Day 5 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012.
Today is a turning point in your commitment to develop an inspiring personal 2012 plan for yourself. For some of you, the initial excitement and novelty of this process may already be wearing thin. The press of an already jam-packed schedule may be stressing you. It would be easy to just say “the heck with this process.”
Please don’t quit the process. The process is not a simplistic one. It is modeled after some of the key elements successfully used in both corporate planning and in personal planning used by very high-end personal coaches. It is a process that, when you follow through to completion, will result in a plan that will undoubtedly accelerate your success in 2012.
Also, remember that if your commitment waivers then you will likely also be reducing the likelihood that your planning buddy will complete their plan. Stay the course, for your sake and for the sake of your buddy.
Hopefully, the feedback from Step 3 (Celebrate Your 2011 Accomplishments) and Step 4 (Reaffirm Your Personal Strengths) has you believing that you have within you the capability to have a strong 2012 IF you have a strong plan from the get go.
Step 5 is a little more pedestrian than the previous four steps, but no less important. Successful plans are built on a foundation of realistic “planning assumptions.” The Step 5 task is to create your list of planning assumptions for your 2012 plan.
None of us operate in a vacuum. Everything that we do has some connection to the many things happening in the world beyond are ourselves. Things like the health of the overall economy, changes in technology, the health of ourselves and of our families, etc., all impact what we will accomplish in 2012. Note, I said “impact;” not “determine”. We can’t control many of these factors, but we can control how we relate to them.
The plan you are building is a serious personal plan. It is not to be confused with a “dream it and it shall come” approach to life. Your plan needs to reflect the realities of the environment you are likely to encounter in 2012.
For this task, please write a one sentence description of what realistically you can expect, as to the environment, with regard to each of the following elements:
- the pace of change
- the health of the overall economy
- conditions in your industry or profession(or if you do not work, that of the breadwinner)
- what your extended family will likely be experiencing in terms of potentially stressful events in 2010
- likely demands on your time beyond your planned actions coming from your 2010 plan
- the potential stress on your physical and mental health in 2012
Tomorrow, I am going to give you some suggestions on how to craft solid assumptions with respect to these six elements. But, it is important that you first work through your own ideas with respect to each of these six elements.
Type up your one sentence summary with respect to each of these six points and list them on a sheet entitled “2012 Planning Assumptions.” These will be included as a part of the 2012 Plan draft going to your Board of Advisors so you will want to craft these well. But, please don’t fall into the perfection trap. Get something down on paper, and then tomorrow I will give you some assistance that will enable you to polish these into a format you will be proud to include in the package eventually going to your Board of Advisors.
Important note: Be realistic. These are just planning assumptions. They are not yet an expectation of what you plan. If you start with realistic assumptions, you will be able to craft the strategies and tactics that will enable you to plan for results that will inspire you. If you start with Pollyannaish assumptions, then you are likely to underestimate what you will need to do to create the results you desire.
For most, this will be a challenging and not overly rewarding step (or at least not a step that brings high instant gratification). Please, just gut it out. Get something down on paper. If you do that, then I can and will (tomorrow) show you how to transform your planning assumptions into a set of empowering beliefs.
When you have completed Step 5, you can access Step 6 here. If you want an anouncement every time a new step is posted, you can sign-up – to the right – to receive new steps by either RSS feed or email.
Please note: If you have arrived at this step first, it is not too late for you to join other high performers who are collaborating to follow the bite size steps that are unveiled here every day. Get started here.
This blog post was written by Dave Carpenter. Dave is a prolific author, inspiring speaker, and well-known consultant to professional service firms. Besides writing regularly for this blog, Dave’s writing can be seen in leading business and personal development publications. Dave is also the leader of the Accelerate Success mentoring program where he mentors high performers in a unique program designed to do great things for the favorite charity of each participant. If you are (1) a high performer who believes you still have untapped potential, and (2) passionate about a favorite charity, you may want to learn more about this powerful program. You can also follow Dave on Twitter, on Facebook, and/or on Google+.
