Looking beyond the day-to-day
Hi,
The future’s always uncertain. But too much uncertainty can keep us from even thinking about the future, much less making plans for it.
Give yourself the fresh perspective and sense of purpose that future plans can bring. They help spotlight what is possible. I’m a fan of gently pushing the horizon further and further:
You can start with a good look at how you fill your day. Got a handle on your days? Then take a look at your week
Have you brought direction to your week? Think about a time span of this month
Does making a plan for your month give you some breathing room? Then shift your focus to your quarter. (Here’s my template for that.)
Does making a quarterly plan help you out? Consider sketching the contours of your year
Are you excited about your YearPlan? Take a moment to write down where you hope to be five years from now
You can also work backwards, of course. Maybe you have a five-year goal and want to ground it in the day-to-day.
The farther you look down the road, the more ambitious yet fluid the plan—that stirs things up. You do have to get used to the idea that things will be different by then, but the ideas you come up with today will help you spot when you need to deviate from your plan.
Shifting your gaze from the day-to-day to the distant horizon brings instant relief. Plus some much-needed room to breathe. It also sets you apart from most people, who are busy chasing short-term successes.
Once you realize it doesn’t all have to happen today or RIGHT NOW, you can start to make choices that may at first glance seem a little crazy. Like this man in Turkey who’s managed to plant more than 30,000 trees over the years. He’s now a local hero, but when he started, people thought he was nuts.
I was thinking of writing today about laying a solid foundation for the long run. Then I realized: we’re laying that foundation regardless. What you do today has an effect down the road. The question is whether it helps your future self or works against you.
In short: every action we take lays a stone in what will form our foundation for decades to come. That’s true for you personally: What skills are you investing in? And what relationships? And it’s most certainly true for the collective: How can we invest in public services, in our towns and cities, our country, and the world, so that things will be looking up considerably 20, 30, or 40 years from now?
There’s no easy answer. But more than enough food for thought.
Enjoy your week,
Rick
produced by the language girl