Strategies can make a difference in winning or losing. Implementing strategic planning into my life gave me an entirely different approach with not only my future but in my daily routines. With the help of reading John Maxwell's book "How Successful People Grow" I was able to look at my life broken down into 8 separate categories;...
1.FAITH
2.HOBBY
3.HEALTH
4.FAMILY
5.CAREER
6.RELATIONSHIP
7.PERSONAL GROWTH
8.VACATION
I evaluated myself according to which categories I regularly planned throughout my years. What I ended up finding out was my top two was "Hobby" and vacations. Needless to say "Personal Growth" came in as last or N/A. I sat back and looked at the categories and the scores as "Faith", second to last, "health" and "family" near the bottom as well, some how it all seemed upside down. I thought to myself "wow would you just look at this?" And then at that moment it all hit me and made sense.. Curiously and anxiously I stopped the evaluation and continued to read in dire need to know how to change this..
I began to take notes beside each category on things I could add to my day or week in each category. Remembering my Grandmother always told me to include God in my life, I decided to start with "Faith" first. First things first I needed to attend my Church. So, I wrote that down and added meet with the Pastor. The Pastor guided me to the book of Proverbs and I began to read it that night and listened to it on the "Youversion" app during my commute back and forth to work. I also shared my evaluation with him showing how backwards I thought my planning was in the 8 categories. Needless to say there was no judgment out side of the judging I had already did on my own accord. The Pastor also asked how often I prayed and encouraged praying regularly throughout the day. Just those few things alone added to my week and days as I began to see a change in my routine. Obviously the Xbox gained a bit of dust as I was now fascinated with the reading of the book of Proverbs.
Next, I looked at "Family" which I'm pretty sure was ranked fourth in my strategic planning evaluation. Besides, who plans with the family, I thought we just live and go through the week right? Now home in my bedroom, quiet with the Ocean sounds playing on my phone, I started to add notes on how to improve in my household. I wrote call sister, mom, aunt and other members often. Check on them by stopping bye, asking did they need anything or was it anything I could do for them, did they want to talk about something? Tell them how my son was doing in school and how are their kids doing etc.. Dinner nights where instead of watching the happening game on TV, we could eat at the dinning room table more often. 1 on 1 intense talks with my teenager.
From "Family" I proceeded to my "relationship" the wife! Only thing most couples strategically plan out are trips and paying bills right? Let's see what could I add here.. Can't tell you everything! For starters though 15-20 date nights went on the notes under this category. Days that I would make dinner instead of her.. I could probably wash some clothes too, maybe. Simple things though to say the least if you're looking for somewhere to start.
I'm going to stop there and let you the reader reflect on your categories and see what you come up with.. How often are you strategically planning in your 8 categories?
By the way the "Personal Growth" that was ranked "not available" it now is ranked with "all of the above" as each category grows..
---FLOETSPEAR
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