Good morning ☀️ and welcome to this week’s newsletter!
This will be the first of a series of newsletters around personal growth with a specific process and structure.
I am delivering a Strategic Planning conference in a few weeks to a national company and as I developed the structure, I realised:
Companies do this all the time, people rarely.
Each newsletter will cover a section of the workshop and allow you to act on the guidance provided, if you wish to.
My hope for you will be to gain clarity and structure about how you can improve what you are already doing, even if you are doing well, and especially if you are stuck in a routine you don’t like.
RoUTineS we don’t like are called RUTS! 😉
Some use cases for this course might be, in addition to the above, getting out of a rut and also:
I’ve started a new job, or job role, and want to get up to speed quickly
I’ve got this idea I can’t get off the ground
I have a plan but don’t know where to start
I’ve tried to improve before but I always end up back “here”!
If you have friends, colleagues or relatives who have conversations with you around these topics, please feel free to share, the more the merrier and I would hope everyone will get something from this series of newsletters.
A note on feedback, if you provide any, and if it’s okay with you, I’ll publish the it so others can see what has been suggested. If it’s not okay, I will not publish it. Just let me know! 😀
Okay with all that out the way, and I hope you are still here, let’s get into the reason for a Personal Strategic Plan.
Session 1: The Personal Strategic Plan (PSP) Purpose
There are many reasons to make a plan.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” - Peter Drucker
A plan helps you focus on the few critical and high impact activities you need to complete to get as far along your journey as possible.
Again: to get as far along your journey as possible!
Unfortunately, many people write a plan, place it neatly in a drawer or in a folder on their computer, only to rediscover it six months later and marvel about what a good plan it was and why didn’t they execute it. 😳
Anyone can wander through their life and end up … somewhere!
We don’t want to be “somewhere”.
Planning helps you eliminate the things that are distractions and disabilities.
Distractions are the “new shiny object” or the comfort zone that lures you into the safety of stagnation.
Disabilities are the things that prevent you from growing.
If you are a runner it might be things like the weather (too hot, too cold, too wet).
In business, it’s more like I don’t know how to do “that” (e.g. finances, or … planning! 😲) and so it remains a weakness … when it doesn’t need to be.
Planning helps you:
see what you need to do and when.
set aside time to do the things you need to do.
measure your progress against your goals.
set up systems to facilitate your progress to get as far along your journey as possible.
Everyone knows planning is important. The above points simply highlight the fact and support the importance of taking the time to proceed with some focused planning and structure.
Okay, so that’s the purpose of planning. You probably knew that, but a gentle reminder isn’t always a bad thing. Hopefully you have a spark that says, “Yes, I need a plan”, or, “I need to revisit my plan…”.
In the next edition …
One of the best parts of the planning process is you never start with a blank page.
I’ll walk you through a process that helps you fill in some “known” blanks which will drive your motivation to keep going. This allows you to reflect on past successes and acknowledge any roadblocks that occasionally, or frequently, poke their nose out!
Each newsletter will build on the previous one, so hang in there till the end.
3 Questions for You
Have you completed a strategic plan for yourself before?
What do you hope to get from this series of newsletters on Personal Strategic Planning?
What might get in your way of executing on your plan?
Resources
I will provide you with templates and resources you can download and use which will help your planning.
You are free to use them and share them. You may already have templates you use or a process you do follow, totally fine!
Remember to share this with people who you feel may benefit from the process.
I hope you’ll join me on this journey, and grow your plan and your success!
See you Monday. ❤️
Bill