THE ART OF TIME
A few months ago I attended a local art gallery talk. Since then, I have often thought about one of the works that was exhibited in the show. During the talk, the artist had the opportunity to ask a lively audience what they thought her work was trying to convey. At first glance, all I saw was a rough white paper with a thin black line down the middle. After listening to a lot of our ideas, she explained that we were looking at a blank page in an open book.
The artist, one day while looking at her date book which was filled with page after page of meetings, dinners, and other activities, flipped forward to find blank pages with nothing on them. Her art was inspired by the idea of capturing that opportunity, the open space, where she could craft her future.
It is hard to stop, even for a few minutes, and think about the white space. The pages in our calendars fill up easily without any major thought. It is only when we stop and think about the bigger picture, that we realize we have made important choices each time we put an entry in our calendar.
What does your calendar say about you?
It is only when we define a vision of our future, that we can determine if the activities we choose each day are taking us closer, or further away from that vision. Strategic planning gives us the opportunity to rethink the white space.
THE BENEFITS
Strategic planning can help to:
- Clarify where you are headed in a dynamic, changing environment
- Set priorities
- Reassess your resources, strengths, and key business assumptions
- Focus your efforts (not to mention limited time and resources) on important, meaningful, goal
- Stretch your abilities and apply more of your potential
- Be realistic in order to set attainable goals
- Measure progress
- Become more comfortable with change because you have invested the time to fully assess the situation before jumping to action
YOU DON’T NEED TO DO IT ALL ON YOUR OWN
No matter how much thought, time and energy you put into planning for the future, it can sometimes be hard to look at your own situation objectively. A coach can help you see new perspectives, focus, and support you to stay focused as challenges arise. A mentor, coach or friend can remind you of your strengths, and enable you to see bigger possibilities.
What can you do right now to help your calendar reflect the true vision for your business?
Author: Helene Mazur
Helene is the founder of Princeton Performance Dynamics, an executive coaching and strategic planning facilitation company for business and non-profit leaders and their teams. Helene’s passion is helping her clients to focus their goals, see new perspectives on their current situation, put in place realistic, motivating plans, and execute to achieve new levels of success.
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