A Focused Life
How often have you really sat back and took a good look at your life and wondered if you have achieved what you set out to do many years ago? Do you remember what your intentions, goals or dreams were 20 or more years ago? What did you believe your “life’s purpose” to be back then? Is that purpose still what gets you going every day? Has it changed any?
Reflecting back on your past can be a great method to help re-align your future plans. Looking back and weighing the pluses and minuses of your life, as you remember them, will help you understand more about yourself and allow you to use some of your wisdom to make better decisions about your future.
There are many types of people that approach this reflection differently and if two people had the exact same experiences with their past, my guess would be that each would reflect and remember it in different ways. Each would draw different conclusions on what was a plus and what was a minus. Each would be correct, from their perspective, but still have only one point of view, theirs. A singular point of view is not what you may want when planning your future, is it? This singular point of view, because of its singularity, may tend to blind you from other options that are in front of you and because of this singular thinking pattern, you may not see or acknowledge potential options. This is not to say that after all options have been uncovered, researched and weighed, and a plan for the future is determined and put in place, that this action plan cannot become a focus and somewhat a singular point of view. In fact, this is how big goals are achieved.
The real trick here is to combine the exploration of options, which may tend to go all over the place and consolidate them into a focused plan for your future, a somewhat singular point of view. But also as you work this plan to achieve your goal, you keep in mind to occasionally do a broad sweep outside of your area of focus and be aware of other potential opportunities. Tunnel vision in life or business is not a characteristic successful people have. Successful people are also not all over the place exploring the many options that can exist in life and prove to be large distractions. A combination of both is really the best solution.
Working with another individual to play the counter role opposite your own role can benefit you and increase the probability of your plans future success. If you do well at exploring options, find a partner, mentor or coach to help bring the singular point of view into an actionable plan and then execute it. If you find that you do well at a singular point of view, then find a partner that excels at uncovering options and weed through them together and develop your future plan, and then again, execute it.
When developing any type of plan for your life, make sure your plan includes the exploration of six main areas: Spiritual, Relationships, Financial, Philanthropy, Career and Leisure. Too much time spent on any one of these can make you extremely out of balance and have a disastrous impact on your life. Set out to create a singular focused action plan for each of the six life categories mentioned above, but use a broad sweeping method to explore and gather what you want from life first, then summarize each, develop your plan and put it into action. Remember to use your partner, mentor or coach to balance your thinking and your efforts. They should provide insight outside of your normal thinking pattern and may get you through difficult times which we all face in life, whether we plan for it or not.
Good luck and enjoy your life, it’s the one God made for you!
Gary J Kiecker