Sophia Lilly, 2, sitting in the driver’s seat of a school bus
Source https://tamaquaarea.wordpress.com/
I love this picture of Sophia – sitting in the driver’s seat of a school bus… with her hand on the radio – ensuring she is communicating with those she needs to.
I encourage you to sit in the drivers seat of your life – take ownership of the direction your work and life takes – don’t simply be a passenger.
So…. How do you do that? Well, it’s different for everyone, but in general it begins with a plan.
I recommend something between 5-10 years (for me it was 8). And to my thinking it doesn’t matter whether it is a Big Hairy Audacious Career based goal or a Lifestyle goal, we all need something we are heading towards. We can then create the stepping-stones to ensure we stay on track, or just as importantly, don’t wake up one day and think – oh wow, how did I get here (when ‘here’ isn’t what you want)
Whatever it is you aspire - You want to create a motivating picture, chunk it down and then set about achieving it.
"Most people grossly overestimate what they can achieve in a year but underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years" - Jim Collins
In his book ‘Good to Great’, Jim Collins shares that "Most people grossly overestimate what they can achieve in a year but underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years". I think that is why 8 years worked for me. I thought too small when I looked at 5years but couldn’t imagine what might be at the 10 year mark.
“How long since you have done some personal and professional planning to ensure you have a clear direction in which to head? “
When working with clients I help them to work through the following three-step planning process.
Step 1: Set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal – for your career or life
For me – my BHAG was to be in my own practice helping people, teams and businesses be the best they can be.
Your Career plan. Graphic by Vicki Millen – Ulysses Professional Coaching
Step 2: Consider the key milestones that are along the way then map them to the best of your knowledge along the timeline.
For me – I broke it down into the chunks I needed along the way… some of it was formal education, experience, key roles that I felt would give me both knowledge, experience and credibility. I then plotted the milestones in an order that seemed practical, and estimated a timeline that seemed reasonable.
Step 3: Finally, we begin to break out the actions we need to take to progress to achieve each of the milestones.
Years 3-5 is a 'best guess' that will evolve and become clearer as time goes by; as we build our skills and learn more about our chosen path and the environment in which we are working. However we can be more clear on our annual goals and have even more control as we break it down into the next 90 days, at which point the 90 days beyond that is more able to be planned and achieved.
Of course, this plan isn’t set in stone – but it provides a great road map for us as we navigate our way through the years and can help us make decisions and prioritise actions along the way.
My advice as you begin your planning; consider who you need to speak to, to help you plan. It may be your partner, a mentor, or it may be a coach – remember it isn’t something that you have to do alone and in fact is much better with a network of support.
As always, if I can help, please do give me a call.
Keep well,
Vicki
My business is helping you with yours…
If you would like further information or to arrange some support in building this skill please don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to helping you build your success your way.
Yours in success,
Vicki
