If you’ve been tracking with me the last two weeks, I’ve talked about the classic “resolution trap” (February 20, 2013) and described what I think is a better way (February 27, 2013). Today I want to help make all this actionable by breaking it down into 4 practical steps:
- Sketch your life vision. While this can (and at some point should…) be an exhaustive process, you can take a “shortcut” by at least trying to think about what you want to be 3-5 years from now (this could/will be the subject of a whole new series of blog posts). At minimum capture a couple of bullet points that describe what that looks like both in your personal- and then in you professional- life (make sure there’s harmony between the two!). If you want to “get to bedrock” on this point right away, I would recommend Michael Hyatt’s “Life Plan” (free, if you subscribe to his blog www.michaelhyatt.com).
- Choose themes. Pick 3-5 themes that are most critical for you to make a big step forward towards your vision. Don’t worry if they can’t be done in one year (I would actually be surprised if they were – likely a sign you’re thinking “ too small”).
- Select “domino activities.” Apply those themes to every area of your life and think carefully about underlying causes and what activities are most able to cause a “domino effect” of success in other areas. Choose a maximum of one or two top “domino activities” for each theme. If you think of more, just keep them “safe” in a list so that you can use them later (you’ll need them), but don’t overwhelm yourself by taking on too many (remember the trap! – “less is more”).
- Review, re-focus, execute. Of all the steps, this is likely the one most under-valued but most critical. Set a schedule that makes you come back to the “life-changing themes” (weekly, or at least monthly) for motivation and to re-evaluate your progress. Are you seeing improvement? Have you fallen off the wagon and need to get back on (no problem – that’s normal & expected…just get back on!)? Is there another underlying area to address first? Are you still working on the right “domino activities”? Time to add another activity under a theme? Is there another theme that has emerged?
Remember, if you focus only on tasks & actions you’ll be busy, but likely grind yourself down and lose your way. If you keep your sites on vision and “life-changing themes” you’ll stay focused, flexible and motivated by working for a higher cause.
Discussion: Help to make it “come alive” by sharing one of your “life change themes” (some of you already did that in the last post – thank you!). Then, give one (or more) specific activity you’ve chosen this year that gets you closer to seeing that theme come to life.
Picture: 
Vinoth Chandar via Compfight
Hello Tate,
Great question! One of the examples I highlighted in my previous post was the “schedule vs. laundry” illustration. If the “life change theme” is really to have a more organized life, creating a weekly schedule that allocates time for my organization activities (including laundry) gets me much further towards my goal than just focussing on laundry alone (ex. since I know have allocated time for other areas in need of organization – bills, email, homework, cleaning, etc.).
Here are some other examples: creating a brand vision – before jumping into my next advertising campaign to counter a competitor, creating a budget – before making a specific financial decision, cleaning out my pantry & creating a weekly meal plan – instead of just cutting out desert, having my leadership team model/pilot a certain behavior first – before asking my people to do something.
To summarize, if I can tackle a “domino activity” that “holds the keys” to other related issues, I get a much greater “bang for the buck” than if I just focus on the symptom. Did that help? Do you have other examples that would help better illustrate the point? Thanks again for the great question!
Can you give an example of what domino activities might look like?