Zooming Out – Big Picture Planning
I’ve spent a lot of my life living moment to moment. This can be amazing in some ways, but it’s caused me to miss a lot of important things as a result.
Over the last few years I’ve had to focus A LOT of my time learning to plan better. To be more intentional and prepared.
To see the bigger picture.
In Emerge, we call this “zooming out” and it’s a tool we teach because of its value to the rest of what we want to do.
This has changed my life.
Which is why I’m posting this now…TODAY…for 2024.
We know the scramble and frantic race of starting back up in January – of planning AND feeling behind at the same time. We end up playing defense instead of offense.
So instead of a Top 3 for December, I’m thinking ahead about my Top 3 for 2024.
I consider this a gift to my future self – and it can be a gift to yours, too.
These are things I want more of in my life next year – maybe these would change your life like they’ve changed mine.
COMMUNITY
We say this word a lot, but there’s something about community that feels different for me this year. I needed it and I leaned in this year like never before. It has created greater fulfillment, relationships, and impact in my life and work and I’m so grateful for it.
Community is at the center of both my personal plans AND our initiatives for Interleap in 2024.
Decide what this looks like for you next year. Whether it’s a leadership group like Emerge, or better intentionality around your personal network, name it now and decide when you’ll start. Community is one of the most powerful things we have and we’re wired for it. Find yours.
READING
I wasn’t a big reader early on. I was slow and thoughtful and I made up that not only was I not good, I didn’t even like it.
At some point in my 20s I started reading books that I actually found interesting and I changed my mind about the whole thing. From mindset to business to creativity, I’m so grateful for this shift in my life – it’s made me more passionate, curious, interesting, and interested.
My habit ebbs and flows and I still have a stack of books on my bedside table with far too many unread titles on my Audible wish list, but reading has changed my life.
Decide reading matters to you in 2024. Pick 3 books NOW that you want to read. Then steal Jesse Itzler’s 18-minute rule. I don’t know why I love this number, but it works. Challenge yourself to read for 18 minutes every day (set a timer). THIS one thing will change your life.
GROWTH PLAN
I honestly don’t like this term, but it is the most succinct way to say “design how you want to grow so you don’t not grow.”
Whether you’re running a business, a team, a group, a family or yourself, everyone needs a growth plan. And it doesn’t have to be complicated.
A growth plan simply articulates the outline of what you will do to get growth and expansion over a period of time. It gives you direction AND focus.
In James Clear’s book, “Atomic Habit”, there is a graphic that shows what happens when we choose, or don’t choose, growth.
If you decide in 2024 to do just 1% better each day, you yield a 37% gain in a year.
The inverse of this is doing nothing and basically staying at zero.
When people around us are choosing growth and we aren’t, they get better and we become in contrast – dare I say – irrelevant, uninteresting, less curious, and maybe even cynical.
No matter how good we are, we just don’t achieve what we want by default.
So, what if you started now?
Put a time on your calendar this month to consider who you want to foster time with, what you want to read and how you plan to grow in 2024. You’ll have given yourself the gift of intention, the proof that you making improvements, and you’ll be ready for a new kind of year.
Interleap was designed to help clients love their life and work.
EMAIL me at [email protected] and tell me how we can help you with yours.