Recently, I attended the The SCORRE Conference, formerly called The Dynamic Communicators Workshop, in Vail, Colorado. It is absolutely the best training available for speakers and everyone else who wants to communicate with more clarity and power. (I liked it so much the first time I attended that I am now a partner with Ken Davis, the founder and primary instructor.)

In the last session of the conference, we heard from speaking coach and master communicator, Stacey Foster. He closed his talk with this powerful story:*

Over the course of my life, I have worked with a lot of planners. As a corporate executive, I worked with strategic planners. As a speaker, I work with event planners. And, as the father of five daughters, I’ve worked with my share of wedding planners.

But I have met very few life planners—people who have a written plan for their lives.

Several months ago, I published an ebook called Creating Your Personal Life Plan. I made it available as a free PDF download for readers who subscribed to my blog via email. So far more than 30,000 people have done so.

However, I have had numerous requests to make the book available in Kindle, Nook, and iBook formats. Unfortunately, the original landscape cover didn’t convert well to portrait. This has required me to reformat the ebook.

I have always been driven to achieve. According to the Strengths Finder Assessment, achievement is one of my top strengths. I don’t know whether I was wired that way from the beginning, or my propensity toward achievement came out of my upbringing.

As a kid growing up in seven different countries, I always found myself as the new kid on the block. I discovered that one of the quickest ways to get noticed was to achieve. The more challenging the achievement, the better. Most kids want to be noticed and I was no different.

Last week, I did a teleseminar for a group of 150 financial advisors. We talked about the importance of creating a written life plan.

Even though these professionals routinely create financial plans for their clients, most had never considered creating a life plan for themselves. It was a new idea. They wanted to know why I thought this was important.

What if work wasn’t just work? What if work was a vehicle to live and share a bigger purpose?

I believe there’s a flawed perception in our society that in order to live a life of purpose we have to leave our jobs and go solve world hunger, feed the homeless, move to Africa, or start a charity.

Your heart is the most important leadership tool you have. It is not your experience, knowledge, or skills. It is your heart that matters most of all.

Back in the mid-80s, I started my own business. My partner and I left big corporate jobs, developed a business plan, and began raising money for our new venture.

I know lots of people with big dreams. But they are afraid to pursue them. They are unwilling to take the plunge, waiting until they reach the point of absolute certainty. But it never comes. And it never will.

This is the problem with commitment. You must act on limited information. Whether it is marriage, starting a new career, or leaving a good job to pursue your dream. You do your best to gather the best information you can, but then you must act. If you don’t, you risk “dying with the music in you.”

I am excited to announce the publication of my new e-book, Creating Your Personal Life Plan. This has been several months in the making. I am pleased to unveil it today. In a minute, I’ll tell you how to get a copy FREE—for a limited time.

As you may know, I wrote a blog post on this topic about three years ago. It is still the single most popular post on my blog. In fact, if you Google the words “life plan,” that original post is the top result.

Why do leaders exist? This is perhaps one of the most simple yet profound questions we can ask about leadership. Oddly, I am not sure I have ever heard anyone address it specifically.

But until we answer this foundational question, leadership tips and techniques won’t make much sense.

Last week, Gail and I attended the Building Champions Experience in Sunriver, Oregon. One component of the conference was focused on creating a life plan. I first did this about eight years ago, but it was Gail’s first time through. We began by visualizing our own funeral.

I realize that this may sound morbid, but it is incredibly helpful. In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen Covey exhorts us to “begin with the end in mind.” Starting with your own funeral is the ultimate form of this.

Last fall amid a struggling economy and political turmoil Max Lucado released a very timely book called Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear. Now a year later, he is releasing his newest book, Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference (Thomas Nelson).

I love all of Max’s books, but I believe this to be his most important one yet. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview him about why he wrote this book and what he hopes to accomplish.

Reality check: My blog readership has plateaued. The number of my monthly visitors has been relatively flat for the past few months. For someone whose primary strength is “achiever,” this is a bitter pill to swallow. I immediately think, What am I doing wrong?

Several weeks ago, I had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in years. He had just turned eighty years old. His mind was as sharp as ever—witty, inquisitive, and focused. He was also a great listener. When he did speak, wisdom dripped from his lips like honey.

This morning I had breakfast with Fitz, an old college roommate. We hadn’t seen each other in twenty-two years. To my surprise—and delight—he looked almost exactly as he did the last time I saw him. The only difference was that his blond hair was mostly gray.

We spent an hour or so eating and reminiscing. We talked. We laughed. And we listened. I shared with him pictures of my family, both of us laughing at the fact that I was a grandpa. I was amazed at how much we still had in common, even though both our lives and taken so many unexpected turns.