Recap of 4 Weeks and Sample Calendar

You have been getting your ducks in a row for one month now, and it's time for a recap and re-group before we launch into Part Two.

In week one, you created a Base Map of your possible life path that you can carry in your back pocket. You figured out your core values, the compass that shows you the direction to proceed down your path, and your priorities, that give your days focus and help you to decide how to best spend your time.

In week two, you learned how to discern and plan for one month at a time - how to take the Big Picture Base Map you developed and plot it out into manageable chunks, by choosing your top action goals, organizing your goals into a priorities grid, and scheduling your weekly priorities.

In week three, you learned how to make a pledge for action by setting intentions for your core values and for your top priorities. When you are intentional with your actions, you choose your path on purpose.

In week four, you planned ways to give full effort for your priorities, a mental discipline that requires attention, a spark of energy, and balance.

The ideas and techniques you've covered this month are only half of the picture. A calendar for this might look like:

Day 5: Keep in Balance

The third step towards giving full effort for your priorities is balance. I'm not talking about "Work-Life balance" (as if work is not a part of life!); this is about feeling fulfilled and satisfied with your life, having a good mix of work and play, effort and rest, and steadily accomplishing the things that give your life a sense of purpose. 

Balance has two parts- 

-You want to give regular attention to each of your priorities each week, and not create any "low-status" priorities.

-And you want to hold your intentions lightly in the complexity of life. If you are driven to complete everything on your list at all costs, you may miss an opportunity to open your heart, or to grow, or find peace within.

Remember that your vision, mission, values, beliefs, and principles are your compass, and how you want to proceed down your path. I'm talking now about finding the kind of balance where what you are doing leads where the compass is pointing, and you feel relaxed and unstressed as you travel that path. You create this kind of balance with good planning, by remembering your intentions, and also by being flexible but discerning when life offers you choices. 

For example, even though I might start the day with reasonable expectations to do x-y-z, when my daughter calls to ask if she can drop the baby off for a couple of hours I (of course) say "YES!" My family is a priority, and some other priorities can wait for another day.

Or perhaps I just don't have any energy. I decide to take a bath and a nap, and don't wake up until 4 p.m.! I obviously needed to take care of myself - my health is a priority. Such is life. I'm not going to waste energy feeling disappointed with myself.

Balance and Full Effort can seem to be counter-intuitive... How can you sustain personal motivation and determination, and also be flexible and hold your intentions lightly? How can you maintain full effort while also leaving yourself such a large loophole?

Day 7: Review, and Start a Map Book

Take a few minutes to review your first week. Look through your journal. Write about your accomplishments and what you still need to work on. Did you:

-- Brainstorm some lists of goals, dreams, and exciting ideas for your future, and write about your most important reasons for living, and what your best life would look like?

--Go on a vision walk to access your deeper, intuitive mind- your inner guide?

--Write a letter from your future self?

--Discern your top 10 (or fewer) core values and principles that describe the vision of who you are and how you want to proceed down your path?

--Discern your top 4 to 8 priorities that seem most important and feel most meaningful to you in your life right now, that will give your days focus and help you to decide how to best spend your time?

--Map out the relationship between your core values and your top priorities to help clarify connections and renew your sense of purpose?

Start a Map Book

Your Map Book is a place to collect your various maps and plans and creative visions as you work through this book. (I use a 3-ring binder.)

• Today, punch holes in your Base Map and put it into your empty Map Book. If your map is too large, fold it!

Summary

Day 5: Discern Your Priorities

If your values and principles are your compass, then your priorities are your GPS; your compass points north, and your priorities are the path you take. By priorities I mean those activities, good deeds, responsibilities, people, disciplines, and whatever else seems most important and feels most meaningful to you.

You have lots of things in lots of categories that you do every day, but which of those are priorities in your life? Only you can figure that out.

Priorities are more fluid than values. They change over time and with the seasons, and expand or decrease with your energy, so you need to keep a close eye on them. 

Day 4: Discern Your Values

The last few days you've been generating ideas and envisioning your future, getting a little crazy, and pondering the possibilities. So many possibilities - it's tiring! It's exciting. It's improbable. 

Stephen Covey says, "For many of us, there's a gap between the compass and the clock - between what's deeply important to us and the way we spend our time." (First Things First, 1994.)

The clock is your commitments, schedules, and how you manage your time. The compass is your vision, mission, values, beliefs, and principles, and how you want to proceed down your path. Most of our dissatisfaction in life comes from the gap - when what we are doing doesn't lead where the compass is pointing.

Before you can truly map your path, then, you need to get a handle on your core values, beliefs, and principles. Discernment of this nature is not easy or quick; today you will make a start at it, and you'll return to refine and affirm your values and principles later. (Just do what you have time for today.)

First some definitions: