStarter Kit

Your Life
Planning
Starter Kit