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

 

Audacious and achievable goals

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I recently read Pour Your Heart Into It, Howard Schultz' book about growing Starbucks into the success it is today.

At one point, he was talking about having audacious and achievable goals. That stuck in my head (not least because I jumped up and wrote it down on my whiteboard). I love the way that phrase balances two incredibly important pieces to getting the most you can out of life.

First, are you thinking big enough? And "big" in my mind doesn't mean are you aiming at building an empire. It means, are you really letting your reach extend to its fullest capacity?

Second, if you are thinking big, can you actually achieve it? And before you go ratcheting down your big thinking because you don't see an obvious way to make it happen, ask yourself if maybe the real issue is not that the dream is too big, but the vehicle that will get you there is too small.

What if you assumed that the dream was achievable? Your task then is not to figure out if it's possible, but how it's possible. What is the framework that needs to be in place? What are the variables you need to address? What steps do you need to take? What needs to happen first?

Make your dreams audacious, and then get to the nitty gritty nuts and bolts of bringing them down to earth.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst (sm)

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

New Week's resolutions

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I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions. I love using the new year as a time for reflection and for looking ahead, but as a tool for meaningful change, New Year's resolutions stink. 90 percent of them fall flat, leaving a trail of failure and self-frustration in their wake.

I think it's time for a different spin. Instead of a grand commitment to change that loses steam by the end of January, make a commitment to making 52 New Week's Resolutions over the coming year.

New Year's resolutions fail because they subscribe to the push-button theory of change. We want to push a button and have it all be different. The reality, of course, is that change that sticks seldom happens that way. It's a progressive, iterative process. It happens over time.

Focusing on a week by week version of change is much more in alignment with how it actually unfolds. It breaks change down into small, manageable chunks, giving you successive end goals that are well within sight. It builds on the success you've had, and allows you to quickly jump back on track when you wander off. And all of that increases the likelihood of a positive outcome.

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

77 goal setting tips

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Whew! December 1st. Can you believe it? As the year winds down, it's time to start thinking about where 2006 is going to take us. Here is a great site with 77 goal setting tips to get you started. They're arranged by:

• Goals setting basics
• Basics of goal setting II
• Goal Setting and Self appreciation or self acceptance
• Commitment and courage
• Intuition and hunches
• Creative tools for goal setting
• Resistance and procrastination
• Releasing attachment
• Persistence and patience

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Goal mapping templates

Check out these goal mapping templates to help you give your goal setting a visual twist.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst (sm)

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

Dream. Commit. Do.

Sometimes the hardest part of achieving our dreams is just getting off our butts and doing it. Lisa Haneberg at 2weeks2aBreakthrough offers some great advice for that. She uses the example of writing a book, but it's applicable with anything you want to achieve.

Ask several friends to review a chapter that you have not even started, or are just messing with. Give them a date that you will have the chapter complete and to them. Make the date a challenge, but doable if you focus. Once you have committed and put the structure in place for your wee miracle to occur, you can make it happen.

Personally, this method is one of my most tried and true. I respond very well to deadlines, especially if I have committed to them in a way that involves others. Promising ourselves is often not adequate -  we need to let other people know what we declare.

This practice combines all three elements of my daily practice: telling people about our goals, taking action, and making requests.

Of course, once you commit, then you actually have to do it (he says, as he points a finger at his procrastinating self). Yikes! ;-)

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst (sm)

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

Set sail for the impossible

The secret of life is to have a task, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is: It must be something you cannot possibly do.

~ Henry Moore

I posted a while ago on the Worthwhile blog about putting your favorite quote to work. When I ran across this quote on Jennifer Warwick's blog, it got me thinking how it applies to where we go in our careers, and our lives in general.

I think most of us have a tendency to take the coastal sailing approach to dreams. It's hard for us to believe that there really is land across the water, so we stick to the coastlines, only letting ourselves dream as far as we can "realistically" see. When our dreams start to drift out past our immediate line of sight, we start telling ourselves how wildly unrealistic, improbable, and impractical that is.

What we don't take into account is what I call The Horizon Effect. What we can see changes as we move forward. What was out of sight and unlikely yesterday becomes distantly possible today, and solidly achievable tomorrow.

By sticking to the coastline, we limit what the future can become.

So here's a question to ponder as you put this quote to work. Where are you sticking to the coastline in your own life? What would your dreams look like if you set your sights on the impossible?

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst (sm)

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

Achieving your goals, marathon style

Over on her 2Weeks2aBreakthrough blog, Lisa Haneberg draws a parallel between achieving our goals and training for a marathon. She quotes some marathon training advice and then says...

Try applying these techniques to any goal. Here’s how they might look:

• Increase your level and intensity of actions.
• Vary your level of activity and focus, ensuring to commit more time to your goal at least two times per week.
• Pick up the pace and excitement at least one day per week - go on a positive goal crushing rampage!
• Try to do something that supports your goal six days per week.
• Don’t exhaust yourself by doing too much every day - mix it up a bit.

One additional similarity is the fact that it's a long-term thing. You don't wake up and decide you're going to run a marathon the next day. It takes time, commitment, effort and persistence. And odds are good it's going to take the same thing to make your big goals a reality.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst (sm)

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

Intentions vs. goals

It's generally accepted that goal-setting helps you achieve more. But according to this article, goal-setting is only part of the picture. The real key is having a clear intention.

A clear intention puts Universal Creativity into motion. Your intentions speak to the quality of life you desire when you reach your goal. Think of it as the "goal of the goal," or the core benefits received from accomplishing the goal. "Intention" is defined as focused thought, feeling, and action in a specified direction. Intention is the "creative energy" that bridges the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Intentions transcend the achievement of a specific goal. They don't have ending points.

I like that idea of keeping "the goal of the goal" at the heart of your efforts It provides continuity, focus, and keeps you from getting so wrapped up in the goal that you forget what the journey's all about in the first place.

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Curt Rosengren

Passion Catalyst  ^SM

Career passion e-books

Making New Year's promises you can keep

OK, so I'm a little slow on the uptake on this one, but I just read David Batstone's post on the Worthwhile blog on making New Year's promises you can keep and it has some great insights to share.

His tips are:

1) Only make a promise to yourself or others once you can design a plan how it will be achieved.

"It is tempting to address the ideal that we want to become and overlook the practicalities of getting there. Before making a promise map out a realistic plan how you will reach your goal."

2) On the way up the stairwell, don’t ignore the steps.

"...set for yourself achievable victories. Break down your “resolution” to a series of steps, each of which will move you progressively toward your ultimate goal."

3) When we stumble, it only moves us forward more quickly (African proverb).

"Turn your mistakes into opportunities for invention."

4) Don’t turn your companions on the journey into obstacles...or the destination.

"There is only one person you can hold accountable for your promises: YOU. Take ownership of your decisions."

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst  ^SM

Career passion e-books