STOP! Before you set your plans in stone for this new year. There's something you ought to consider...
We are starting a new year and a new decade. So much potential. A time for new hopes, dreams, plans, resolutions. We start out with them, but as we all know, so often they fade after we fail a few times to make them reality - or in the busyness of our everyday lives, they can fade into our memory faster than you can say...February.
What gives a plan staying power? Of all the characteristics of a good plan, the most important is vision.
Can you have a plan without a vision? Well, yes, you can actually, but those kind of plans so easily fizzle out if there's no vision behind them. In fact, before you put a strategy in place, you need a vision, and after strategy comes the actual business plan.
So why do we start off with a plan for the year when we haven't a clear vision of where we'd like to go? We've probably all done it at one time or another...a tactical plan for the year, but without taking the time to reflect on our overall vision. You may even have a strategy, but do you really have a vision? You may get somewhere, but is it really where you want to be? (Reminds me of the saying: "Not sure where we're going, but we're making good time!")
If you have a vision, especially when fired by passion, then the strategy and planning stages can follow and more easily kept on track - or adjusted as the year progresses -to fit the vision. It just doesn't work so well when it's the other way around, i.e. building a plan, then adopting a vision somewhere along the way, or not.
The key is not to begin with minutiae, but with the bigger picture. Step back and view your life from the 30,000 ft level. What do you see? What do you like about what you see? What do you not like? What would you like to see?
Then remaining in big picture mode, consider the important areas of your life: your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being; your passions, hopes, dreams and aspirations, your values, your family; your finances, your work and business; and your contribution to others in this world. Ask yourself similar questions for each area.
Know first what is most important to you. Remind yourself of why you are working, and what you are working for. Remind yourself of the milestones you've already past. What did you like about last year? What did you do right? What would you like to do more of? Less of?
And most importantly, where do you want to go from here? What kind of person do you want to be? What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Don't just muddle forward into a new year without a vision and without direction. Take time to grasp a vision. Then once you have it, let it be your guiding compass throughout the year and build your strategy and plan around it.
KNOW what you really want, see it, feel it, touch it and let your thoughts reflect on it. Does it fire you up? If not, step back and try again. Let your vision be propelled by your passion -and then begin the process of strategy and planning. Your plan will be more sustainable and you'll be much more fulfilled and successful this year!
