Improving Impact Through Proper Planning
“I expect to spend the rest of my life in the future so I want to be reasonably sure what kind of future it’s going to be. That is my reason for planning.” -Charles Kettering
As we complete another round of sharing Momentum Consulting’s Fundamentals, we are also moving in the direction of completing the year. This is the time I ask my clients to begin reflecting on the year that we are wrapping up. We have a completion process that requires individuals to evaluate the year based on successes, failures, unexpected windfalls, disappointments, and moments of gratitude.
The best way to do this is by reviewing your calendar.
Our calendars speak facts, and typically, our interpretation of what happened in the past year isn’t as accurate as the calendar. People are often surprised with the results that got produced! It also gives us an opportunity to review the things that didn’t get done and choose whether or not we let them go, or if we move them into our 2020 goals. Once we complete this year, we have a clean slate to build our next year’s vision.
In order for us to continuously improve our impact, we first need to understand what worked and where there are opportunities to grow.
This is powerful information. However, it’s only part of the process. We can always use the past to provide us with lessons for success and failures. If we only focus on our past experiences, we limit our potential to achieve bigger things.
Designing our future dreams and visions have great influence on our goals and results for next year. Stephen R. Covey writes in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, about the importance of “begin with the end in mind”.
He says, “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”
If you are building your goals for next year based on both the past and your future design, your steps for next year will be clear and powerful.
The most profound way to impact and serve others is to follow your dreams and meet them with intentional action items.
“Once you get rid of the idea that you must please other people before you please yourself, and you begin to follow your own instincts-only then can you be successful. You become more satisfied, and when you are, other people tend to be satisfied by what you do.” – Raquel Welch
I feel that in order to truly positively impact others, we need to first look inward, and align our actions with a positive self impact. This takes brutal honesty, courage, and a willingness to acknowledge our limitations and move through them.
In other words, to serve others requires each of us to be in service to ourselves.
Always in service,
Fundamental of the Week #26: CONTINUOUSLY SEEK TO IMPROVE THE IMPACT WE MAKE . Always seek a breakthrough approach. Our job is to improve the lives and work of the people we serve. This path takes planning, diligence, and thoughtfulness.
