The real problem with Planning

 "We operate in a world of infinite possibilities and no plan that we put together can ever anticipate and prepare for every possibility." 

I’m going to come straight out with it:

There’s nothing wrong with the Plan, any Plan for that matter.  The source of any problem is the Planner, that person or persons inside your head that is/are likely to do one or more of the following:

Get, Give, Go

or Entertain (or empathize), Inform, Inspire.

"Having got their attention, how do you keep it?"

If you expect someone to read something you've written, you'd better make it worth their time.

And if it's something that you'd like them to act on after reading, then you'd better make extra sure that it's nothing short of entertaining, informative and inspiring.

So, how do you do that?

GET, GIVE and GO.

Say what???

GET their ATTENTION
GIVE them INFORMATION
GO with them to a place you know they'd WANT TO

Those of us who understand marketing, understand that before you can do anything else with a potential customer, you must get their attention.

Sometimes you just grab it with an arrestingly beautiful or funny or bizarre line or image or sound.  That's when you virtually haul them out of their current mind-space and drop them, stunned mullet like into yours.

But there are times when a more subtle and seductive approach is needed. 

Reach far, step close

"Whether it's in your business, personal relationships, finances or health, living hard is neither adding to your joy nor the joy of the universe"

It’s taken me a while (a few decades, actually) to begin to believe and truly appreciate that life is vast.  Limitless, to be exact. 

So you think you’ve heard that before?  Really?  Funny, I did too.  Truth is, I wasn’t really listening. And I certainly wasn’t getting it.

You see, what I’m beginning to understand now is this:

If life is vast (or limitless, but let’s give it some boundary for now), then staying close to where you mentally are i.e. not reaching far, is hardly living.  You could say it’s living hard.

Let me explain what I mean by ‘living hard’ with my checklist.  Let’s see how many of the following you say yes to:

LIVING HARD (NOT!) CHECKLIST

• I visualize frequently –  several times a day
• I don’t try to manipulate the variables (as I see them) in a situation in order to change it.  Instead, I focus on the outcome that I most desire and work from that as my starting point.
• I don’t accept anything as ‘given’