I am going to recommend that you open up whatever system you use for planning, electronic, paper or both, and set up the following dates with yourself:
(I will be assuming that you work Monday thru Friday. If your schedule is different, then adjust this accordingly.)
Right now, for the balance of this year, schedule:
2 hours every Friday afternoon to review the week that you just used up and to plan the week ahead that is still yours to create.
2 hours the last Thursday before the end of every month to review the month that you just used up and to plan the month ahead that is still yours to create.
2 hours the last Wednesday before the end of every quarter to review the quarter that you just used up and to plan the quarter ahead that is still yours to create.
2 hours the last Tuesday before the end of every 6 month period to review the 6 months that you just used up and to plan the 6 months ahead that is still yours to create.
1 full week, somewhere near the end of the year, to go somewhere by yourself, somewhere fun and empowering, where you can spend a full week nurturing yourself and being pampered...whatever that means to you and a full week of dreaming, reviewing the year past, looking at the year ahead and looking forward at least the next 10 years of your life.
Finally, 5 minutes every morning and every evening to review your top 5 goals for the year and your whys for each goal...your passion and purpose for making these things happen.
If you schedule these times, show up, do your best, have fun, be honest with yourself, and ask yourself some decent questions, which I will give you, then I will make you this promise, based on my work with thousands of clients, and my work with myself:
The things that you only dream of now, and perhaps have been just dreams your entire life, will become part of your everyday reality. The only thing that can stop you is death and it is useful to remember that we all have that price to pay, especially if you find yourself hesitating or acting like you have forever...you don't. Or as my dear mother likes to remind me still: "Jack, no one gets out alive. Do your best today." Thanks mom.
Till next time...Jack
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Planning Continued
So you have made an initial inventory of your dreams and desires. You have made sure that you really want these things and you have balanced the timelines...short term, mid term and long term.
You deserve some congratulations already. If you stopped right here and never did a bit more planning you would have already spent more time than the vast majority of college graduates ever invest in planning their lives and statistics would show that you will already, just based on this bit of planning, achieve vastly more of your dreams than others that have not invested just this minimal effort in themselves. So, again, congratulations! You are already closer to your dreams than you might know.
I want to follow this thought for just a line or two. For almost everyone I know, this is their planning cycle: New Years Eve, 5 minutes before midnight and whatever issues are bothering them the most, they resolve to change. They raise a toast, express a good intention, and never review this goal again until the next New Years Eve. And except for divine intervention or dumb luck, they almost never achieve their dreams.
They live in reaction to the world around them. They are told what to do and what to want by their bosses, friends, television and the Internet. Remember the old saying about "Most men live lives of quiet desperation"? I see this so often. I see it in television addicts, afraid to really look at their own lives, and so lost in the lives of others because their own lives are so painful and empty.
It doesn't have to be this way at all...and planning is the first best step to a much better and brighter future...designed by you...perfect for you...ultimately fulfilling for you...your highest and best destiny.
Bye for now...Jack
You deserve some congratulations already. If you stopped right here and never did a bit more planning you would have already spent more time than the vast majority of college graduates ever invest in planning their lives and statistics would show that you will already, just based on this bit of planning, achieve vastly more of your dreams than others that have not invested just this minimal effort in themselves. So, again, congratulations! You are already closer to your dreams than you might know.
I want to follow this thought for just a line or two. For almost everyone I know, this is their planning cycle: New Years Eve, 5 minutes before midnight and whatever issues are bothering them the most, they resolve to change. They raise a toast, express a good intention, and never review this goal again until the next New Years Eve. And except for divine intervention or dumb luck, they almost never achieve their dreams.
They live in reaction to the world around them. They are told what to do and what to want by their bosses, friends, television and the Internet. Remember the old saying about "Most men live lives of quiet desperation"? I see this so often. I see it in television addicts, afraid to really look at their own lives, and so lost in the lives of others because their own lives are so painful and empty.
It doesn't have to be this way at all...and planning is the first best step to a much better and brighter future...designed by you...perfect for you...ultimately fulfilling for you...your highest and best destiny.
Bye for now...Jack
Monday, April 23, 2007
Planning Continued
So, you have created your list of goals, spread across all aspects of your life. Great!
Time for the first edit of your goals: Do they excite you to think about? Are these goals compelling? Are they actually even your goals, or just leftover dreams of your parents? Look at them now and make sure that these are goals that you really want to achieve...if they aren't, then change them until they are exciting, compelling and authentically yours!
Now, the 2nd edit of your dreams: Put a timeline next to each goal. How soon would you think that this goals could be achieved? 6 months? 12 months? 3 to 5 years? 10 years or more? Make sure that you have a balance of estimated completion dates. If all of your goals are way out in the future, then add some that you can do, complete, this year. If all of your goals are short term, then add some really big global goals that can be a consistent focusing force for you over the next decade of your life. Make sure that you have a nice balance, in each category, of short, medium and long term goals.
Till next time...Jack
Time for the first edit of your goals: Do they excite you to think about? Are these goals compelling? Are they actually even your goals, or just leftover dreams of your parents? Look at them now and make sure that these are goals that you really want to achieve...if they aren't, then change them until they are exciting, compelling and authentically yours!
Now, the 2nd edit of your dreams: Put a timeline next to each goal. How soon would you think that this goals could be achieved? 6 months? 12 months? 3 to 5 years? 10 years or more? Make sure that you have a balance of estimated completion dates. If all of your goals are way out in the future, then add some that you can do, complete, this year. If all of your goals are short term, then add some really big global goals that can be a consistent focusing force for you over the next decade of your life. Make sure that you have a nice balance, in each category, of short, medium and long term goals.
Till next time...Jack
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