Dear friend,
Welcome to the 2018-2019 season! 😊
I hope you had a great Summertime and that you still prioritized working-out on your growth. Maintaining your good habits while investing quality time with your closest ones. From the conversations I had with some of you during our coaching and mastermind sessions in July and August, I know you did a great job on keeping both priorities top of your action. Congratulations!
It is my pleasure to welcome today all of you and mention specially those who joined our community during the month of August. Including those who did it last week, during the launch of my book, "The Will to Win". Thank you so much for your support! Welcome to our community of like-minded people working on developing our lives, both personally and professionally.
So let's move into our thought and challenge for this week!
As we enter the new season, I thought it would be good for everyone to remind us of the value of being intentional with our growth. I get myself caught often in not prioritizing my actions correctly. I have found my purpose in life and I have a clear vision and mission for this season of my life. However, I still find the everyday urgent situations and unknowns getting me sometimes off-track. Other times it's just me, letting myself indulge in some "pleasure" like watching several chapters of my favorite series on Amazon Prime Video... for hours...
So when this happens, I just decide to take a time-out with myself. I know I can't change the past. I know I could have made a better use of my time. So I look back at my agenda and reset things to get back on track. I make sure to mitigate the consequences of what happened and to maximize my impact from now on.
A few years ago, when I was finding myself in the same type of situation, it was hard to for me to get back into the mood and to move in the right direction again. I realize that what allows me to do so now, is that I have a clear development plan. So even when I get distracted for some reason, I can get back to it and take it from where I left it.
My development plan includes things like the conferences I am attending, the books I am reading and the people I am connecting and establishing deep relationships with, for the next 12 months. It also includes the personal and business activities that contribute to my development. When I was a Microsoft employee, our development plans included roughly 10% formal training, 30% mentoring and coaching and 60% learning on the job. I try to keep those proportions in mind still today. So for example, when I invest the effort of learning something, I put also the effort on implementing it on my activity. This allows me to stay focused, and avoid jumping from one training to another, one voice to another, like I did in the past in several occasions. Without generating specific outcomes from it. I review my plan once a month and I allow myself to do big changes only once a quarter. This way I practice persistence with the initiatives a decide I am going to put in place.
So what about you? Do you have a clear personal development plan? As John C. Maxwell says in his Law of Intentionality, "Growth Don't Just Happen". You need to be intentional about it. John teaches us that there are several gaps that limit our growth. One of them is the Assumption Gap: assuming that we will automatically grow. Growth requires a plan.
And let's be very clear, we can't give what we don't have. Most of us are responsible not only for our own growth, but for the growth of our families, businesses and communities. And the worst thing (or most challenging) that can happen is that any of those areas that we intend to help grow, overgrows us. Our responsibility is to keep growing ourselves, to keep our lid always higher than the one of those under our responsibility. Success requires growth.
Finally, all this requires that we put time on it. Defining your plan, challenging it, reviewing it, acting on it... My mentor Mark Cole challenged me some months ago and suggested I dedicated time every day to think ahead and secure my growth was on track. He gave me the following assignment:
30 min per day
2 additional hours per week (which I do on Saturday mornings, before everyone gets up in the house)
1 additional day a month
2 additional days a quarter
I know it may sound like a lot, but I have been implementing this since last May, I can ensure you it has boosted my focus and my growth. Ready to give it a try? 😊
So my challenge for you for this week is the following:
1. Define a time slot you're going to use daily to think ahead and implement it as of tomorrow. I recommend you do it right now, after finishing reading our challenge for today. If not possible for you, mark in your agenda when are you going to do this later today. Define also when in the week you're going to have your block of 2 hours. When in the month your block of 1 day (or 2 half days in consecutive days). When in the quarter your block of 2 days (or 4 half days in consecutive days). I know it may seem like a lot, and that you're going to say, "I don't have time for it!". You're probably right. So you will have to make the time for it. Maybe get up earlier or go to bed later. Whatever works for you. But do it. Even if you don't feel like it. Do it anyway. Your success depends on it. Your dream depends on it.
2. Define your personal growth plan for the next 12 months, if you don't have one. You may want to start doing it for example during your 30 minutes slots this week. You then could give final shape to it this weekend, during your 2 hour slot. Your plan will evolve. Don't get obsessed with perfecting it to the point that you don't start implementing it. Start immediately.
So here we go. As usual, you can contact me if you want me to help you in any way. Like having a look to your plan and challenging it with you, for example.
Let me know how it goes. And don't hesitate to forward this message to anyone around you who may need it. They are very much welcome in our community!
Create an awesome week for you and those around you!
Ezequiel
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