While most publications are creating and publishing their year in review, I propose you conduct a year in preview. This is a variation on the annual planning session I encourage (and conduct  myself) to get me ready for the New Year.

Consider those big areas in your life: faith, family, finance, physical, friends, career, education, what else? The categories may differ but you get the idea. What do you want to accomplish in those areas? Last year for me one of the big ones was the new book. Check! I didn’t do as well on the weight loss thing….even tougher right now but I know the importance of that and will work at it.

Simply stated, it is important to plan. While some people make overly intricate plans that have no hope of being fully realized, others do no planning and accomplish little. The idea behind the year in preview is to write down some things you want to do. No need to get crazy detailed, unless you want to, but do give some thought to next year.

On Wednesday of this week I will meet with two of my professional speaker buddies. We will outline our goals for the year and then hold each other accountable for them during 2012. (or until the end of times as noted by the Mayans in late 2012)

Sun Tzu said “first establish your plans, then prepare your equipment. This is why the chapter on battle follows the chapter on strategic assessments.”

My colleague George Berg, one of the smartest guys I know – especially when it comes to construction productivity – sent me this quote a while back. We are not sure of the initial source but enjoy..

“…the beauty of not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by any period of anxiety.”

I must add that “the beauty of planning is success does not come as a surprise and the anxiety of failure is lessened.”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.