The 7Ps – Plan – Mitchell News

Glenda @ Mitchell News

Be intentional about what you choose to do. Be intentional about actually doing it.

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The 7Ps – Plan

Hope is not a plan

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*Hot Off The Press*

Walter & I are now (almost) settled into our new home. We are enjoying the large outside space – a garden of close to an acre – and the 5m high glass doors. We even have tomatoes, pineapples and mulberries fresh for the picking. We are getting quotes for concreting the driveway and garage and for the possible addition of a pool. All this is very exciting.

We are also having to adapt to the responsibilities of home ownership again, to being stuck in one place and being far from family and friends. As with every season in life, the good comes with the not so good.

I am grateful for the flexibility that Covid gave us to be able to meet with people on line. In the last month, in addition to my coaching clients, I have had wonderful conversations with career and life portfolio experts, PR professionals and even a statistician that does research on Gen Z.

That said, I am looking forward to a couple of in person events coming up out of town. A good excuse to catch up with some people face to face and I do love the energy that comes from being in front of large groups.

I look forward to more opportunities to do the same in my new community.

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*Plan – Hope is not a Plan”

Almost all of us wants to do something challenging or new or change some aspect of our life (dreams). To do this, we generally need both a plan and a sense of optimism (hope) that we can do so.

Sometimes we’re missing one of these two key components, and try to change anyway. This is where we can become stuck.

When some people try and make changes, they rely too much on hope. Although they can identify something they wish to do, they feel that investing in motivating themselves and focusing on the ‘self-talk’ to change will be enough. They spend time convincing themselves and psyching themselves up, imagining a better future.

In reality, the hope needs a way to find expression and this is usually through a plan. Without a plan, the hope we feel never finds traction and eventually turns into disappointment, and eventually disillusionment.

While they may be valuable, approaches that emphasise hope over planning, in and of themselves, do not provide a foundation for or lead to action.

Other people try to make changes through focusing on planning. For these people, having a strategy, broken down into tasks and subtasks is critical. Then, all they need to do is execute the tasks one by one and they will reach their objective.

This approach appears logical because it’s easy to see how the steps can lead towards the desired outcome. The logical structure makes people think it’ll be effective.

However, too much emphasis on planning can be tedious and energy sapping. It can also fail to address the need to have belief in the plan. We need to see a reason for the change before we can engage with it fully. An effective plan needs to be driven by our hopes and dreams.

Hope is not a plan, but neither does planning take the place of hope. Both are needed if we are going to make successful change or do something we aspire to do.

There is a big difference between dreaming about something and actually doing it. Dreams are important. Aspirations and ideas and hope for the future are part of what gives purpose to our lives and keeps us moving forward.

If we don’t have hope and a positive mindset that we will end up somewhere different and better than we are, right now, then we might as well just pack it in. While I certainly can’t speak for everyone, I assume if you’re still reading this that you’re not someone who wants to do that. Nor am I.

How, then, do you make your dreams and hopes a reality?

It’s quite simple, really. You create a plan and take action. You set realistic goals and action steps that help you to move forward, little by little, until you get to where you want to be. It’s simple, but it’s not without work, and that’s the difference between people who reach their dreams and those who don’t. It’s not by chance.

Your dreams are not a strategy. Hope is not a plan. But they are important first steps. The people who turn their dreams into reality are the ones who answer both parts of the question:

Where do you want to be and then how are you going to get there?

Keep dreaming big. Tell yourself you can – live in hope. Set some goals & actions – make a plan.

And little by little you can make your dreams come true.

This completes the 7Ps series. Newsletter – Mitchell News

Next month, I’m planning on doing a summary and taking you through your own working example.

As we move towards the end of the year, it’ll be an opportunity for you to get in before 2025. To tackle those things that you’ve been intending to do. Or at least take steps in that direction.

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*Quote of the Month*

“There are dreamers and there are planners; the planners make their dreams come true.”

– Edwin Louis Cole

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*Kicking Out The Bucket List*

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