“Energy flows where attention goes,” exclaims Tony Robbins, American author, public speaker, life coach, and philanthropist. Great leaders are laser-focused on their goals and they seize every moment to make the most of life’s most precious resource – ‘TIME’. Great leaders design their life through careful planning. They seek to organize their thoughts, action, and inaction that make up their daily life.
In daily life, like in gardening, you reap what you sow. Perhaps you want your garden to produce beautiful flowers, but you are constantly disappointed by unsightly weeds that sprout from the earth. To achieve a beautiful flower garden, you must first plant seeds. Mother nature will nurture your seeds into mature trees and eventually delicious fruit. Planning your life today allows you to take one step towards living the life you desire. What remains constant in life is the passage of time. The decision is yours. Do you want to live your desires in reality, or do you want to keep imagining your desired life?
Throughout my life, I have met many different people. There are people who pour their heart and soul into planning their holiday, including determining the flight duration, hotel accommodations, desired trip length, sightseeing opportunities, and how they will spend every minute of their vacation. It’s no surprise that using a systematic approach enables people to experience these holidays as planned.
When asked, “How do you plan your daily life?” Their responses were, “There isn’t much to plan. It’s a similar routine that we follow and have been following for years.” I then asked, how much time is spent planning a particular holiday. The average answer was two to four years.
Now, I want you to consider — why can one live their dream holiday, but not their dream life?
The difference is – ‘PLANNING’. Planning is the driving force that helps you perform on a higher level required to achieve the desired outcome.
Oftentimes planning is perceived to be tedious and people prefer spending their time and energy on completing tasks. Planning helps you prioritise, systematize, focus, and manage your time. To achieve the life you desire, you must understand the power of planning. With proper planning, you will not expend energy on distracting weeds that encourage procrastination. Instead, if an undesired weed appears, you can hire a gardener in a similar way that you can hire a coach or a mentor to eliminate a roadblock that is preventing you from living your dream life. You can architect the life you want to live with the right vision, direction, and planning.
A critical step to develop your plan begins with goal setting, which is not a one-size-fits-all tool. Goals are relevant to you, your needs, and your desires. Your journey to achieving your goals will consist of small, actionable steps to bring you closer to your goal. The most important thing once you’ve taken the time to plan the life you want to live, is to take action!
I’d like you to join me in a brief exercise that will give you insight into your life and identify your starting point. Reflect on the different aspects of your life. Here are some categories that may come to your mind: Career, Health, Family, Learning, Friendship, Finances, Adventure, and Contribution. Reflect on the different aspects of your Business. Here are some categories that may come to your mind: Vision & Mission, Products & Services, Systems & Procedures, Creation & Innovation, Sales & Marketing, Finances or Accounts, Culture & Team, Strategizing & Planning.
Next, draw a circle and divide it into eight sections as shown in the image, consider the centre point as zero and the outer skirt is ten. Evaluate each category in your life based on where you stand today on a scale from 0 to 10. Zero indicates ‘not good’ and ten means ‘love it’. Then, connect the dots and you should have a visual representation of your life. Imagine this is a wheel of your car and perhaps now you have insight into why you are experiencing a bumpy ride.
If your wheel is out of alignment, contact us for a free action plan worksheet, if you are ready to boost your performance and productivity in business as well as life. There is no point in knowing where you are now unless you also know how to move forward. Message ‘ACTION PLAN’ to Empower Your Destiny and we will send you the worksheet as a gift.
