One of my favourite questions…
“You pick.”
One of my favorite questions, when I sit down with a person, is, “what do you want to be true about yourself one year from now? (or I pick an obvious date) They inevitably respond with a qualifier question, “Well, what do you mean, my business, my work, my hobbies, my family, world peace …. ??. My response, “You pick.”
It’s a sifting exercise because the person begins to identify those pieces of their life that really matter to them, and within those pieces, what they would really like to be true.
I’ve never heard, “I want to win the lottery” … these tend not to be pie in the sky moments. Rather people begin to sift through a myriad of thoughts and hone in on what really matters to them.
I want to be focusing 50% of my time on content creation
I want to be in a different job that really leverages my abilities
I’d like to grow my business by 25%
I really want more margin in my life
I want a new hire to be handling these specific administrative tasks.
I’m not directing them anywhere, but rather helping them zone in on their true aspirations. Here’s what serious engagement of this question does:
Helps us declutter our thinking. You can’t focus on fog.
Occasionally I take 30 minutes a do a brain dump. I write down on my computer/paper everything that comes to mind about things I have to get get done. At times it fills up two sheets of paper. All of this is swimming around in my head and can often clog up the focus arteries. The “What do you want to be true…” questions cuts through all the clutter.
When’s the last time you did a decluttering brain dump?
We begin to focus on what really matters.
When we think deeply about what matters a year from now, rarely does paying next week’s credit card payment factor in…that’s clutter, though it may be important.
Taking time to think and dialogue around answering this question brings focus to what really matters to me. Not only does it bring focus to ‘bigger things’, it brings in aspiration; what do I want to be true about me? What are my hopes and aspirations a year out? What seems in reach a year out that could possibly be true?
What four ‘big things’ do you want to be true about you a year from now?
My week is shaped by my year.
If I spent most of my time completing my occupied with the ‘gotta do things’ right in front of me, I rarely move the needle on what I want to be true a year from now.
Once you identify the four ‘big things’ you want to be true in a year, you begin to map out how you can make those aspirations become reality and make space for action. It’s not that they are unattainable, but they rarely get the attention required to accomplish them.
What action steps should I take in the next 30 days.
There’s a big difference between “well I hope” and ‘action steps this month”. When I paint a target on for a year from now, I begin to think of the action steps I can take in the next 30 days to point me in that direction.
John came to the realization, “I want to be fully present for my daughter’s wedding a year from now.” As a high-level business executive, he knew that his business always occupied space in his mind whatever family gathering he was attending.” This caused him to step back, engage HR in conversation, and plan his retirement to precede his daughter’s wedding. Fully present because he planned.
Sit with a trusted person for an hour to deeply answer the question, “What do I want to be true about me one year from now?”
