Printable Worksheet to Help You Simplify Your Life With Frameworks
You know that feeling you get when everything just “clicks”?
It’s like you’ve gone from fumbling around in the dark to turning on the lights and realizing you’re standing on a heap of money. Think Scrooge McDuck’s money bin.
When you finally understand how all the puzzle pieces fit together, you’ll want to scream from the rooftops, “This makes sense, and it’s WORKING!!!”
In the last month, 3 of my clients have had this “holy cow” moment when they defined the frameworks for their businesses.
Want to feel like you have a plan to follow?
Here’s how to create your own frameworks for your life and business.
Choose the Ultimate Outcome
Think about why you want a framework in the first place. What have you been struggling with? What do you want to change?
Pick a single result that’s clearly defined so you know instantly whether you’ve reached it or not.
What result will your framework help you achieve?
- An organized home so you’ll want to invite people over?
- A successful business earning more than $10,000 per month?
- A healthy and toned body so you can fit back into your favorite jeans?
- A stable and loving relationship with weekly date nights?
- A step-by-step plan for attaining world domination?
Define 3-6 Steps That Support This Outcome
As you’re creating your framework, remember to KISS: keep it simple, sister! Too few steps can make it feel clunky and unsatisfying, and too many steps can make it feel endless and overwhelming.
The order of the steps is important too, and you want to be sure they make logical sense.
What’s the order of your framework’s steps?
- For a healthy living framework: Should you clean up your diet or begin exercising first?
- For a business framework: When should you start blogging, create a subscriber list, or set your prices?
- For a relationship framework: What steps lead to natural growth and change?
Figure Out If It’s Cyclical or Linear
Some frameworks are finished as soon as you reach the ultimate outcome, while other frameworks are meant to be used over and over.
Consider if the framework makes sense as a “one and done” or if there’s value to going through it repeatedly.
How will your framework look?
- Are you completely finished when you reach the final step?
- Can you benefit from going through the framework again?
- Is your framework affected by the time of year, the seasons, or your life stage?
Test It Out and Make Changes
The best way to see if your framework will be successful is to actually go through it yourself! Or at least have a friend be your guinea pig.
As you go through the steps, you’ll notice what’s working and what needs to be edited. You might even realize that a step should be added or one might need to be deleted.
Play with your frameworks! No matter what you’re trying to achieve, you’ll probably change your framework slightly in the future. Keep making little edits until you get the results you want.
Make It Official With a Name
What do you want to call your new framework? Give it a name that makes it instantly understandable (like my Life Editing Process) or maybe choose a name that’s silly, edgy, or motivating. Have fun!
Ready to make your own framework? Here’s a worksheet to help you define it!
Do you use frameworks in your life?
This post focuses on Step 1 of the Life Editing Process, Create a Foundation. For more about life editing and what it can do for you, click here.
The Editor’s Toolkit
- Free Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to Become a Productivity Superstar
- 25+ Printable Worksheets
- 6 Life Editing Ebooks
- My Favorite Books and Resources
This is an interesting printable! I love to colors and easy to follow format!
I’m huge on worksheets! Looking at your new creation is like a feast to my eyes!. I strongly believe that people have a much better chance of achieving their when they have a strong “paper” foundation in place first.
I LOVE this! I totally agree that things are so much more achievable if you have a firm goal in mind and you put it in writing. Pinning 🙂
What a great printable. I need to get organized.
Thank you for sharing these printables your website is a mine of very useful information!
Awesome! I need all the help I can get keeping organized!
What an interesting way to look at a goal and how to get there. You really gave me some ideas to think about. It is so easy to get side-tracked – it is nice to really lay out the effective steps ask stick with them.
Very cool idea! As a web designer I create frameworks for the sites I’m building so my clients can get a basic idea of how it will look, but I never really thought about how those might translate into a plan for business or life goals. I’ll try it out. Thanks for sharing Sage!
Good luck, Dana! I find that frameworks make everything easier.
You always have such great printables and worksheets. Thank you for always sharing them with us!
Aw, thanks, Kirsten! 🙂
Frameworks are great! I’ve come to realize how much easier they make doings thing like teaching and organizing. Knowing what the next step is makes things go more smoothly – and is less stressful.
Great post as always!
Thanks, Erika! I love having a plan to follow so I’m not winging it all the time.
Crafting my first framework after our VIP Day created so much clarity for me! I love structure and organisation so it definitely helped me breakdown things like blog posts and even social media. After some testing I’ve begun working on a new framework and it was so quick to translate what I want to teach people into a process because of this.
Thanks, Kerryn! I’m thrilled that you have a framework for your business so everything’s easier for you and your clients. 🙂
What great printables.
Thanks, Beth.
This is such an awesome printable! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks, Debra!
When I first saw this worksheet, it reminded me of something from the IT world: testing, framework, cyclical, linear : ) Very cool! I love all of your worksheets, Sage.
How I’m currently framing my days is by setting work goals and then (constantly!) asking these 2 questions:
—- Am I creating more than I’m consuming?
—- Am I creating something scalable?
If the answer is “yes” most of the time, then I know I’m on the right track.
(Idea is not mine, it’s from http://monthlyexperiments.com/two-rules-for-entrepreneurs/ )
I love the idea of creating more than I am consuming. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Katherine, I love those two questions. I’d heard of the first but not the second. 🙂
That’s a great idea, I have a nasty idea that I consume more than I create, because I love learning so much. I’ve also found from my days of teaching and essay writing that you have to consume a lot of information to produce something good. The art is to simplify and summarise all that material effectively for your audience. Perhaps I should be asking if I’m consuming the right stuff Tito achieve my goals?
Hi Sage!
Great idea and great framework! Thanks for sharing it! I love how versatile it can be- doesn’t even have to be used for business (though, that’s what I’m going to start using it for!)
You have some really good content on your blog 🙂
Aw, thanks so much for the king words, Amber. Happy to have you here! 🙂
I love your life editing framework Sage – it really makes sense to me as a way to iteratively keep moving your life forward.nim in awe of the way you’ve built a business around it.
I actually feel a little stuck as to how I’d create one for myself. When I first started reading your post I thought it was about routines. As a mum I’m a big fan of routines. When my babies were small they enabled me to take control if all our lives and carve out time for myself to keep me sane. Now they’re older we still have routines although they’re more flexible now.
Hi Lucy! So would your framework’s ultimate outcome be “to have a structured routine for my family”?
Looking back on this post, I think I would traditionally call what you call a framework a process. I used to have a job in process engineering so I like to think I’m quite good at finding the most efficient way to do things. I think I was confused by it because your life editing framework seems to have a philosophical underpinning, as well as being hugely practical. Am I right in thinking that a framework can just be a list of tasks you do in order to achieve a desired outcome?
This is a great worksheet! I love that it can be used in so many aspects of your life. Far too often I come up with a plan or idea and never end of following through with it. Writing down all the steps to achieve something would definitely help to stay on track!
Thanks, Shelly. I agree, whenever I write something down in my own handwriting, I have a much better chance of actually achieving it.
The Editors Toolkit is invaluable! You have put so much time and effort into producing worksheets that people can actually use!
Thanks, Gisele! I love worksheets–that’s just how my mind works!