Tag: strategic planning

Everything? Sure, But Not All At Once!

I was chatting with one of my Finish Line Friday participants last week before everyone else arrived in my zoom room. Not surprisingly, we were talking about goal setting for the new year. I said out loud, as a reminder to her and to me, that “2024 is 12 Months Long.”

Meaning, we have a lot of time and opportunity to make positive change and we don’t have to stuff everything into the first week.

And that really resonated with her.

Because, of course, every year is 12 months long. January, even when we try to pack all sorts of new habits and change in, is 31 days long. No more, no less.

Some years, we start out strong and believe that we need to change EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE when the new year begins. And we set our selves up for failure or major anxiety when we think that way. Instead, let’s consider pacing ourselves.

On the other hand, I had grand plans for EVERYTHING at once when it comes to strategic planning in January.

6 weeks ago, I made sure to block out time on the calendar last week and this week for hours of strategic planning time to work on my editorial calendar, get ahead on my writing and plan my year in detail. And… as is often the case when it comes to big-picture strategic planning, more urgent issues squeezed into the space instead.

This is not to say that I am not planning strategically for the year this week. It IS to say, that I am using smaller pieces of time to do the planning. And as an aside, I will block MORE time at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 to ensure some sacred space for planning!

The balance seems to be, then – Everything? Sure. But NOT ALL AT ONCE!

Here goes – this week, I am working on the Qs.

I use a Bullet Journal. I have mentioned it in past podcasts and videos, but I haven’t delved too deeply. And I feel that it is time to delve deeply!

And one of the features for the Bullet Journal is called a Future Log. As we set up our Bullet Journals, we start with a few index pages (a topic for another day), and then we set up our Future Log.

I, like many others, break my year into quarters. Quarter 1 is January, February and March, Quarter 2 is April, May and June, etc.

This year on my future log so far, I have:

  • Q1, a procedure in February
  • Q1, coaching certification to complete by March 1
  • Q1, Liturgy planning for Easter on March 31
  • Q2, a wedding in Maryland
  • Q3, family vacation
  • Q3, moving my son to his college apartment
  • Q3, a trip to Massachusetts

There are also doctor appointments, presentations, client appointments and board meetings on the calendar for 2024. But those are typical items and don’t need to be in the Future Log. The Future Log and the Qs are for tracking big projects.

Working with quarters helps my brain every day.

Some of us stumble into all or nothing thinking, and that sort of thinking can disrupt our reason, our logic, our productivity and our peace.

With the Q’s and the future log, I have a consistent and reliable place to park ideas that are AMAZING but that do not need to be worked into today’s plan or this week’s, or even this month.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with my social media manager. We are working on a big launch for Q1, but then she asked (without knowing what this week’s topic was going to be) if we could look at Q2 and beyond as well. YES!!

We don’t want to lose track of the good ideas we have, but now or even this quarter may not be the time to tackle them.

I have a big project for a professional organization I am affiliated with that will take time in Q1 and Q2, so any other big projects will need to be planned for Q3 or Q4.

I also look back at last year’s Q’s, the plan for each quarter and also the list of things I completed. And I can learn from that, as I plot my Qs for this year as I look ahead. For example,

  • Last year, especially in the second and third quarters, I was helping my mom downsize and move to her new very cute apartment. I will not need to do that this year, as she is already settled. More importantly, my son and his wife got married the end of September! Amazing, but also not something I need to plan for again this year!
  • On the other hand, also 3rd quarter last year, we spent a lot of time with one of my sons and his friends at the lake, and that was awesome, so I should make note now on my planning for July to spend weekends with them, if they’d like.

We can zoom out from the day-to-day or even week-to-week planning, and look at our year in broader strokes or as a bigger picture. We can pair up what we want to accomplish this year with the time that we have available. We can cut ourselves some slack and recognize that we can accomplish great things AND not wear ourselves out and doom our goals before we even begin by pacing our work and our energy for the longer term.

We can let our ideas flourish by giving them a resting place until we are ready to act on them.

Consider your 2024 Qs this week and this month, and set yourself up to succeed in 2024!

It’s Planning Day! For Me and For You!

I want to get back to the procrastination topics we started a few weeks ago, especially since I’ve been hearing from a lot of you about procrastination!

However… that is not where my brain is today. And instead of fighting my brain, I realized I could use this as a teaching and learning moment for you and for me! Procrastination is important, but it will still be waiting for me when i get back to it (a little procrastination joke there).

Instead, Today is Planning Day! Capital P, capitol D.

Planning Day is more than just a plan for the next hour or today or this week, even though those are great places to start!

PLANNING Day looks a little farther out. As in, Let’s look at this month, this quarter, this year! Where do I want to see me by November 1, or January 1, or by my next birthday?!

Today is a planning day for a lot of reasons. It’s a planning day because it is a new month and a new season.

Today is a planning day because it’s a new quarter. Q Four. I know, that sounds very business-y, but I am running a company here, so things sounds business-y from time to time. Even if I don’t say things like Q3 and Q4 out loud, I think in those terms all the time. Q Four matters, and I like to set goals for quarters and for the year.

Last week, at the end of the third quarter, I checked in on my Q3 goals to see what I had completed or not. And I am quite satisfied with my goal completion rate for Q3.

love this idea from borrowedheaven.com!

And now it’s time to look at what I want to accomplish before the end of 2023. It’s crazy to think about, right? Just this week, I have scheduled several organizing presentations for January and February of 2024. I already had some on the books, but now I have a whole lot more, which is very exciting, but seeing 2024 in print on the contracts, it is quite noteworthy.

For me, it’s a planning day because my oldest son and my daughter-in-law were married the end of September. And it was lovely. There were friends, there was family. The weather was perfect. Everything went smoothly. It’s just wonderful. And there was a lot of work and planning that went into that ahead of time, mostly on the part of the bride and groom. But it occupied my mind and parts of my schedule for the last couple of weeks, too. And now it is blessedly, wonderfully, complete. And then the rest of the world comes back in. It’s a planning day because I need to plot my course , post-wedding.

It’s a planning day, too, because October is my birth month, and I always feel retrospective around my birthday and also, eager to plot my course for the next year. A great time to check in on things, right?

Join me for Planning Day, here’s how!

First, Planning takes time. So set aside some time.

On my schedule this week, today did not start out as a planning day but some client cancellations provided some much needed white space. Sometimes, I end up planning as I drive (I think really clearly when I drive), or spontaneously in an early morning writing session. But, truly, Planning is too important to leave up to chance, so don’t do it that way!

My suggestion is, Don’t wait for a cancellation or a found opportunity. Put Big Picture Planning on the schedule! As I write this, I just hopped into my google calendar and scheduled planning sessions the last week in December and the first week in January.

Next, Give yourself some grace. I want to give myself grace and ask you to do the same in general, in life.

We are so quick to judge ourselves.

I was talking with a client yesterday – she knows who she is! – She was reporting that she didn’t get what she was supposed to get done since our last appointment. And then she mentioned she had COVID since our last appt. THAT MATTERS! That wins. That absolutely wins!

We took a moment to say, look at what you DID accomplish, even with a few weeks of not feeling so great! And we did that before we jumped into the day’s tasks.

I think I am the first one to do that to myself as well. I could look at my list and my schedule and go, oh wow, I’ve got all this stuff to do. What is wrong with me? And the answer is Nothing. Absolutely nothing is wrong with me, life happened. And it was amazing. And now I get to choose how else I want to spend my time.

Therefore, Grace.

Then, Look at the Done List:

I find this step fun and gratifying, but often overlooked. Last week or month or quarter, you got things done! Yeah you!

We can absolutely be proud of what we accomplished. And I am proud. So, look at that done list. Take a moment and bask and revel in what you DID get done.

Last week my accountability partner reminded me that in addition to all the other q3 goals I had, I also successfully helped my mom move to a new home in August. That wasn’t on the original q3 list, but it is noteworthy and made it on the Q3 done list!

A fellow organizing coach Shannon wrote in a recent FB post that she was ready to apologize for not posting a lot recently on SM (I’m guilty of that, too), but then she shifted her perspective and shared what she DID accomplish in the last month or two. And the list was long and fabulous, impressive, wonderful, amazing. And I really appreciated her shift in perspective. It came at just the right time for me to read as well, because it would be easy to get frustrated with what I need to do or what hasn’t gotten done.

OK, and now for the planning:

Look ahead. It’s time to take action, but if we haven’t planned, how do we know what the right action is? Yeah, there’s a truth bomb.

Without a plan, without having sat down and thought about these things, how do you actually know what the right action is?

So we’ve talked about focus areas and I think that’s a great place to start. For a refresher, check out episode #5 I think? Last Decmeber, 2022! Start with what is important to you!

Talking with a client on Monday, she was feeling discombobulated and I absolutely understand. And in the next breath, she was also telling me all the wonderful things that she did with and for her family recently, about a huge professional accomplishment and a huge work project that she successfully completed.

So I used the image of focus areas, but she kind of liked the idea of lanes, or columns on a whiteboard of the different areas of her life.

So family, kids, specific per family member. In addition, she is a professional musician and also has an artistic job not related to music, Home, personal, wellness, personal development. Each had a lane, and she saw them like traffic, with different lanes moving at different speeds but all in the same direction.

List your focus areas (for example, mine are School Board, Ministry, Home / Family, Personal / Wellness, Education and The Company.)

List those focus areas, and then jot down some reasonable 3 month goals, milestones or plans around those focus areas.

What that might look like for me:

In addition to regular board work, two Q4 School Board Goals are: we start a Policy Review this week for the next 6-12 months, and we also have our Annual Conference in November.

In addition to regular weekly ministry, two Q4 Ministry Goals are: my annual Baptismal Prep photo project, and Joyful and successful planning and completion of the liturgical Advent season; Because as a liturgical musician, Advent and Christmas are where it’s at!

Looking at Home and Family, successful Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays would be on the list. And under those items I would list some of the ways I will accomplish these, like communication with family members regarding events, completing the actual days, gift giving, celebrations, etc.

Education: I’ve dropped the ball in this area and 2 goals would be to complete my next certification with the ICD, and read 6 non-fiction books before 12/31/2023.

Looking at my company, I want to set on goal in each of my subcategories. So, one each – a Coaching Goal, Client Goal, Speaking Goal, Community Building Goal and Operations Goal. One thing that I need to accomplish today and this week, in addition to recording this particular podcast, is I also need to plan out my, content calendar for Q Four.

And I have to admit that I have been kind of I haven’t really made note of the plan.

There is a plan, but right now it’s in my head, and I need to actually jot it down per week as to what I want to talk about. If there’s articles I’ve already written that I can use as resources. And it will make my entire quarter go more smoother if I can get that at least on it’s not really on paper, but like, in my planning document today, that would be such a huge help.

PLANNING DAY!

So those are my focus areas. Let’s ask some questions:

  • What are your focus areas, what is important to you?
  • What is one thing that you would like to accomplish by the end of Q4?
  • What will you be proud to look back on, in three months?
  • What has been lingering around on your to-do list, and you know life will be so much better if you just get this thing squared away?
  • Where do I want to see myself by the time I hit my next birthday?
  • Throw in some easy goals, too! some goals are easy to see and even accomplish, but they still need to be listed! For example, obviously, Thanksgiving and Christmas will happen, whether I set them as a goal or not. But they become a place holder and a reminder – yes, these events will take effort, and also their successful completion warrants celebration and a feeling of accomplishment.
  • And leave some room for fun and joy!

So that’s my Planning Day!

So plan with me today or this week. So this is what I’m doing today, and I recommend at least once in a while that you do it for yourself as well.

And if this is one of those things that you need to go back and listen to when it’s Q One for 2024, great. I love it. Let’s do it.

I have these podcasts and articles available all the time to refer back to – 45 episodes so far – if there is something you need a refresher or reminder about.

I hope that you take some time for planning this week. Do it as a gift to yourself. Chart your course not just for the next hour or day or week, but also month and quarter and maybe even year.

I hope you found this helpful. I know it was helpful for me to talk it out, so thank you for listening!

Productivity Challenge: Time Management!

This week’s Productivity Challenge is Time Management!
My associate writes:
“As a small business owner, we wear so many hats and have to stay on top of so many tasks.  
  • There are daily tasks, weekly tasks, monthly tasks; 
  • There are “big picture” issues to address – new product lines, new marketing ideas, personnel issues, all of the “where is our company headed?” type-stuff ; 
  • There are “small task” issues – placing orders with vendors, scheduling service calls, handling customer service issues, and even just answering the phone; and then of course
  • There are the “fires” that occasionally pop up that require me to drop everything and handle immediately. There is only so much time, and we work with a skeleton crew – so how can I better organize to stay on top of it all?”
As a fellow business owner, I can totally relate to all of these!  So, let’s tackle them one by one!
Managing the “daily tasks, weekly tasks, monthly tasks”.  With these recurring tasks:
  • Keep a Master To-Do List – a running list of everything that needs to get done.  I maintain my To-Do list in Evernote (a cloud storage notebook), so that I can access it from all of my devices.  I can even share my To-Do list (and other Evernote documents) with others, if I have info to share with staff or co-workers.  I have clients who use MS Outlook for the same purpose.   When I finish a recurring task for today on my Evernote list, I cut it and pasted it to the next day, week or month or whenever it is set to recur (For example, daily habits, weekly errands, and monthly billing and client care).
  • Actually block out time on your daily, weekly and monthly schedule for these tasks.  Make an appointment on your calendar, so other things don’t squeeze out these important tasks!  A client mentioned that her bill-paying was slipping and she was starting to incur late fees because she hadn’t blocked the time to manage her daily and weekly bookkeeping.
  • Attach paper / ideas / tasks to your time blocks, too.  For example, my Friday afternoons are blocked for bookkeeping tasks.  As bills come in, or tasks come up that are related to bookkeeping, I add them to Friday’s to-do list and tuck any paper bills in my Friday folder.

There are “big picture” issues to address – new product lines, new marketing ideas, personnel issues, all of the “where is our company headed?” type-stuff .

  • Big picture Issues:  We need to block time to make these big-picture discussions happen, too. They may not need to happen every day, but they are still important.  Have weekly check-ins with everyone involved, in person / Face time or via email, to touch base.  And once in a while (monthly, quarterly, etc.) Think BIG THOUGHTS!!! Set time aside, invite all the players / decision makers, go off-campus, set a time limit, and dive in!

There are “small task” issues – placing orders with vendors, scheduling service calls, handling customer service issues, and even just answering the phone.

  • There are no small tasks.  These “small tasks” are Our Work, whether they happen daily, weekly or monthly.  Communicating with our vendors and our customers – This Is Our Work! Even when these tasks seem small, they are really the most important tasks we can complete.
  • However…. we can still manage the flow of our work, to get more of Our Work done!
    • Phone calls can go to voicemail, or we can keep our calls polite but brief.
    • Emails rarely require an instantaneous response.
    • Do Not Reinvent the Wheel!  Figure out the best way to do something, and do it that way every time.  Those are your Standard Operating Procedures, and they create a uniformly excellent experience.  Start by creating standard email responses to frequently asked questions, and build from there.

And then of course there are the “fires” that occasionally pop up that require me to drop everything and handle that immediately.

  • Communication:  I received an email last week from my graphic designer: “I should be done putting out fires by XXX o’clock, I’ll call you then”.    Great way to handle it!
  • Flexibility is critical to time management success.  Having a Master To Do list means if we can’t get to something today, we can move it to the top of tomorrow’s To Do list.  Using Time Blocks are great, but we can block time later in the week just as easily as this afternoon.
  • Let me let you in an insider tip:  If you handle recurring tasks when they recur, manage the Big Picture and Small Tasks regularly – you will:  A. Have fewer fires to put out; and B. Be more prepared and able to quickly manage and put out the fires that to arise.

So, look at your task list today and this week, and consider how to manage your time and tasks to get your important work done!

Bonus Cherry-On-Top Strategic Planning Wear-your-PJs Week

I love this week between Christmas and New Years.  The Bonus Week, Cherry-On-Top Week, Strategic Planning Week, Stay-in-your-PJs-all-week Week.  A lot of offices are closed this week, but whether you are off or not, I hope you still spend some concentrated focus time, looking back and around and ahead at the days to come.  Spend a little time planning this week, and reap the benefits all year long.

(Click here for Dave Crenshaw’s ideas on what he calls HeadStart Week).

Look back.  If you don’t already have a Done List for this current year,  make one now.  Skim your calendar, maybe review your email subject lines.  If you are a social media person, look through your own posts.  My family had a really good year.  Major life events, like Sacraments and Graduations and Awards.  Between the 5 of us, we traveled to over 20 states this year.  We’re healthy and happy and stronger than we were 12 months ago.  My business had a great year, the biggest one so far.  We appreciated our friends and family, made a few new ones and sadly lost a few this year, too.   I have touted my professional Done List in a blog last February, but it’s nice to have a personal Done List, too.

Look Around.  Appreciate what you have and where you are right now.

Now Look Ahead.  It is easier to see where you are going once you know where you have been.  Consider all the different facets of you – personally, professionally, spiritually, physically, emotionally.  I am on the fence about New Years Resolutions, per se, but I do know that now that the holiday rush has slowed, there are some areas of my life I would like to work on – like health and nutrition, and professional development – two areas that get neglected in December!

So what will you do with your extra special extra week?  What will you do this week, that you can look back at 12 months from now?  Get to it!

5-Weeks-‘Til-Christmas Survival Guide

A Client sent me the original notification of this article from November, 2012.  She was clearing out her in-box, but wanted to review this list for her own holiday planning.(I edited it for this week!). I have been working through my own copy myself, and you may benefit from it, too!  Take some time this week to chart your course for the next 5 or 6 weeks heading up to Christmas!

In my Holiday Planning Class, the most well received hand-out is the Holiday Planning Weekly Checklist. I’ve shared it with clients, and one said she couldn’t believe that preparing for the holidays could be that easy. I won’t say “easy”, but “simpler, less stressful and better prepared” sound pretty great.  Here are some suggestions to make your season better, tweak these suggestions to fit your life.

Week of November 17

  • Appreciate your friends and family members, and all the good things in your life. (We had a brunch for friends yesterday, and I am feeling so grateful today!)
  • Finalize Thanksgiving Menu
  • Pantry-shop to get rid of clutter, and stock up on cooking / baking  supplies
  • Hang outside lights, don’t turn them on
  • Plan Holiday Party:  dates, guests lists and menus, and choose invitation and RSVP deadlines
  • Buy multiples of your standard hostess gift, like nice wine or candles.  Make sure it’s something you use, in case you have extra left over
  • Encourage kids and adults to purge and donate
  • Heavy clean and de-clutter, or make some calls for assistance!

Week of November 24:

  • Stock up on gift certificates for teens, stocking stuffers, teachers etc.
  • Take a nice family picture at Thanksgiving, when everyone is a little dressed up. Use it for your Christmas Cards!
  • At Thanksgiving, tell or email family about upcoming Christmas concerts, children’s programs and parties.
  • Buy Stamps, while you can still get Holiday stamps!
  • Stock up on cooking and baking supplies
  • Complete your Christmas Card list, and confirm addresses (keep a copy for next year!)

Week of December 1:

  • Take out the “First Out” Box.  Our “First-Out” box is also our “Last In” box.  It contains the items that are used for the entire Advent and Christmas seasons for us, like our crèche, some children’s books, our Advent Wreath and candles, etc. Set up just a few decorations now.
  • Stock up on gift certificates, stamps, and cooking or baking supplies
  • Order your Christmas Cards, or start your letter
  • Plug in or turn on Christmas lights
  • Complete out-of-town shopping / wrapping
  • Start Christmas shopping for local recipients
  • Find and clean holiday dishes and tins

Week of December 8:

  • Continue to stock up on gift certificates, stamps and cooking and baking supplies (spread the costs out over several weeks)
  • Finish teacher gifts, like gift certificates and cards
  • Check decorations; donate any that will not be going up this year!
  • Assemble and address Christmas Cards
  • Ship all out-of-town packages
  • Complete Christmas Shopping
  • Holiday donations, service projects

Week of December 15:

  • Finalize Christmas Menu, who is bringing what
  • Decorate the house, and buy / set up the tree
  • Finish shopping and gift wrapping.  Load into labeled bags or boxes, one for each of your destinations
  • Start baking cookies
  • Mail out your Christmas Cards
  • Take a breath, and take a break.  The house is decorated, your gifts are bought and wrapped, cards are mailed, travel plans are completed, and donations are made.  Sit calmly in your living room, reveling in the beauty of your stress free holiday prep and beautiful decorations.  Go to a party or 2!

Week of December 22

  • Last minute baking / cooking for Christmas Eve
  • Last minute grocery shopping
  • Relax! Go see the Christmas lights, have some holiday fun!

December 24, Christmas Eve:

  • Family Christmas Eve traditions
  • Make ahead dishes for Christmas Dinner, if possible
  • Lay out outfits for Christmas morning Mass

Christmas:  Thursday, December 25:  Enjoy!!!

Week after Christmas:

  • Invest in some sale priced Rubbermaid or Sterilite storage containers
  • Put your decorations away by category and label the container
  • Remember to put your “Last In” away last, so you can grab it first next December!

Take steps now to make your holidays more peaceful and enjoyable!

Who’s Driving This Car Anyway? You. You Are In Charge. 

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Every day, we’re bombarded by unwanted pressures influencing our decisions.  To improve time management, clear mental clutter and find Peace of Mind, it is important to remember Who Is Driving This Car, Anyway?  You are.  You own your decisions.

It’s hot outside, but a client just purchased flannel sheets… patterned with snowflakes. Why?  Because he keeps a running list of household items he needs, and then peruses emails from his favorite retailers, waiting for a good sale and free shipping.  He found some high quality sheets on clearance, got a great deal plus free shipping.  This client is driving the car.  He’s in charge, and uses retailer offers to his best advantage.

Speaking of sheets, another client asked “Why should I buy sheets in January?” Major retailers typically offer White Sales and special deals on bedding, towels, etc. in January, but she resents pressure from outside forces to buy bedding only in January.  If we need new bedding now, why wait?  And if we don’t need bedding or towels, we may succumb to advertising pressure and begin to think maybe we really DO need them, since the advertisements say we do.  This client is in charge, and will buy bedding based on needs, not on advertising pressures.

What should guide your actions:

  • Your beliefs, faith, personal goals and objectives
  • The needs and wants (within reason) of your loved ones / the people you are responsible for
  • Your own needs and wants, in that order
  • Your work responsibilities, your own agenda, personally and professionally, and the tasks attached

What should NOT guide your actions:

  • Indecision. Fear. Procrastination. Inertia.  Busy work.
  • Pop-culture pressures.  Anything you see on TV or in a catalog, article or newspaper, unless it fits in with the list above of “Should Guide Your Actions”
  • The unsolicited suggestions or opinions of strangers, or other people’s drama / goals / objectives

I mentioned in a paper management class last week that we should unsubscribe from every Catalog.  We live very happily without an item until we see it in the shiny pages of a catalog.  And then we are reeled in with the artfully crafted ad and MUST HAVE that piece!  A class participant shared an insight she gained from that statement:

She has been struggling to stay inside her weekly food budget. She dutifully reviews the grocery store ads for the best deals on her food items, and uses coupons, too.  However, she lets the ads dictate her grocery list, instead of looking first at what she already has on hand in her kitchen.  The stores were driving the car, not her own needs.  She will now shop for what she needs, and not just what is on sale.

I read an article last week about how double spacing between sentences is now outdated, and everyone should single space after a period.  The writer reasoned that the age of computers has eliminated the need for double spacing as fonts are more readable now than on a typewriter.  Reading this reasonable (single spaced) article could influence me to edit the last 20 years of my articles, just to conform to this writers’ assertion.

But… it turns out, I don’t care.

I don’t care if my sentences are single or double spaced. Perhaps I should, and perhaps I will try to start that new habit, but probably not.  I could spend hours and days adhering to some stranger’s suggestion.  But I won’t.  Because 1.  both ways are technically correct, 2. I have other things to do with my time, and 3. I’m driving THIS car.

Get clear on your own beliefs, values, needs and wants. Make sure you are the one Driving This Car.  You will make better decisions, and be less likely to cave under external pressures.

Strategic Planning: My March Marching Orders

I’m working on my Strategic Plan this week, and you should, too.

My 2014 so far:

January:  snow; back-to-school and holiday wrap up; Get Organized Month, presentations and new clients; busy family life.

February: snow; my son’s Confirmation and the associated preparations, sacramental and otherwise; my Dad’s illness and the travel and planning associated (he’s better now); and busy family life.

These are all good things.  I’ve been focusing on details and getting things done, and that’s great.  But now I need to check my Big Picture, and make sure I’m looking at the right details and getting the right things done, plus plot my personal and professional path for the next couple of months.   Onward March!!

What and where:  Strategic planning is a useful activity to help us see the Big Picture, and determine:

  • What we’re doing;
  • where we are;
  • where we are actually going;
  • where we are should be heading;
  • where other people around us are going, and
  • what we have at our disposal to get us where we want to go, either personally or professionally.

There are often times when we just need to move forward, but only after we know where “forward” is, since we wouldn’t want to charge off a metaphorical or actual cliff…

When: 

I am a planner.  So trust me when I say, “Don’t Spend Too Much Time Planning”.  We can over-analyze and over-plan, leading to Analysis Paralysis and getting “stuck”.

Never Let Planning Take the Place of Action.

Regularly review your Plan and make sure you are still on the right path, doing the right things, moving towards the right goal.  I discussed this topic with my husband recently, and he mentioned that his department’s implementing weekly meetings, for everyone to check in on work flow plus elements of their strategic plan.

I can’t tell you the right percentage of time to spend time in planning.  It is necessary, but so is doing your actual work!  So make time for both!

Why and How:

  1. Strategic Planning takes the view from 30,000 feet.  Focusing solely on details for long periods of time stresses me out.  The closer we look at something, often the less we see.  So backing up, and looking at an overview gives us perspective and a break.  For example, looking ahead perhaps I see a conference coming up in April – I can note that, and start preliminary planning or book my travel plans, but I certainly don’t need to start packing.
  2. It always feels better to have a plan.  Most of us don’t like feeling out of control.  I understand the benefits of planning for events and the unexpected.  And just because sometimes things don’t go as planned, they often do.  And the act of planning is invaluable.  “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable”.  Dwight D. Eisenhower
  3. Strategic Planning elevates the mundane, and gives purpose to our actions.  When we look at the Big Picture, we seen that our every-day work is part of something bigger and grander.  Hope is a huge motivator!
  4. Strategic Planning helps us recognize and allocate resources.  My biggest resource challenge right now is my own time.  I have ideas and energy to spare, but a busy schedule to manage.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.  But it means I have to allocate my most valuable resource very carefully.  Which leads me to ….
  5. Priorities: I have 7 index cards sitting here on my desk, with one word written on each, representing my main priorities.  Knowing that time is my most valuable resource, any new requests on my time have to fit in of those priorities, or the answer is “No, thanks”.
  6. Master To-Do List:  My master To-Do List is not the same as my Strategic Plan.  The Plan has broad categories and steps, and the To-Do List a very detailed list of tasks.  I couldn’t have one without the other.  My Strategic Plan dictates my tasks, and having my Master To-Do List ensures that work gets done, because it collects tasks and ideas for 4 or 6 months down the road, so the Plan and the List rely on each other.

This is a very broad topic, and I’ve given you a lot to think about today.  I have taken entire college courses on similar subjects, so I know Strategic Planning can feel a little overwhelming.  But invest some time this week on your Strategic Plan.  Gain perspective, look ahead, cultivate some hope, elevate your “everyday”.  Time well spent, I promise!