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Your Personal
Strategic Plan
By Gary Lockwood
Corporations do it.
Entrepreneurs do it (well, some of them). Many successful businesses develop a
strategic plan to help them get clarity and focus.
For years, I've been helping businesses develop their strategic plan. A few
years ago, it occurred to me that you could have a personal strategic plan that
would help you individually get clarity and focus on your own preferred future.
The world has become a complicated place in which to live. The past few decades
have seen enormous, accelerating changes in:
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Technology and social
structure |
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Geopolitics |
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The organizations in which we
work.
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We are faced with all the uncertainties and fears that come with not knowing
what’s going to happen next; but knowing that, whatever it is, it will come
very quickly and without warning.
In the midst of all this, we all have our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations;
the things we want to do and the places we want to go. This is why it’s so
important to make wise decisions about how we invest our time and energy. Why
do you feel that there’s more to do than you can possibly do? Because there
is more to do than you can possibly do. You must make choices. Often difficult
choices.
It is imperative that we are doing the right things, every bit as much as doing
things right. You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule -- 20 percent of all activities
will produce 80 percent of the meaningful results. What’s your 20 percent?
What are the handful of activities that will produce the results that you want,
that will make a difference, that will take you in the direction you wish to
go?
This is what strategic visioning is all about. The purpose of this strategy is
to identify those aspects of your business and personal life that require
special attention. After all, you can’t do everything, so let’s get focused
on those things where it is critical to produce results.
Set aside a couple of hours this month to contemplate your own Preferred Future
for the next 3 years. Don't get hung up on the small stuff. Look beyond today
and this week and this month.
Picture yourself thirty-six months from now reflecting on your significant
accomplishments of the period. What will have had to happen to make you happy
with your progress? This helps us to answer the question we must ask ourselves
each day -- why am I doing this, is it taking me where I want to go with my
life and is it helping me to become the person I want to be.
When you are establishing your personal strategic plan, it is very important
that you write it down. I know, you may not want to put this in writing, but
there are two compelling reasons to do it:
1. The very act of putting your vision of your preferred
future in writing
helps to clarify your thinking. Instead of floating around in your head,
writing the personal strategic plan helps you to articulate it better and helps
you to be more coherent.
2. Written vision statements help trigger the Reticular
Activating System (RAS). Your brain has an automatic filter (the RAS) that
screens out most of the sensory overload that is imposed on us every waking
minute of every day. The RAS allows sights, sounds, ideas, etc. to come through
to your conscious brain if the RAS determines they are relevant. Relevant to
what? Relevant to your currently dominate and clear thoughts. By writing your
vision, you help your RAS to pass through to your brain important ideas,
people, and other input.
For this breakthrough strategy, identify the six or seven aspects of your
personal life that are seriously important to you. Generally, we see categories
such as:
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family |
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spiritual journey |
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health |
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social involvement |
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intellectual growth |
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financial health |
In each of these areas, develop
a crystal clear vision of where you are going with this. What’s possible.
What does it look like when you’re living up to your best expectations in
each of these areas? Describe as best you can what it looks like and what it
feels like when you have reached the point in each of your key result areas
where you are happy with each. Write in the present tense, as if it is already
in place. This represents a picture of your future as you prefer it to be.
If you can articulate a clear vision of your preferred future, focusing on
those areas that are important to you, that vision becomes the picture on the
lid of your life's jigsaw puzzle. That clear vision allows you to set goals in
the direction of your preferred future. That vision provides motivation,
energy, purpose and direction. It certainly helps you to communicate with the
people around you.
Many people continuously work on personal tasks that are leading nowhere. I
believe Thoreau could have been referring to those people when he wrote:
“the mass of men lead lives
of quiet desperation”.
Many others have made financial objectives their sole concern and have paid a
heavy price for their success - poor health, failed marriages, neglected
friendships, no personal development in any area except business.
Financial success, no matter how great, can never compensate for poor quality
of life. In the scheme of things, a properly functioning business is supposed
to be the servant of a full and satisfying life that includes good health,
close and loving relationships, an exciting spiritual journey, recreation,
culture, and a powerful contribution to the community.
If you’re puzzled about how to thrive in the face of relentless, accelerating
change, remember this breakthrough strategy. Develop a clear vision of your
preferred future, then get laser focused on the key activities that will take
you in that direction. You will see performance gains, you will achieve your
goals faster and easier, you will have a happier, more satisfying life.
By developing and pursuing your own personal strategic plan, you will increase
your energy, motivation, and your sense of satisfaction. In other words, your
happiness. It’s your choice to make. Most people are as happy as they choose
to be.
Get busy developing that for yourself... Get a Life!!
Related Articles:
6 Steps to Living Your Dreams
What are dreams? Dreams are soul food. Dreams are things that give us hope. And when they come true, they often give us joy and happiness. Dreams are important for us to hold onto, and to follow.
5 Small Steps That Lead to Great
Achievements
Shifting Your Vision into Reality
How can you make the most of this year so that you can end it feeling just as high as at the
start? Get out paper and a pen, check out the tips below, and create your blue print for a year to remember.
Built to Last
Is the organization you're building and the YOU you're building something that will endure the test of time?
When you build a better you, your success is assured. As the business climate changes, as skills become obsolete, as our culture evolves, you’ll be poised to take advantage of opportunities as they arise—and even create your own—because you’re a visionary.
© 1997 - 2002 BizSuccess All
rights reserved. No duplication
Gary Lockwood is Your Business Coach.
Contact Gary for a FREE report
on "Getting Breakthroughs in your business". (909)
739-7444 * Fax: (909) 494-4314
Email: Gary@BizSuccess.com * Web: www.bizsuccess.com
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