Life can be a mess. Chaos reigns, everything is out of order, deadlines missed, anxiety builds and you begin to wonder: “WTAF is going on?”
Sound familiar?
Life happens. Things get out of control. We all know this and perhaps a level of acceptance is required.
But there is a solution to the chaos. A way to be the eye of the storm, where it is calm, while the storm rages on outside you.
Let’s get stuck in …
It requires revisiting everything we have covered so far and allows us to place things in order, to set priorities.
Looking at the image above, the Design Squiggle, by Damien Newman, we start on the left: Noise and Uncertainty that slowly develops into Patterns and Insights as we pay attention to our world and the world we want to create. These insights come through Research and Synthesis, which is the work we have been doing.
As we see patterns about our plans we can move to Concepts and Prototypes, which is where we are now, especially if this is your first strategic planning process.
This, I hope, is the fun part. You get to try out ideas and imaginations that have a good chance of leading you to your better future.
But you can’t do everything, all at once! (No … you can’t! 😉) So you need to choose.
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” - attributed to Alan Kay
Here’s How to Do That
Pull out what you have captured so far:
Using the reflection session, what were the experiences of your achievements of the past that you can use in the next 6 months to make headway? If you only read that session and didn’t take any notes, take the time to do that now. It is both enlightening and motivating!
Revisit your Purpose. Why are you embarking on this process? Does defining you “why” need a review? Can you make it clearer? More compelling? Use it to help govern your next six months. This is why you are about to embark on these changes and activities. Heady stuff!
What is your vision? What do you really want to be doing six months from now? How clear is it? Can you make it clearer with some wording or visual tools that will help you “be it”! A vision board isn’t the worst idea!
An extra challenge I think everyone should try (I use the word “should'“ cautiously), and consider the following questions:
If you have a longer term goal, for example, two or three years, what would need to happen to achieve it in 6 months?
What if taking action was easy? Much of it can look hard at the beginning (see the Design Squiggle again), but is there anything that might make it easier?
What if it was fun? (apply this to something that might take you out of your comfort zone)
What did you gain from your Personal SWOT that you want to leverage?
What strengths will you build on and what opportunities will you take advantage of?
How can you make that information work to your advantage?
What threats did you discover that you need to address?
One Priority, then Priorities
With all of that in hand and well considered, what are 5 - 7 things you want to prioritise?
Firstly, what is the Prime Priority - there can only be one!
Does one stand out? Is there a “YES!” to one more than the others? That is your Prime Priority. This is the thing you are aiming to achieve in six months’ time.
Now you can choose what would come next.
If you have trouble, there are a couple of strategies:
Toss a coin - this works extremely well. Pitch two options against each other, toss a coin and see what lands - heads or tails. In that moment, are you happy or disappointed? That’s your choice! Go through the rest of your priorities doing the same thing.
Compare the pair - very similar to the coin toss but with a slight difference. Line up all options. Choose one and then, going through each of the others, are there any better choices then the first one? If so, that becomes the Prime Priority. Put the initial priority aside and compare the others to the new Prime. Does one stand out? If so, it becomes the Prime and so on. If not, The Prime remains and then you go through the list.
Next Instalment: Action Planning and the Calendar
Once you have your “Prime Priority” and “secondary priorities” we can proceed to locking in how you’re going to achieve these activities.
We’ll walk through this in the next session. I’ll provide a template to help you lock in all the actions needed. But, way more important will be your calendar.
These actions will take time, so you’ll need to make time for them to happen. Having the plan and only the intention of doing it, well, it just won’t happen.
There will be times when you’ll be saying “no” to activities you might normally have said “yes” to … because you have this Purpose and Vision to help you create the life you are wanting to live or goal you are compelled to pursue.
Next Steps
By now you’ll have a great idea about what you are going to do.
But planning is one thing, execution is another thing entirely.
Before the next instalment, if you don’t have one already, I strongly suggest finding a coach, mentor or accountability buddy. Someone who will support you and encourage you, but also hold you to account. Someone who will have those uncomfortable conversations that you both love … and hate … at the same time.
You have so much potential and you want to achieve your dream or goal. You must ensure you have the support around you.
“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together” - African Proverb
See you Thursday for Action Planning: Doing the right things, the right way at the right time!
Best ❤️
Bill