The Occupational Adventure (tm)

What's your 120 day plan?

On the radio the other day, the Seattle public schools superintendent - in her first day on the job - mentioned her 120 day plan. I often hear people who have just taken office talk about their__ day plan, a way to hit the ground running and get traction right out of the gate.

That got me thinking...what if we used that idea in whatever we're trying to create in our lives? What if we looked at today as Day 1, and created goals and specific action steps in place for the next 120 days.

What I love about the idea is that it's got a long enough time scope to actually make some substantial progress, but short enough that it has some sense of urgency.

What would you focus your 120 plan on? What steps would you take?

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

If it takes less than a minute...

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You know how every once in a while someone says something that just sticks in your head? Well Alex Fayle planted something in my head the other day in a comment on my post about doubling up your to-do lists. And it was an oh-so-simple suggestion: "If it takes less than a minute, do it." 

I wish I could say I was Mr. Organization. Well, I suppose I could say it, but it would be a big fat lie. My life is - and has been since my earliest childhood memories - a nonstop battle against entropy. I like orderliness, I really do. It just doesn't always seem to follow me around.

Alex' suggestion, on the other hand, does keep following around. Again and again as my attention starts to move into where I'm going before I'm done with where I am, I hear it. "If it takes less than a minute..."

OK! OK! I'll open the mail and sort it into recycle, shred, and keep. I'll put the groceries away immediately. I'll dash off that quick e-mail reply so it's not cluttering up my inbox (still working on that one).

It's not a magic solution to all of my entropic tendencies, but it really has been working its magic in a small way. Not just because these little things aren't piling up, but because it's keeping it all top of mind for me. And that's where change begins.

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Double up your to-do list

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Over on Change Bit By Bit, Tana Pesso talks about the over-worked stress so many people that gets in the way of either productivity or enjoying life, or both.

She suggests beginning your day with a realistic to-do list and (here's the kicker) actually sticking with it.

That got me thinking about my own experience with to-do lists. On the one hand, they're an invaluable tool to help me keep moving forward and making things happen. On the other hand, the items on my to-do lists have this tendency to breed like bunnies.

I keep my daily to-do list up on a whiteboard. Every once in a while the list gets so out of control I end up just taking an eraser to the whole thing, on the theory that if it's really important, it will find it's way back to a new list. Probably not the best approach, but it seems to work for me. ;-)

I like Tana's focus on sticking with a realistic, doable to-do list each day. Ticking off the items on your list until every last thing is done feels good. It feels like you're in control of your journey, rather than chasing after a runaway train.

Of course, just because you're committing to a realistic to-do list doesn't mean that more to-do's won't pop up as the day progresses. Rather than adding them to today's to-do list, how about taking a dual list approach? A to-do-today list and a to-do-eventually list.

Each morning your could look at your to-do-eventually list and say, "OK, what here do I want to do today?" (And remember - keep it realistic!)

If something new pops up that you absolutely have to take care of today, think of your to-do-today list as a glass full to the rim with water. You can pour more in, but some of the existing contents is going to spill out. When you add more to your to-do-today list, follow it with the question, "Now what do I reassign to the to-do-eventually list."

In the end, it's about making sure that your to-do lists serve you well, rather than letting them control your life.

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Postcard kids - my new role models

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I've decided I have a new role model. Well, a whole bunch of new role models, actually.

If you've ever traveled someplace where extreme poverty and tourism overlap, you've experienced the persistence of roving vendors trying to sell you something. One of the most common in Cambodia was little kids trying to sell you packets of postcards.

They're incredibly persistent, these postcard kids. Some of the people they approach as they walk past flat out ignore them. Others smile and say no thanks, being sure not to break their stride or engage the kids further in conversation. Only a fraction actually stop and buy their postcards.

Despite what amounts to nonstop rejection, the kids keep at it, often approaching the same people who recently rejected them, always looking for that gap in the armor where they could wriggle in and make their sale. Looking back, it was really amazing to watch.

And then I start thinking, "If I showed an equal amount of persistence and tenacity, given the resources and opportunity I have available to me, what could I be doing? What could I be making happen?"

It's clear to me that these little kids have me beat hands down when it comes to moving and shaking to makes things happen. That in turn has me thinking, "What would it look like if I showed an equal amount of drive and persistence? What would I be doing? What actions would I be taking? Where am I giving up too easily?"

If I can take what I saw with the postcard kids and apply it to my own journey, I have no doubt it will have an amazing impact.

What about you? If you were to live up to the example of the postcard kids, what would you be doing? What would you try that you haven't yet? Who would you contact? What attempts would you make? What would you try again?

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Building habits to feed your dreams

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It's funny what an impact our habits have on our lives. Sometimes they're great habits that help us get maximum traction on turning our dreams into reality. Other times they just drag us down and get in our way.

A couple years ago I interviewed Juliet Draper and Pam Jones. Juliet is an incredible athlete who had recently won the World Firefighter Combat Challenge. As the conversation turned to the challenge of making a positive change in life, Juliet compared it to creating a healthier lifestyle.

"I don't want to tell people, don't drink sodas, don't smoke, don't eat junk food," Juliet said. "What I tell them is add a glass of water a day. Walk for thirty minutes a day. Add a piece of fruit. And as a result, you're adding all these positive things, and all of the negative things will just naturally fall by the wayside because you don't have room for them any more."

What if you committed to developing one new positive habit that feeds your dreams each month? What kind of difference would that make over the course of a year? I'm willing to guess it would be huge.

A couple weeks ago I started developing a new habit of my own. I've been going for a vigorous hour-long walk two or three mornings a week. While I walk, I listen to one of Michael Port's Think Big Revolution podcasts.

The walk is great for me physically, and the Think Big Revolution podcasts never fail to motivate and inspire me to think big thoughts about where my Passion Catalyst business is going (and act on them!). I've actually started taking a small notebook with me so I can scribble down insights and ideas as they come up. I always come back raring to make amazing things happen.

What habit can you start building to feed your dreams?

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Segment your to-do list

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One of my ongoing challenges is a tendency to get over-focused on one thing and let other important pieces of the puzzle slide. This week I started doing something to help keep me on track on multiple fronts.

It's pretty simple, really. I'm segmenting my to-do list so it consists of several columns, rather than one big laundry list. Each column is an area that I need to focus on. If I commit to getting something done in each column every day, by default I keep all the balls I need to juggle in the air.

How could you apply that idea to pursuing your passion? What columns would you have in your to-do list? What balls do you have in the air that you need to make sure you don't drop? Where do you need to maintain momentum?

Those columns will be different for everybody, of course, and will vary over time for any given individual. As an example, right now for me those columns are:

Structure:  I need to develop the structure and systems to take what I'm doing to the next level. The to-do items in this column incorporate that development into my daily habit.

Product: I want to expand my product offering (books, audiobooks, an interactive Occupational Adventure Guide course, etc.). With this column, I get consistent daily traction on that.

Promotion: Of course, I need to make sure that I do something each day that keeps the marketing and promotion momentum going.

Connection: This column ensures that I reach out and make at least one interesting, stimulating, non-client connection each day so I don't isolate and stagnate.

Maintenance: The items in this column are just the mundane things that I need to get done that I inevitably procrastinate.

As I'm using it, this idea is limited to a handful of areas that I want to make daily progress on. But the idea could be applied just as easily to a more complex to-do list that includes things I want to be sure to do on a weekly basis, or a monthly basis. It could incorporate both work and non-work elements (family, hobbies and leisure activities, health, etc.).

Any spreadsheet junkies out there want to come up with a template? ;-)

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM