The Solo Strategic Plan Retreat Framework
A 2-hour solo strategic retreat for the business of you.
By Lon Stroschein
Author, Coach and Founder of Normal 40
Lon@normal40.com & Normal40.com
A Reset for the Business of You
Something is off. It doesn't feel like it did a few months ago. It's getting harder than it used to be. Things are less clear and are off, but you can't articulate what's changed. I've been there.
You don't need a boardroom. You need a moment.
This is not a worksheet. It's a reset. A two-hour solo session to get you grounded, re-aligned, and pointed toward the only thing that matters now: the business of you.
You've spent your life solving other people's problems. Leading teams. Building companies. Making decisions. But when was the last time you did that for yourself?
You—just like any business—need a strategy.
You are a strategy. You require a strategy.
And the same energy, clarity, and precision you've used in the boardroom can now be aimed at the most important mission you've ever led: your next chapter.
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A Framework for Solo or Group Work
This framework was written so you can do it alone. But it's just as powerful with a partner—or a small group. Set aside a few hours. Do this work together. Spend two hours focused fully on you. Then switch. Do two hours focused fully on them. Take turns helping one another reason through and think through the strategy of you. This is not casual. This is not light. This is not background noise. This is boardroom-level intensity—applied to your life.
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Inspired by Business Strategy
This isn't just a solo reset—it's a Strategic Retreat for the Self. And it should be treated with the same weight and discipline as a corporate offsite.
We're drawing from some of the best business strategy ever published. This framework was directly inspired by Patrick Lencioni's _The Advantage_—particularly his six clarity questions for organizational alignment. What you're holding here is the personal version of that work. It's not about your company's health. It's about yours.
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Starting with What, Not Why
And let's be clear: this does not start with why. That may be fine for corporations, but not for real people with history, guilt, scars, and potential. As we say in The Gap™, clarity doesn't begin with why—it begins with what.
What do you want? What are you building? What do you want to feel? What do you want to give? What do you want to be known for?
Get clear on the "what," and the "why" will follow. That's the Freedom Framework.
Just like a great company—you need a clear, sound, energizing strategy. The Strategy of You.
Because the #1 reason high performers end up stuck is this: They unknowingly create a job they hate for themselves.
And that happens when they don't take time to define:
- Who they really are
- Who they're capable of becoming
- Where they want to be a few years from now
This is for those ready to invest in their own mission. The Culture of You. The Life You're Still Meant to Live.
Because clarity drifts. What's sharp one day gets blurry the next. What feels aligned this morning can feel off by tomorrow.
That doesn't mean you're wrong. It means you're human.This framework is here to pull you back. To re-align with your personal Upper Line™—the language we use inside The Gap™ to describe the difference between who you are and who you're capable of becoming.
If you do the work, it will give you the return. So, here we go.
1. Why Do I Exist Now?
Why this matters:
Because you're not starting from zero. You've already begun the work—maybe in a side hustle, a new practice, a reinvention that quietly took shape. But now your swagger's slipping. This isn't about starting fresh. It's about recalibrating what's already in motion—because that's where the truth lives.
Editorial:
It's sort of odd to have to ask yourself the question, "Why do I exist?" But it's even more helpful and profound than it is odd. This question has a twist—because we add one word at the end: now. That word changes everything.
It means you get to recreate who you are. It means this is a brand-new chapter. It means you get to take every day of experience you've had up until this moment and decide how you want to deploy it—to be exactly who you want to be, to live the life you want to live, to help the people you want to help.
It's the ultimate freedom—but it takes work. It takes the hard, awkward mirror test of knowing exactly who it is you're staring at, and exactly who it is that person is capable of becoming. But if you can do this work and come out the other side knowing why you exist, the rest of this document is going to fall into place. The rest of this document will live in defense of why you exist.
Framing:
In The Gap™, we talk about the tension between your Lower Line and your Upper Line—the distance between who you are and who you're still meant to be. This question brings you back to the now. Not yesterday's title. Not last year's ambition. But today's edge.
Lencioni asks companies to answer, "Why do we exist?" For them, it's about alignment and purpose. For you, it's sharper: What are you here to build now, with everything you've already lived through?
This is not a branding exercise. This is about energy. Mission. Fire.
Core Question:
What is the mission I'm supposed to be living right now—and what's already in motion that proves it?
Prompts:
- What deepest change am I here to create in people's lives—or in the world?
- How does that purpose go beyond making money?
- What would I wake up to fight for—even if I weren't paid?
- How will I know I've fulfilled my purpose?
- What's already in motion that proves I'm living this?
Write Freely:
...
Organize:
- Circle the sentence that feels like a pulse.
- Bold one phrase that's been true all along, even if you've stopped saying it.
- That's the center. Build outward from there.
2. How Do I Behave?
Why this matters
Because you don't drift into integrity. You choose it, over and over. Values aren't marketing—they're your personal filter. They decide who you hire, who you fire, who you attract, and who you repel. In The Gap™, we say: your life is defined by what you no longer tolerate. This section makes that conscious.
Framing
This is Lencioni's second strategic clarity question—your Core Values. For organizations, this defines culture. For you, it defines your character. This isn't aspirational. It's operational. These are your non-negotiables. The real ones.
Editorial
For most of your life, someone else has had great influence over how you behave—how you treat customers, how you treat employees, how you treat shareholders, how you treat competitors. And quite honestly, how you treat yourself. If you're not careful, you'll slide right back into those same old patterns. But you don't have to. In fact, you shouldn't.
This is your opportunity to define the Culture of You. How you behave is your culture. It's what you will—and won't—tolerate. And if you get this right, it will become the greatest filter for the kind of work you will and won't take on. Getting this right doesn't just protect your energy. It protects your freedom. And your future.
Core Question:
What are the values and behaviors I live by—even when it costs me?
Prompts:
- What behaviors would I defend—even if they cost me clients, followers, or money?
- Which actions will I never reward—even if they produce results?
- What values are etched into how I lead, relate, and choose?
- Where do I live my values out loud—and where do I still hide?
Write Freely:
...
Organize:
- List your top 3 values, in plain language.
- Under each, write one real decision that would prove it.
- Circle the one that scares you most. That's the one to act on this week.
3. What Do I Actually Do?
Why this matters:
Because without clarity on what you actually do—your mission gets fuzzy, your confidence slips, and your energy leaks. In The Gap™, we don't ask, "What's your job?" We ask, "What work still gives you energy?" If you can't define what you really do in one sentence, you'll get lost chasing the next thing.
Framing:
Lencioni's third clarity question—"What do we do?"—sounds simple, but most people get it wrong. This is not your resume. Not your LinkedIn. Not your elevator pitch. It's your personal deliverable. The real service you provide—day after day—that others feel.
Editorial:
This is one of the easiest places to drift. What you start out doing isn't always what you end up doing. And what you slide into doing over time may not be what you're best at—or what you want to be known for. That's normal, especially in the early days of anything new. You try a bunch of stuff. You experiment.
But at some point, you've got to decide. You've got to do the math. Who are you really here to serve? What are you truly here to build? What is not your lane—and never will be?
This is your yearly audit. Your reality check. The best businesses in the world get this right—over and over again. That's why it's on this list.
Core Question:
In plain language, what do I actually do—and who do I do it for?
Prompts:
- In one sentence: What is the thing I consistently deliver to others?
- Who exactly is the person I do this for? Get specific.
- What do I not do anymore—even if I used to be great at it?
- What gives my work its meaning—beyond money, applause, or likes?
Write Freely:
...
Organize:
- Write your answer to this: "I help [who?] by [doing what?] so they can [outcome]."
- Say it out loud. Does it hit? Does it feel alive?
- If not—tweak it. Trim it. This is your second-half offer to the world.
4. How Will I Succeed?
Why this matters:
Because success in the second half isn't about doing more—it's about doing different. It's about choosing what you will pursue on purpose, and what you will never again chase. In The Gap™, we define this as moving from reputation to alignment. Strategy becomes personal. And strategy—done right—is liberating.
Framing
This is Lencioni's fourth clarity question: How will we succeed? For companies, this is about defining how they'll win. For you, it's about creating a repeatable way to live, build, and lead that aligns with what matters most.
You need a system for success that doesn't burn you out. That focuses you. That sustains you.
Editorial
There are probably a dozen ways you could succeed. But the only way that will sustain you is your way. You need to know what you love. You need to know your art. You need to know how you're wired to help—and then commit to helping only through that lens.
Otherwise, you'll build another job you don't want. That's the biggest trap of the second half. Success isn't about doing everything. It's about doing you, on purpose. You won't be for everyone—but you can be for someone. And when you get that right, success gets clearer—and lighter.
Core Question:
What is my unique strategy for succeeding in the second half—and what must I stop chasing to stay true to it?
Prompts:
- What is my unique way of winning—what actually works for me?
- What have I tried (or mimicked) that I now need to abandon?
- What strategic risks must I take in the next year—and what traps must I avoid?
- How will this new strategy shape where I spend time, money, energy, and trust?
Write Freely:
...
Organize:
- Write down your 3 Strategic Anchors: The filters that every opportunity must pass.
- Test each: Do they make your life lighter or heavier? Focused or scattered?
- Circle one that needs to drive your next big decision.
5. What Is Most Important—Right Now?
Why this matters:
Because clarity without priority is chaos. You can know who you are, what you do, and how you behave—but if you don't know what you're building right now, you'll default to doing everything (and nothing). In The Gap™, this is where we pull people out of drift and into direction. This is the moment you stop circling and choose what to build.
Framing:
This is Lencioni's fifth clarity question: What is most important—right now? The best companies in the world identify a single unifying objective—a thematic goal—for the next 3–12 months. You need that too. One focal point. One fire. One measurable move that defines this chapter.
Editorial:
At any given point when you're starting something new, there are going to be at least 40 things that feel most important. The list of things you feel like you should do will be never-ending. To be honest? It's completely maddening. You can walk into your office ready to crush the day—and be immediately depleted by all the things you didn't get done yesterday.
It's easy to work on things that don't matter. Or that matter to 1% of your business at the expense of the other 99%. Struggling with this makes you normal. But naming the one thing that matters most right now? That makes you dangerous.
This isn't a once-a-year question. It's a once-a-month discipline. If you're building something new, this question should haunt you a little. It should pressure you. You know exactly what "it" is—the thing you've been putting off because it matters. The thing that will move the needle, shift the energy, land the client, prove the concept.
That's what's most important. And while you probably have five things that feel urgent—your job is to name one. And move it.
Core Question:
What is the one game-changing priority I must focus on in the next 3–12 months?
Prompts:
- What singular, game-changing goal would unify everything I'm doing?
- Why this priority—right now—over all others?
- What would failure here cost me—strategically and emotionally?
- How will I define and measure success when this is done?
Write Freely:
...
Organize:
- Write your Thematic Goal: The one thing that matters most right now.
- List 3 "defining objectives" that support it.
- Make a note of how you'll track progress—weekly, monthly, or at the finish line.
6. Who Must Do What?
Why this matters:
Because clarity around ownership eliminates chaos. You're not just doing everything anymore. You're running the business of you. And the moment that business starts to scale—even slightly—you need clear roles, clear rhythm, and clear accountability.
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Framing
This is Lencioni's sixth clarity question: Who must do what? In a company, it's about team structure. For you, it's about energy, boundaries, and responsibility. Even if you're solo, you still wear multiple hats. This question keeps you from wearing all of them badly.
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Editorial
Remember how great it was in your old life to have a team you could count on to get major projects across the line? Yeah—those days are over. There's satisfaction in knowing you're building this from scratch. You're bootstrapping. Nothing's beneath you. You'll put in the work. And that's noble—for a season.
But you need to get over that. Soon.
You're not meant to do this alone. You need a tribe to walk with—and a few people to support the build. Not full-time hires. But a VA. A specialist. Someone on Upwork. You have to learn this skill. You have to know what you need help with, and be clear in how you want it done.
Most of us fall into a cycle: burst of output, followed by stall. Great ideas—half executed. The best work of our life sits unfinished on our desktop for months. Why? Because we can't push it that last 10%. But someone else can. Someone else loves that part.
You have to know your cycle. Know your energy. Know what fills you—even when you're exhausted. And know what drains you—even when it's almost done. Whatever you avoid, hire someone to finish it.
When I say "Who must do what," don't think people. Think functions. What needs to be done? What are the core activities of your business? Then ask: who owns them?
Core Question:
Who owns what in the strategy of me—and how will we stay accountable?
Prompts:
- What roles do I play—and which ones drain me most?
- What responsibilities are mine to own, and which need to go?
- Where am I still overlapping or duplicating work with others?
- What rhythms (daily/weekly/monthly) will keep me accountable?
Write Freely:
...
Organize:
- List your primary roles, by function.
- Circle the 2 most energy-giving. Star the 2 most energy-draining.
- Make one adjustment this month to reduce friction.
Now What?
You finished the work. Now comes the decision. Because let's be real: the worst thing you can do with this document is avoid it. The second worst? Overthink it.
The right answers will come quickly. Don't dismiss them. Don't analyze them into confusion. Strategy—real strategy—isn't about complexity. It's about clarity. And clarity isn't slow. It's instant. You'll know it when you see it.
The hard part isn't the knowing. It's the doing.
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Because what's next is obvious:
- It's turning off the things that have been running too long.
- It's saying no to things that used to be yes.
- It's launching something new before you feel ready.
That's the tension. That's the test. And that's what strategy is.
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Take Action Now
You don't need to be perfect. You need to pick. You need to move. You need to act.
So… what are you waiting for?
Schedule the retreat. Mark the calendar. Print this out. Do the work. And don't do it alone.
Strategy doesn't live in your head. It lives in your calendar.Show me your calendar, and I'll tell you your strategy.More of this, every week, in The Insider community.It will be the best money you spend all month.Or I'll give it back.Let's be up to something.— Lon
