Relaunch Your Career With Personal Strategy Planning

What you do over the next 90 days at work could become a cornerstone in your career or, at the very least, could help you position this as the year you finally accomplished that important goal or project you haven’t been able to get to.

Each of us knows that our career success is enhanced by strategic accomplishments that rise above daily operations. Yet sometimes we get bogged down, lose focus, or become distracted by less important tasks.

Typical Challenges

When you ask people why they can’t seem to get things moving they respond with statements like:

• “There isn’t enough time to do great work on something important like this.”
• “I can’t be creative under pressure, and I’m under a lot of pressure all the time.”
• “I’m struggling with how to start this project.”
• “I don’t want to do this the same way we have always done it, but I don’t know any other way to do it.”
• “I’ve procrastinated and gotten away with that so far, but feel the weight of this on my shoulders.”

What You Need

If you find yourself in a similar situation, you need new inspiration and a course correction to move forward on what is most important – NOW. But how do you approach this when nothing has worked so far? How do you avoid the overwhelm and shutdown that keep you from the journey?

An Approach to Personal Strategy Planning

Focus Your Time

By focusing on what you can do over the next 90 days you have already taken a big step toward your success! It helps you to stop procrastinating and move into action by planning for success.

Develop a Vision

Too often a nebulous notion of what you need to accomplish leads to muddy waters along the way. Get clear and specific about how your success will look.

Understand and Neutralize Obstacles

Obstacles come in all shapes and sizes. Some are in our heads, and some are in our business environments. The worst thing you can do is ignore them. Instead, write them down. Figure out how to avoid or mitigate the ones you can, and enlist the help of others for the ones you can’t tackle alone.

Create an Action Path

Figure out the actions that you and/or others must take over the next 90 days to make your vision a reality. Sequence the actions so that each builds on the previous. For each action or task, get specific around What, When, Who, and How.

Build Your Team

Few important things can be done alone in business. Identify the people you need on your team, even those with bit parts. Make sure they are clear about what you need from them, and find ways to motivate them. Whether you have a big budget or not, strive to increase the personal connection, trust, commitment, and owned responsibility that each team member has to the work of this important initiative.

Communicate for Success

Communicate your understanding, vision, plan, and requests to others in the organization who have a stake in the success of your work. They will likely appreciate your initiative and reward it with support along the way.

Conclusion

If you are asking yourself, “How will I find the time to do all of this?” see our Skills Corner for ideas on how to free up time to do the important things.

Remember that the most important endeavors will not come without their challenges along the way. Deal with them as they present themselves, and stay the course. You may be amazed at what you can accomplish in the Next 90 Days! Please contact us if we can be of help to you.

Skills Corner: Tips for Working Smart

How to Free Up Time for Important Initiatives

You may have heard these before, but here are some time tested tips for freeing up the time you need to get that important thing done:

Make a List Each Day

By making a to-do list you not only keep track of what you need to get done, you also prioritize your work and focus on what is most important.

Eliminate Time Wasters

Don’t automatically say yes to all requests for your time or temptations to do things because you like them or find them easy. Evaluate them against your priorities and say “No” when appropriate.

Schedule Time

Block out time each day to work on your initiative. Don’t let your day fill up with other things at the expense of your initiative.

Avoid Interruptions

While multitasking is necessary at times, it can be inefficient and error prone. It will not serve you in the long run to be available to every phone call, email, text, Tweet, or head in your door all of the time. Give yourself periods when you turn off or ignore these interruptions to focus on important tasks.

Delegate or Hand Off

If you have direct reports delegate work that you don’t have to do yourself. If you don’t, try to hand off lower value work to others who are capable and interested in doing it.

Sit Up and Breathe

Studies have shown that when we maintain good posture and breathing patterns we have more energy and work more efficiently. Don’t underestimate the power of breath.

If you or your team would like some help turning the next 90 days into a centerpiece for this year, visit our Coaching services. Or, contact us to discuss your specific needs for relaunching your career.