Business coaching for you – 5 Planning Principles
BANY stands for:
B – brittle – fragile.
A – anxious
– restless.
N – nonlinear – non-linear.
I –
incomprehensible – incomprehensible.
How can we interact with these qualities of the new world, while also weaving our own lives with our business aspirations and personal needs into its outline?
We can strengthen fragility through the development of sustainable resource support, primarily in the inner world.
Focusing on the present, as well as developing emotional intelligence, helps to cope with anxiety.
Non-linearity will require flexibility and adaptability from us, rigid strategies and plans will no longer work, creating only the illusion of control over what is happening.
The keys to the doors of incomprehensibility will help us to find consistency and intuition.
And on the basis of these conclusions, I want to offer you for practical research 5 principles of planning in the new time, which I myself have been using for several years in my author’s flow planning system. And by the way, all this reminds me very much of yachting, which I became interested in last year. Therefore, in addition to strong promotional coaching questions, I will add a yachting metaphor to each principle.
The principle of sustainability. When everything around is unpredictable and turbulent, it is important to set goals related to the development of oneself, one’s internal resource and one’s own stability. When a few years ago we were caught in a storm on the high seas, I realized with horror that there was only a yacht and nothing else. And this is the only support in this huge raging sea. Everything around can change or collapse, but you will remain. And the stronger the support inside you, the faster you can build your new world.
The principle of the general purpose. Even though this is not the time for hard goals, it is important to understand the general direction of your life. In the yachting metaphor, no matter which way the wind blows, we can move towards our goal when we understand its exact coordinates.
The principle of system. Crisis times force people, out of anxiety and fear, to disconnect from resource-filling activities and overly focus on controlling those things that are often impossible to control at all, such as, for example, it is impossible to control the wind. But at the same time, we can systematically manage all the processes that occur on the yacht in order to adapt to external conditions. Raise or tuck sails, tighten or haul sheets, etc., if necessary. Speaking about life, it is important for us, while continuing to maintain general focuses of attention, understanding external conditions, to continue to look at our life systematically, including in it what gives a resource, affects movement, health, relationships, development.
If you look at your life as a system, then what is the key area in it, the focus of attention on which will allow you to bring the entire system of life to a qualitatively new level? What four pillars could you identify in the system of your life? How does the current system of your life support and develop movement towards your overall goals? How stable and efficient is this system under different external conditions?
The principle of flexibility. It is important to understand that the movement in the modern world is now non-linear. That is, most often it is impossible to build a linear relationship between cause and effect, between action and result. Therefore, it is necessary to move towards your goals, keeping abreast of ongoing events and flexibly rebuild the route, adjusted for the wind, which can change its strength and direction unpredictably.
How could you add flexibility and adaptability to your plans? What can be good points of reconciliation during the year, month, week or day? What will allow you to track the change in the wind in time and adjust the sails of the yacht of your life in a new way?
The principle of flow. Stability is an illusion. With all the desire of our brain for stability, it is important to understand that this is the process of turning the river of life into a swamp. Even now, time itself is constantly pushing us to push off from the old shores, leave the safe harbor and go to the open sea. It will not be possible to wait out the storm, because it can drag on for a long time. It’s hard to believe, but the safest place in the center of a hurricane’s funnel, and the best thing we can do, is to trust life and ourselves.
How much movement do you feel in your life right now? Does this movement take you uncontrollably where you don’t know, or can you control it, feeling and synchronizing with the wind of change? What will help you now stand at the helm of your yacht and begin to boldly and confidently manage its movement?
The principle of balance. Just like steering a sail to keep the boat going at top speed without excessively listing on its side, managing your life requires a balance between concentration and relaxation, between pulling on the sail and rinsing it.
To what extent is there a balance between concentration and relaxation in your life now? How does this affect your internal resource? To what extent do your daily goals and actions help you stay in balance with the best possible movement while leading to the desired long-term results? How important is it to rearrange your planning system so that it balances the energies of concentration and relaxation?
And I would like to end my article with the words of Helen Adams Keller “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Therefore, for me, my planning system is a tool to support my daring life adventure. And the main criterion for testing the effectiveness of this system in changing conditions is how much it now supports my spirit, which endlessly loves freedom, travel and unpredictable living life.
What about your spirit and your life? And what then should be your planning system in the new world as a support tool? I would love your comments and feedback.