Life moves on, but are you clear what’s important now?

Life moves on, but are you clear what’s important now?

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much!”  Jim Rohn

I was spending some time earlier in the week doing what gives me energy, (as a GC Index Strategist) thinking, planning and trying to create some clarity around the future, some intentionality to work towards.  I was looking back through previous strategic documents and found ‘Strategic Review Q1 2016, that might be an interesting document for reference.  The first slide hit me fairly and squarely in the face.

I cannot do justice to the visceral reaction I experienced looking at the pictures and reading the words.  I don’t actually remember the process of creating that slide over 8 years ago, but I do remember where I  was emotionally, physically and financially.  I was able to reconnect, just briefly, with the energy, the excitement, the certainty and confidence I felt and believed in.  Then I felt a wave of sadness, as I was brought up sharply with my current reality, thinking about how much had changed.  This feeling sat with me for a while, I am only human, and this sort of grief is natural I guess. 

Then I started to reflect more positively on what I was trying to do, recreate and reconnect with what is important now, in order to build a compelling view of my current priorities so I could start managing my time and effort more effectively again.  It has been hard over the last 5 years or so to look beyond ‘getting through’ the next 6 months; separation, Covid, divorce, moving 300 miles, and now Cancer, have all meant that I have felt on the back foot, needing to stay present and unable to change things I have little or no control over.

As a result, what I value and find important has changed.  I redid my Values Exercise and not surprisingly my top 5 had a bit of a change, with Adventure coming out and Resilience slotting in its place.  I hadn’t really thought about it until I did the exercise, sort of understandable, life seems to be one big adventure at the moment, uncertainty, challenge, the unknown the norm, so no need to climb mountains or travel to remote places. 

Using this reality to create a bit of ownership and intentionality lead to a very different first slide of my strategic review.

In 8 years, much has remained the same – love for my girls, a desire to learn and grow, and my need for freedom, options and possibilities.  But so much has changed too, until you look back, and take stock, you don’t really appreciate that, and as a result, maybe, there is a danger that we focus our time and effort on things that matter less. 

The quote from Jim Rohn at the start of this blog is one of my favourites, it is without a doubt a truism, but my experiences over the last few years make me want to make some additions.

• Having a plan, goals and intentions is all well and good – but circumstances change
• Mindlessly pursuing goals and intentions can lead to some stupid decisions (a previous blog on the topic)
• Regular reviewing, reflecting and course correcting is more important than the initial thinking
• We only have so much attention and what we turn that attention to is what gets done, make sure it matters
• Think carefully about the choices you make but make them, nonetheless.

“Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others’ choices make us.” – Richie Norton