Planning Your Future
Are you in a quandary about how to meet a huge set of goals? Do you feel stuck and don’t know what to do next?
Try these steps and get the clarity and plan you need to move forward.
- Get quiet to get focus on your essential goals. At times it is just one main goal, yet life often presents situations where you have several, and may seem mutually exclusive at first. Ask:
- What does the best outcome look like – for yourself, your family, your stakeholders
- What are the possible solutions and options? Remember that eliminating objectives is a possibility – for example, I could have declined the opportunity to co-chair the integration team.
- Write it down – make it happen. Include your objectives, options, obstacles; it doesn’t need to be perfect. Brainstorm. Writing it down sets things in motion and sets you up for the answers and solutions that wouldn’t be obvious otherwise.
- Ask advice of someone you trust. My sister, who has my highest and best interest at heart, and who is a small business owner and working Mom, came up with the ideal solution.
- Recognize Resistance – When you are on the right track, resistance soon emerges, especially the closer you get to the best outcome.
Resistance can take the form of guilt, fear, uncertainty, and in my case, timidity – I almost didn’t give myself permission to take advantage of the best solution to achieve my objectives – it was unconventional to haul myself and our toddler half way across the country.
Yet not only did it work out on the business side, a wonderful byproduct emerged – our son became and has stayed close with his cousins and Aunt.
5. Take Action. Tweak. Improve. Your clarity sharpens through action –your thinking gets muddled when you don’t unlock your ideas and act on them.
Make a plan to achieve the clear goals you set (with specifics and dates to hold yourself accountable), then act on it – Grow into it – don’t be a perfectionist – We are all constantly growing and learning.
Ask yourself – what is the worst thing that can happen if I take this action?
What will become possible to me and those I care about if I DO take this action?
What will happen if I DON’T take this action?
You can use these steps in any challenge where you need clarity.
Keep working at this skill set, it unlocks your ability to achieve more than you can imagine.
Question: How do you gain clarity to take advantage of competing opportunities?
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