What is your objective today? My objective is to schedule in my new work format for the projects during this spring season. I teach this to my clients all the time. It is one of the very first things that we do together to see where their focus is. I remember the very first time I taught this idea publicly. It was to a class of 5th graders who were having trouble with their long term assignments. We all have these in one or perhaps many areas of our lives. So how do we plan for them?
Planning is the key here. The task at, hand even if it is the most worthwhile thing in the world and something we really want to do, won’t happen without some planning. Here’s a great example which has a real consequence. Let’s say each spring you drive by the same public park and admire the vivid color of all the beautiful spring bulbs blooming there. Each spring they burst forth in a sea of glorious color and your eyes just drink in the awesome beauty. That show of color takes planning. So you go home and promise yourself that you are going to plant some blubs yourself so you can reap the reward! What do you do now?
In order to have spring blubs, you must plant in the fall before the ground freezes. The blubs need a cold long sleep before they awaken in the spring and give you the reward. It is a very long time between spring 2008 and spring 2009. How will you keep this intention to get the results you want? Planning.
When do bulbs arrive at your local gardening center? You will need a planting day. You will need to work up the soil and enrich it and get the spring bulb bed ready for the blubs. You will need a day to go to the garden center and buy your supplies. All of these things will most likely happen when you put them on your calendar and make the committment to actually putting in the time to reap the reward.
What happens when fall comes and you put the lawn mower away for the winter, and football season starts, and it begins to get cold and you have a warm bowl of soup and stare outside at the leaves falling…..well it’s too late. Planning with a specific objective is key.
So, today, I did some of my own planning. I went to the back of my paper calendar and tore out a week of calendar pages and taped them together so I have a 1 week view. I then highlight all my standing appointments, my spiritual quiet time, my exercise time, my lunch, and my weekly massage. Then I write down all the tasks that I want to put into my day that require specific "blocks" of time on a seperate pad of paper and then put them on the calendar. In my case I have 10 writing projects going on all at once and they need concentrated time to think, process, research and write. I also take into consideration when I am at my best to write. Now that might be in the morning with the sunshine coming through my office window and it might be at some other time in the day. Once I have my schedule there in front of me and things blocked out, I let it "rest". I also take one week and work with it the way I laid it out (in pencil) to see how it feels and fits into my day.
Once I have tweaked the plan with my objectives in mind, I make it permanent for the time I need it to be this way. In other words, I put my due date for the "rough copy" of my book down and I work toward that date diligently and "MY OBJECTIVE" is always in front of me.
When I reach my objective, or my due date in this case, I have a real sense of accomplishment at the achievement. If you did plant the spring blub bed, each time you look out of your window at the bleakness of the long winter days, you are full of excitement and anticipation for the reward that is coming your way in the spring!
