The People Builder

Do you get done what you need to get done every day in an environment that's conducive to getting a lot done or is everything everywhere and it holds you back? Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to continue our conversation around productivity by talking to you about the second thing that we can control and that's our environment.

Your environment has a great deal to do with your output. If we've continually got distractions going on, if we've got nothing in place, if we lack discipline in the boundaries that we set around getting stuff done, then we're obviously not going to be as productive as we could. So, the first place that I believe we need to work on is the environment of our mind. The brain is a powerful tool. It keeps us alive. It creates a system whereby we can get stuff done. However, it's not an infinite resource. We need to look after our brain. We need to protect our brain. We need to feed our brain with the right things that are going to enable it to do its best job. We can have the best performance car in the world, but if we put a low-grade fuel in it, if we drive around with several things, towing along behind it, if we put it in the wrong gear at the wrong time or we labour it by not coming back a gear to go up a hill or whatever, the fact that it's a high-performance car goes out the window, it can only give what it gives in the best environment.

It's the same thing with the fuel that we put in it. If it's a high-performance car, it needs a high performance fuel, so these things are exactly the same for us and our brain. If we're carrying stuff around that we don't need to carry, if there's extra weight in our mind, if we are doing more than what we should be doing in that one moment of time, if we're dehydrating it for not putting in the good fuel, then it's going to create an environment that leads to overwhelm when overwhelm is the curse of productivity. Because what it says is that, "Alright, I might as well get nothing done" or, "I'll go and do this comfort activity or whatever because I just can't see that I'm going to get all this stuff done." Last week, I talked about getting rid of the to do list. That's old school teaching from years ago and whilst having a to do list, having things written down is better than having nothing, it can actually create that overwhelm because it's a list that says, "Oh my Lord, I need to get all these things done today." So, we set ourselves up with an environment of overwhelm.

The second place that we need to check in on our environment is our physical environment. What do we have that is consuming our bandwidth? What do we have that's getting our attention? What do we have that buzzes and beeps and pops up on our screen or whatever it is? Who do we allow to just walk into our office? All those things create brain switching where it means that we could be focused, which by the way is the best environment for productivity. We could be focused on something and then distracted and now we've got to come back and refocus and that doesn't happen instantaneously. So, we're not able to manage time. We talked about the fact we can manage our priorities and the next thing is we said is that we need to work on our environment. So, let me walk you through a few things that I do. By the way, I don't do them perfectly because I'm a human. There are times when I need to remind myself as I'm doing this for you, that my environment is not conducive to maximum productivity.

So for me, making sure that my workplace is uncluttered. You see people that will say that an untidy desk is the sign of genius. Well, I don't know whether that's true or not, but what I do know is if my desk is untidy and has different things all over it that can get in my field of view, then it's going to create an environment where I'm thinking about when I'm going to get that done. When I work with my clients one on one or in small groups, the first thing I helped them to do around this area is to get themselves a boss, get themselves someone who helps them and drip feeds what they need to get done to them during the day, during the week, during the month, whatever it is. So instead of having like I see all the time, piles upon piles of the next lot of work that I'm going to get through, one piece of work, focus, get it done, give that piece of work on, get a new piece of work, get it done.

So, productivity is a process. So, setting up a process of how we get it done is obviously the best thing that we can do. So, get rid of the clutter, get a system just as we chunk our calendar so that we know what priority we're working on, we need to chunk our environment and have it so that everything's easily accessible when we need it and out of the way when it's not. I remember years ago in my military career, I was a trainer in the military and we used to get assessed to make sure that our level of training was up where it needed to be and that's a good thing. And I remember something that I learned way back then is exactly what I'm talking about now.

If we were, for example, using a whiteboard or back then a blackboard or we were using an overhead projector and some of you might not even know what that is. We needed to write what we want on the board, speak about it, use it, and then get rid of it. And if we didn't do that, we would get marked down because it was distracting. Because whilst we were talking about the next point or whatever it was, people were still focused on that. And that's exactly what we're doing in our environment. And the third area that we need to manage in our environment is our availability. We need to set boundaries around who, how, and when people can come into our space, capable people can encroach on our environment. A lot of times I see companies that have, we've got an open door policy and that's great in its core reasoning, but it's outworking is a major nightmare for effective productivity. "You can come into my door anytime you like, I'm available." Yeah, that's great. That's not what your people need. What your people need is certainty that they're going to be able to get their answers. So instead of being reactive, what I like to do with my team and I teach my clients to do the same, is to be proactive in setting up when and how my team can get me.

So for example, instead of someone just coming to the door and going, "Hey, you've got a second?" and me going, "Yes, fine, come on in and then sit down", which is, by the way, mistake number one. Then what I can do is let my team know that, "Hey, right now my door's closed and that means I'm focused on something." And then later on when my door's open, I've got that as a proactive schedule time that people know they can come and get their answers. So instead of every time they need an answer coming to me, they wait until that space and then they come and get all their answers. Because here's the thing, just like you, your people want to get the answer, get that fixed and move on. Here's the challenge. If as the leader, you are the only one that doesn't have that luxury, then you're not able to lead effectively.

So, what have we talked about today? We've talked about your environment. It's not about time management, it's about priority management. And as we now know, it's about environment management. We talked about the three areas of environment management that I've found work really well. One is to control and manage the environment of our mind. The second is our physical environment, and the third is the environment of availability. Put those three things together, start changing how you do things, and I guarantee you'll get more done in your day. Well, that's it for me for another week. Join me again next week when we talk about the third element in productivity that we can manage and that's our energy. I'll see you then.

Do you continually get the things done that you want to get done or do you feel like you're always operating out of what other people want you to do?

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to have a conversation with you around your priorities.

So, last week we kicked off this conversation by talking about the fact that there's no such thing as time management. We're not able to manage time, there's 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. And that's not up to me or to you to change. What we can change though are three key elements and that is our priority management, our environment management, and our energy management. So this week, I want to go a little bit deeper and talk about priority management.

So if I was to drop in right now and have a conversation with you and look at your calendar, would I have a clear picture and understanding of what your priorities are? A number of weeks ago when we were talking about setting boundaries around our priorities and what was most important to us and what our values were, we looked at the fact that what we invest our time in as well as our money and other things is a clear indicator of what's really important to us. And the reason why in productivity we need to get this priority thing right is that when we are working outside our priorities, not only aren't we going to be getting enough done, we're going to feel like an impostor. We're going to feel inauthentic, incongruent because we're not actually giving focus to those things that we say and we truly believe are most important to us.

So, what I want to do is just give you a few tips, a few hacks, a few things that I've learned to do from great mentors over the years that I've implemented in my own life to help me to get back and stay on track.

One of the things that I love to do is in my calendar, by the way, I now live by a calendar. If you don't, then it'd be a great place to start, a place to actually do a time and space exercise and work out where you are investing your time. A lot of people say, "I don't have enough time." Yes you do. It's just getting on top of and being in control of, being the orchestrator of where we use that time. In my calendar, one of the things that I've learned to do, and I love to do is to colour code. So if you will look in my calendar right now, you would see that there will be various colours in there. And those colours are royal blue. Anything to do with my family there. They're a green. Anything to do with my health and vitality. They're a blue, the same as my logo. If it's to do with what I'm doing right now, working in my Grant Herbert business. Orange, if I'm working in my People Builders company, because that's the corporate colour for People Builders. There's a particular shade of dark gray, that's anything to do with travel, anything to do with personal development. And then there's a shade of red, which is to do with the administrative tasks that I need to do, et cetera.

Why is this important? See, when I look at my calendar, I have a clear visual represent representation of whether or not I'm working in my values, in my priorities. Those ones that are true to me. So as an example, I do a lot of travel. So if I were to look at my calendar in a week, when I'm traveling overseas, then obviously there's not going to be as much of the royal blue because I'm not there. So, what I can then do is I can make sure that when I am home that I counter that by having more blue. So, it's a visual representation where I can look at it and go, "Grant, you need to change." Or, "Hey, things are on track." If it's in terms of my business, if there's no orange or blue in there, it means I'm not actually doing anything that's going to bring in work and bring in income in our business.If there's not enough green, then I'm going to fall off the perch and I'm not going to be able to do that stuff.

Colour coding and blocking out particular time in your calendar for your priorities is number one. And it's really helped me.

So, how do we do that? So the first thing, if we step right back to weeks and weeks ago, we have to know what our priorities are. Once we know what our priorities are, we need to commit to them. We need to go through the exercise of saying, "When I say yes to this, I'm saying no to that. And when I say no to that, I'm saying yes to this, which is my priorities." And if that's not familiar to you, you go back and have a look at that episode and that will help you. So, here's where the priorities come in with the calendar. So, the first thing that goes in my calendar every year, every month, every week, are the green, health and vitality and "me time" blocks because I understand that I need to be my number one priority so that I can serve all the other priorities in my life.

Next, I'd put in the royal blue, so every day in my calendar it starts with a block of green time followed by a block of blue time. Now when I'm home, that's having breakfast and quality time at the breakfast table with my wife and my kids. When I'm away, it's depending on the time zone, it's a Facebook live or it's an interaction over text or whatever it is that we have to use at that time. In the middle of my day, there's always a green section that says to have some lunch so that I replenish my energy ready for the afternoon and then same time every day, I have some "me time" at the end of the day so that I can reflect, I can refocus, I can recharge and there's also some more family time as well. So, I put all that in there first and then that tells me that my number one priority, that is me and my family, are covered.

When my health and my vitality and my interaction with the people - those who are most important to me - is covered and that then tells me that I have space available or bandwidth available to do and be with all the other people that I need to be in my life. And then I put those in there and as we get to the end of this topic in a few weeks time, I'll give you some more around how you can actually do that and you can chunk in time and you can create in your mind a sense that you have more time than you really think you do. Instead of feeling overwhelmed all the time and, "I don't have enough time, I can't get it all done."

So, that's the first thing is priority management. Now, that’s the first part of the equation. The second part of the equation is to be able to stick to that and be able to go when someone says, "Hey, I want to fill this time", you can say, "Sorry, that's already taken by my family" or whatever it is.

Obviously you don't need to tell people that, but sticking to your priorities is vitally important. I remember years ago, there used to be an ad on television and it was for lamb and here in Australia, I remember my childhood, we used to have a lamb roast every Sunday and it was fantastic. So, this young lady, on this television ad, got a phone call from a radio station and she was told that she had won dinner with none other than Tom Cruise -And back then, Tom Cruise was a big deal for young ladies-  and she comes straight up and says, "Oh, sorry. I can't make it. My mom's cooking a lamb roast."

And that's how we need to be with our priorities no matter what the other opportunities, the other shiny things, the other comfort activities, whatever they are that come up, we are able to filter them through our true priorities and say, "Hey, I'm sorry about that. My mom's cooking a lamb roast."

Well, that's it for me for another week. Join me again next week when we look at the second element of productivity, and that is environment management. I'll see you then.

Do you find that you get everything done that you want to get done in the week or do you feel like you're continually chasing your tail?

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today I want to start a conversation with you around productivity.

For FREE resources and coaching from one of the leading personal development experts in the world, visit: https://www.grantherbert.com

Get the FULL TRANSCRIPT here:

https://www.grantherbert.com/blog/stop-managing-time

Become A Coach and grow your influence, income, and impact here: https://www.peoplebuildersinstitute.com.au 

Do you find that you get everything done that you want to get done in the week or do you feel like you're continually chasing your tail? Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today I want to start a conversation with you around productivity.

So, productivity comes in various forms. You may use that word regularly. It may be something that's totally unfamiliar to you. To start this conversation, I want to talk about what it's not before we look at what it is. See, there are some myths out there, things that have been taught to us over the years that do not service, and there's a couple of them that I want to talk to you about before we get into the topic of productivity.

The first thing is this elusive, mysterious myth called time management. See, it's not you or I that manage time. There's 24 hours in a day. We're not going to get any more than 168 hours in a week. We're not able to manage time. So, that's part of the problem. If we try to manage something that's not within our control, then we're never going to be able to achieve it.

Over the years have been many, many courses that I've done on time management where I've subscribed to the idea of this thing as well. But what I've found is that even though there's no such thing as time management, there are 3 key things that you and I can do to be able to get more done in the day, in the week, in the year, and we're going to talk about this over the next few weeks.

The second myth that I wanted to dispel is the myth around work-life balance. See, work-life balance is a myth. It assumes firstly that work and life are separate when work is just a part of life. It's one of the things that consumes your time. So, what we want to look for instead is our own perfect life balance. And that's something that's different for you than it could be for me because we have different priorities, different things we wanted to get done, we're at a different stage of life, a different stage of career, business, whatever it is.

So, let's come back now and have a conversation now that we know what it's not. Let's have a conversation about what productivity is. So, we've established that it's not about time management, it's not about work-life balance. And I said there are 3 elements to getting more things done.

3 things that we can actually manage when we make a decision to do so. The first of those is priority management. So, what is it that we allow to fill space in our day? What is it that we allow to take up bandwidth in our calendar? And there are many reasons why things are priority and things are not. Why things appear like they're a priority in the moment because they're a comfort activity or whatever and we're going to talk about that next week.

The second area that we can manage is our environment. What are we allowing in our environment to take our focus, to distract us, to give us things shiny or not to look at that are not involved in what it is that we need to achieve right now? What are we consuming on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a yearly basis? The average person apparently watches about 4 hours of television a day. So when we take that and we multiply that out over an entire year, that's 2 full months, 24/7 gone out of our life, out of our opportunity to be productive and get more done.

So, what is it that you're doing to consume your bandwidth? What are you allowing to distract you? And the third area that we can manage is our energy and how we manage our priorities and how we manage our environment has a lot to do with how much energy we have. I don't know about you, but there's a lot of times when I'll get home from working with clients or whatever it is that I'm doing. And there was times I didn't have enough energy to be who I needed to be when I got home. I'm spent, I'd given all my energy.

So, those are the 3 things that we're going to talk about this month. So, let's recap them. Priority management, environment management, and energy management. So, it's not about time management, it's not about work-life balance. It's not about to-do lists. In fact, one of the greatest things that I have ever been introduced to, to counter the to-do list is my to-don't list. What are the things that I'm not going to allow to consume my bandwidth, to get my attention, to sap my energy. So, that's it for me again this week. Join me next week when we continue this conversation around productivity by looking at our priority management. I'll see you then.

Do you feel like you're running day to day by the seat of your pants or do you have everything organised and planned? Doing things on purpose with a clear intention?

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to finish our conversation around intention by talking about your plan.

For FREE resources and coaching from one of the leading personal development experts in the world, visit: https://www.grantherbert.com

Get the FULL TRANSCRIPT here:

https://www.grantherbert.com/blog/creating-your-plan

Become A Coach and grow your influence, income, and impact here: https://www.peoplebuildersinstitute.com.au 

Do you feel like you're running day to day by the seat of your pants or do you have everything organised and planned? Doing things on purpose with a clear intention?

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to finish our conversation around intention by talking about your plan.

So over the last few weeks, we've been talking about our values, our vision and our mission. And when I said we would do this week is to look at how we put that all together into a workable plan. I have a lot of people who tell me that, "Oh yeah, look, I know what I've got to do. It's all up here." And what I want to do is challenge you to understand that writing it down, making sure that we have a clear understanding of where we're going, that we could quite easily explain to someone else and they would understand it.

Therefore, being simple and concise enough is what people who are more successful and get more done do. So, I want to invite you to change the way you do things if you need to and to do more planning. Now, obviously we need to put action behind the plan. Without putting the action behind the plan, the plan is just a document. It's just something that would frustrate us because we know we want to do and we're not doing it.

So, there's a few things that I want to talk about that will help us with our plan and then we'll get into the practicality. So, the first thing we need to recognise is that the plan of today is slightly different to the plan we used to do. The world has changed. We are a lot faster and changing more quickly than we used to.

We're in this VUCA world that we always talk about, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. We are more global. I mean, right now, I'm coming to you from the Solomon Islands where I'm here for three days. I've just finished for the day in taking 25 government leaders through some emotional intelligence and leadership training. So, I'm planning doing this now so that my team have got it to be able to produce when I need to for you to be able to see it.

So, things are a little bit different now. I'm someone who had to change their thinking around this and had to realise that running by a calendar, running by a plane, running by set of guidelines for me is important. Yet, as I said, we want to make sure that we're doing a plan that fits today's world. So, a good friend of mine, Taki Moore, taught me about three horizons of focus and it's like thinking about going in to space.

So, we've got that right up there in space position, which is a satellite view of looking down over the top of everything that's going on. We've got that space when we're just breaking through the atmosphere and then we've got the launch. So, if we use that same analogy, we can look at the top of plans that I use and that I work with my clients to help them to stay on track.

So, we firstly want to have a look at that overview. And for me, that's a three year plan. So, how do I want it to look three years from now? And that's where our vision and our mission come in. So, three years from now describing it in the present tense, i.e. it is now. So, what are we today? The 26th of February, 2020 as I'm recording this. So, it's the 26th of February, 2023 and so we then describe what that looks like.

We describe in the certain areas within our life, within our business, whatever it is, what is different to how it is now, and that's the results that we want. Then we come back to the breaking through the atmosphere. And for me, that's a year from now, 12 months from now. So, it's the 26th of February, 2021 and we have a statement around what things look like then, what does my team look like? How am I investing my time? What is my income? Those sorts of things. Whatever it is that's important to you in your plan.

And then we want to come back to launch, which is when the rubber is actually meeting the road and we're doing the actions. And for me, that is the next 90 days. So, we've got a year, we have four quarters, and we break that down and then we have a plan for the next 90 days and that becomes our main focus.

So, why 90 days? So, 90 days is long enough for you to set some goals and stretch a little bit, but it's close enough to see the end result or to see the finish line. So in our planning, we want to have three years, one year, 90 days, and then break that 90 days into projects that we're going to get done. So, a project is something that's a little bit larger than a task, so it has more than one task.

So, I like to make sure that myself, personally, I take on no more than three three big rocks, three big projects within the 90 days. Then breaking that down so that we have actions that allow us to achieve whatever the overall project goal is for that 90 days. So, what have we done here? We've looked at what it's going to be like three years down the track for it to be that way.

Three years down the track. What does it need to look like 12 months from now, and then for me to achieve that 12 month goal? What do I need to get done in the next 90 days? Within that 90 days and what I need to get done? What do I need to do this week? What do I need to do tomorrow? What do I need to do today? And breaking that down into bite-sized actionable chunks. So, having a plan to execute our mission, our vision, surrounded and supported by our values is vital if we want to actually go beyond just having a big picture, thinking about what I'd like the world to look like.

So, that's it from me this week. I encourage you to take what I've taught you today, to put together a plan, and I'm not talking about a plan that you need to go and get a loan from the bank with. I'm talking about a one-page plan that guides you so that you know who you need to be and what you need to do so that you can get to where you is that you're wanting to go.

So, I'm signing off now from the Solomon Islands. I've earned a bit of time around the pool. I'm going to go and get changed and do that now, and I look forward to reading some comments down in the comments area around your plan. If you have any questions, then pop those in there as well, and I'll see you again next week. Bye for now.

Do you feel like you're working in your calling? What's totally coming out of you as being the real you? Or do you feel like you're going through the motions and you're not quite sure that things are lining up with where you want them to go?

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to finish our series of talking about our values and our vision by talking about your mission.

For FREE resources and coaching from one of the leading personal development experts in the world, visit: https://www.grantherbert.com

Get the FULL TRANSCRIPT here:

https://www.grantherbert.com/blog/on-mission

Become A Coach and grow your influence, income, and impact here: https://www.peoplebuildersinstitute.com.au 

Do you feel like you're working in your calling? What's totally coming out of you as being the real you? Or do you feel like you're going through the motions and you're not quite sure that things are lining up with where you want them to go? Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to finish our series of talking about our values and our vision by talking about your mission.

So, we talked about your values, those things that align you, those things that define what you will do and what you won't. And we talked about your vision, that picture for the future of what it is that you want to do, who you want to be, who you want to be around, who you want to associate with. So today, we want to talk about your mission. Your mission is why you exist. It's your whole reason for being and where your vision is about what you're going to do, those goals, those objectives that you set over the future period that you've got in front of you, your mission is more about the why and it's more about the how.

It's about your reason for being. It's your true purpose, your true calling. It's about why you're doing it in the terms of other people that are in your life. So for me, everything that I do is about serving people in my life, like my family, like my friends, my clients. And your mission defines you. It defines who you're going to bring along on the journey, your purpose for doing what it is that you're doing. And as I said, it comes out of your true self.

So when we have a mission out in front of us where we know this is what we need to do or we're going to bust, then it drives us. It guides us to be able to go beyond what we might do if we had nothing in front of us. You've probably heard people say this man or this woman is on a mission and they can tell that it's something that you're passionate about. It's something that's coming out of your true self, that this is the reason why you're around and that there's no one else that should be doing this because this is who you are and when you're on a mission, you can overcome so much more. You can know why you're doing it.

So when I work with my clients on this and they may be having a challenge coming up with what the message is, I use a little scenario that might help you as well and that is if I was to give you a 15 minute time slot on global television where everyone that had a television or a device on the planet was going to tune in and watch and listen to you, what's the message that you want to leave?

You got one chance. You never get a chance to do it again. What would be that message? What would you want them to know about you and about what it is that you're doing and what's important and where you're going and what they should consider. And by doing that, that exercise allows you to get more clarity around the real you.

Over the years, I've seen myself and others whose message gets changed and gets diluted because they're trying to fit in with what the world wants them to fit in, with what the world is doing. They're following a particular message, which is taking them off track, a popular message or something that's in the media, whatever it is, but it just doesn't feel right. When you are on mission, when you're working in your true purpose, things flow and it's easier and more effortless to get up every day and to be who you need to be, to go where you need to go.

So, the challenge here is to think about this and to sit down and to write a mission statement. And when organisations write a mission statement, they have the elements that we've been working on over the last 3 or 4 weeks. It creates a statement of their purpose. We exist to serve our clients so that whatever it is, it has an element of their core values. This is what we believe in and then articulate the macro-level goals and objective. This is what we want to achieve.

So when you put these elements together, when you have bright values that are true to you, that are tried and tested, when you have a vision for the future of the journey ahead, that is driven by the overall overarching mission of why you're even on the planet, you have purpose. And purpose will provide you with the reasons that you need to push through to get more out of 2020 than any other year since you've been on the planet.

So hopefully over the last 3 or 4 weeks, we have been able to work together and I've been able to help you to get more clarity around the foundation of why it is that you're going to do what it is you're going to do this year. And when we go into next week, I want to then put some practicalities around that and have a look at your plan and how to put a plan together moving forward. So, are you working in your true calling or are you going through the motions? Hopefully, something that I've said over the last 3 or 4 weeks has helped you, has stirred you up to be able to realign you with your true purpose.

Well, that's it for me for another week. I'm just fresh back from India. I had an amazing time in India working with some brilliant people and I've got a few days at home, speaking to you, getting some things organised before I get to go and work with some amazing people in the Solomon Islands. So when I'm with you next week, I will be there and hopefully I'll be able to bring you some clarity around working on your plan. I'll see you then.

 Are you focused on the bigger picture for your life or consumed by your current circumstances?

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to talk to you about your vision.

For FREE resources and coaching from one of the leading personal development experts in the world, visit: https://www.grantherbert.com

Get the FULL TRANSCRIPT here:

https://www.grantherbert.com/blog/your-personal-vision

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Are you focused on the bigger picture for your life or consumed by your current circumstances? Hi, this is Grant Herbert, International Influencer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to talk to you about your vision. Over the last couple of weeks, we've talked about the elements that go to being purposeful, to living with intention. We talk about mission, we talk about vision, and we've talked about values and we went deeper on that last week and I know that you would have set some time aside to get clear and clarity on your values.

So this week, I want to continue the conversation around your personal vision. Vision allows us to see. It's like a few months ago, I was coming back from Hong Kong and I was flying back into Sydney and the pilot came on to let us know that because of the bushfires which were burning and are still burning today, there was a lot of smoke and it had restricted his vision down to about four kilometers. Now, that might sound like a lot, but at 40,000 feet, that's not very far. So, what he had to do was to use a different plan, a different set of skills, and others had to get involved so that we could land the plane where we were going. We could get to our destination with some tweaks and adjustments to the flight plan.

And it's the same in our life. If we've got our head down all the time and we're just in our current day to day in our circumstances and we're not looking up and we don't have a vision for where we're going, it's been said that without a vision, people perish.

You see, your vision allows you to see. If I take off these glasses then I'm not able to see, my vision is impaired. But, our vision defines who you want to be, how you want to be known, the experiences and achievements that you aim for. It helps you to define your actions and provides a framework to evaluate those actions and make sure that they are congruent with who you want to be.

Your personal vision defines what you want to be, do, feel, have think, who you want to influence, who you want to impact in a year from now, three years from now, five years, 10 years from now. It sets a plan for your journey ahead. So when we're looking at our personal vision, we know what we value. So, that obviously is going to come into what we want to see in the future. So, we're painting a picture of something that hasn't happened yet. We are allowing our brain to see where it is that we want to go. In coaching, it's called future pacing. So, we're looking at a life not yet lived and achievement not yet gained and we're painting a vivid picture around that.

So when you're coming up with a personal vision statement and you've collected by brainstorming and mud mapping and getting out a big bit of paper and going offline and just analog, old school, just jotting down what it is, where it is, who it is, et cetera, getting all that information together and then being able to put that into a statement for you that you can read, that you can learn that's hardwired and can come up whenever you need to that says what you want to do and the reason why.

So, the framework that you can use for this is to come up with a statement that says to whatever it is that you want to do, who you want to become, whatever it is and then "so that". I love the work that Simon Sinek has done about finding your why and that's a great book if you want to read more about this and it's certainly, he's been one of my mentors in this area and he talks about this. So this is what I want to do, but this is the reason I want to do it. And when we've got those two things together, that's where purpose lives.

So for me, it's to be generous with my gifts and talents so that I can change lives for the better all around the world. So, what's your 2020 vision? What is it that you want to achieve this year? So, I challenge you to go through the process of what it is that is important to you, what it is that you want to do, and what's the reason why. And I'd really love to see some of you drop it down in the comments, speak it out, and then you're able to get the values that we talked about last week and get that vision and look at them and go, "Am I living congruently?"

Well, that's it for me for another week. Join me again next week where we'll continue this conversation around purpose by looking at your overall life's mission. I'll see you then.