Time to Plan

The year is about to open its next season, one of growth and rebirth, and this is the time of year when we too should have our plans in place ready for their launch. Winter still has its hold and we can have cold snaps at any moment, nipping at the buds of promise, but there should be plans and alternatives in place so we can succeed in whatever it is we have decided we are going to achieve for ourselves this year.

The analogy between the natural seasons and achieving something is so strong we would be wise to take note of it.

A tree, for example, will have a finite number of buds to produce each year. If they unfurl too early then the frosts will nip at them and they will be damaged, but if the tree waits until it is too late then the flowering will miss the time when the insects it requires are looking for the nectar, they are already visiting other trees and plants, so the competition is high. The tree, therefore has to time

its launch so it takes as few chances as possible with the weather and greatest opportunities with its insects.

Our plans are the same; we plan and organise, but if we go too soon we are nipped back by circumstance and many of our options are used up. If we leave it too late then there is so much competition for our time, we have little to give our new idea. If we are launching a business, we have to have everything right so we can launch into our market place and attract the customers we want, attract the insects to the nectar we are selling. If we go to early we may be ahead of the insects, too late and they could already be elsewhere. We have a window of opportunity and if we dither we could well miss it only to regret it later.

Here are a series of questions to ask yourself in your final planning for the year ahead and a technique which will support your achieving of them;

The Lily Pad Technique

Very often we set ourselves goals we want to achieve but we forget to give ourselves a path of achievement. Its like saying I want to go to the Caribbean this year but saved no money to pay for the flight, or to say, I am going to take my driving test and not invest in any lessons. The lily pad technique is designed to do just that. It creates a series of lily pads to get you from where you are now to the other side of the bank, where you want to be,

1. What do you want to achieve this year?

2. List 5 of them in order of priority

3. Work out what it is you have to do to achieve each of these five as a series of steps and then check the probability of completing them is there. (don’t set yourself up to not do something)

4. Add dates to these so you can see when you are expecting to get things done.

5. Create a series of lily pads for yourself from the steps you have written down and use it as a way to show your progress.

As you jump from one lily pad to the next, reward yourself

1. with something like a quiet night in with a film and a bottle of wine, or go out for a meal. I like to have a treat on the back of each lily pad so when I get there I have the excitement of turning it over and seeing what it was I promised myself.

2. Adjust the lily pads if you discover you need an extra step.

I have used this technique with adults and children and it works well in both situations. One lady decided she would put lily pads on pieces of paper around the wall of her office room at home so she could see the progress she was making with writing a thesis for her course, and what it was she had to achieve next. A gentleman took his with him in his diary so he could check where he was on the move from one side, setting up the deal to the next, to getting the meeting to clinch the deal.

All the people I have done this with have said the same thing; once they knew how to jump across from now to then, they were able to go forward. Their biggest problem was not setting the goal but getting across that deep, deep river in between, where anything could sweep them away from their path.

As one person said, “At least this way I keep my feet dry!”

What a lovely way of putting it.

Here’s an example one person set themselves;

I am going to complete the written work for my course by a deadline of July;

Pad 1: check all the information I require is on my data base.

Pad 2: read through the course work requirements and ensure I understand exactly what I have to do.

Pad 3: Contact college and clear up any last minute questions.

Pad 4: create a timetable I WILL STICK TO, to start the project work—apportion time appropriately

Complete pads 1-4 by 25 Jan

Pad 5: Begin the timetable and follow it!!!

Pad 6: review the progress— 2nd week in March—adjust accordingly

Pad 7: review the progress— end of June—adjust accordingly

Pad 8: complete and do final edits. Hand in July 18th

Did she do it? Yes and she passed and did so easily, once she was in the flow of following her plan.