One of my great hopes as your City Council (At Large) rep is to encourage my fellow residents to achieve your own goals, and especially to gain the knowledge, skills, vision and confidence needed to make a difference here in our community!
What's Personal Strategic Planning?
It's New Year's Eve...the day I set aside for updating my four-year Personal Strategic Plan, available at at https://tinyurl.com/robgreen1619. I've been doing this kind of planning since 2000, and it's been a great way to stay focused and motivated. If you're so inclined, feel free to peruse my Personal Strategic Plan and see if any of my objectives align with yours -- if so, let's collaborate!
I'm halfway through this four year strategic planning cycle (from the start 2016 to the end of 2019). I don't change my goals, objectives or strategies during this timeframe, but all the future actions (the italized parts) are totally open to change, based on time, interest and funds available. So, "Stability in Planning, Flexibility in Execution". I celebrate when I complete an action (sometimes with a special dinner out!) and evaluate to see whether that action really helped me to promote a certain strategy. If it does, I do something similar in the future. If it doesn't, I try something else. :)
Are you struggling with direction?
I've been there! 1998-1999 were super hard years for me, right out of college. I felt directionless and fell into depression. It was those months of 'going through the motions' that got me into personal strategic planning ... it helped me define, in manageable pieces, who I wanted to "be"-- not just want I wanted to "do".
Just Say No!
This kind of deliberative planning allows me to decline to get involved in things, guilt-free, because I know I'm already working on other valuable things that tie in with my personal mission. That's one of the reasons I left the Coast Guard Auxiliary this year -- it's a great service, and I have a lot of experience with it, but it just doesn't connect with my desire for impacting my local community.
Summary...
I hope this little blogpost encourages you in your own thinking about who you want to become -- thanks for reading all the way through! And if you have your own strategic plan built out already, I'd love to see it if you're willing to share. Perhaps I can help you to reach your goals, or connect you to others who can!