Category Archives: Planning

Now is the perfect time to prepare

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“Now is the perfect time to prepare.”

—Author Unknown

Image of a checklist

Image from Unsplash by Glenn Carsterns-Peters

Prepare for WHAT?

When I reflect on my days, I see numerous areas where I prepare for activities that help my life run smoothly and successfully. Some of them are:

  • Meal preparation
  • Layout out my exercise clothes
  • Creating agendas for meetings
  • Reviewing my calendar to plan my day
  • Preparing checklists for shopping
  • Organizing and preparing financial documents to review with my accountant

EXERCISE:

Where and on what personal or professional matters – big or small – is it time to prepare more fully, to realize the goals and objectives you most desire?

The pause is as important as the note

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“The pause is as important as the note.”

—Truman Fisher, American Composer

Image from Flickr by Ben Rogers

Do you enjoy music? If so, what types of music do you prefer?

Prioritize this list from high to low based on your preferences:

Pop Hip-Hop Holiday Electronic
Swing Classical Rock Folk
Rap Reggae Disco Jazz
Blues Chamber Country Bluegrass
Alternative Show Tunes Baroque Dance

Although the instruments used in these various forms of music can be different, it is perhaps the pauses, or rests, as much as the notes that are played that give each genre its own special sound.

EXERCISE:

Consider your life as a form of personal symphony. Where would paying even more attention to the pauses, to resting between your life notes enhance the melodies in your world?

Plan your day work your plan

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“Plan your day and work your plan.”

—Author Unknown

image of a daytimer planner

Image from daytimer.com

Many people find planning their day downright boring, preferring to simply go with the flow and see what the day brings.

The most successful and often most disciplined people, on the other hand, chart their course and prepare for their day before they venture out into the world.

Consider this statement from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.”

What payoff do you get for planning—or not planning—your own course? Some would say that unhappy people get to play the victim and blame other for their lot in life.

What does it cost you and others to abdicate opportunities and responsibility for planning your own course?

EXERCISE:

Consider posting today’s quote in several locations in your personal and professional environments. Take 3-5 minutes each day over this week to discover its benefits in creating a happier and more successful life.

A Wonderful Thought

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“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t happened yet!”

-Author Unknown

image from searchengineland.com

image from searchengineland.com

Today’s quote caused me to pause a bit longer than I normally do as I look to the New Year ahead. Instead of looking at the year as a whole, or even fleshing out the priority goals and objectives I wish to tackle, I plan on looking at each day as a unique and precious gift.

One way to see the value of this exercise is to take a trip into your past to examine and pleasantly re-experience, through memory, some of the really great days and experiences. As you take the time to do this, count how many great days you can recall. The list will probably be finite.

EXERCISE:

How can you design the coming year, proactively and intentionally, to have as many remarkable days this year as you have had to this point in your life?

“Never look back unless…”

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“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”

—Henry David Thoreau, 19th Century American author, poet, philosopher

photo from www.yourperfectdaybyjess.com

photo from www.yourperfectdaybyjess.com

At this time of year a fair number of organizations schedule various forms of management meetings to discuss their current status and plan for the future.

They often refer to these group sessions as “retreats,” which I find amusing, since I am sure none of these leaders wish to take their organizations backward.

Recently, some leaders are recognizing the power of the language they use, and are beginning to call these off-site meeting “advances.”

EXERCISE:

Plan you own “advances” with key individuals in your professional and personal worlds to move toward the future you sincerely desire.

“It wasn’t raining when…”

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“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

—Howard Ruff, financial adviser and writer

Photo from Boy Scouts of America

Photo from Boy Scouts of America

We tend to live our lives at a mad pace, with only a few moments each day to catch our breath.

When we do this consistently, our level of stress goes up, and our effectiveness and productivity go down. Another consequence of this rush-around world is that we rarely get to the big and important projects that we most desire.

Taking time to plan and build our own “ark of life” prepares us for the critical life events that come our way and make life worthwhile.

EXERCISE:

Examine some of the most important and urgent life issues that are just around the corner or over the horizon. How can you work backwards from these events, to be as prepared as possible and get ahead of the rainstorms of life that are coming?

“No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you doing something.”

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“No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you doing something.”

—William Danforth, co-founder of the American Youth Federation

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Image from Flickr by orangeacid

January is one of the busiest times for coaches, when both individuals and organizations crystallize and clarify their goals and plans for the new year. Of course, we have all seen these intentions and plans lose their steam and sit on the shelf to eventually await the next planning cycle, when we do it all over again.When asked, a very significant percentage of professionals would describe the planning process as “unremarkable” and “not particularly worthwhile” – primarily due to the lack of ongoing review and rigorous execution.

Exercise:

Seek out the help of your own individual or organizational coaches to make sure that this year, your plans are worth their weight in gold.

If you do not yet have a coach, you may want to take a look at the services I offer, to see whether I would be a good fit for you:

www.dempcoaching.com/professional-services