Innovative Planning, Level Three: Present a Proposal. The purpose of this project is to practice selecting key information to present in a proposal to build a case with supporting evidence and realistic solutions.
- People have a hard time remembering their successes and planning for the future, even in the best of times. But right now life feels very heavy, and days and weeks blend into each other. It’s hard to recall what happened yesterday or predict what will happen tomorrow, much less in a year. It’s important to take time to write down what you’ve done well, and to plan/get excited for the future.
- Answering important questions
- If your boss walked in right this second and asked you to list three great things you accomplished in the last year, would you have an answer ready to go?
- What if your partner asked you what you’re looking forward to in the next few months, or wanted to know when you think you’ll be ready to buy a house?
- Value of listing accomplishments
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- When I Googled “how to get a raise at work,” 8 of the top 10 articles specifically referenced the value of having a list of accomplishments. These are articles on sites like Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and Glassdoor.
- If you happen to be looking for a new job, they’re going to want to know your accomplishments too. Having these prepared, and speaking to them well, can mean getting the raise you want or that dream job.
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- Writing down goals
- Leadership trainer and author Mark Murphy found that people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to accomplish those goals than people who don’t.
- You will remember something much better if you’re staring at a visual cue (aka reminder) every single day. (external storage)
- When you write it down it has a much greater chance of being remembered. (encoding)
- This helps in business — those same 8 articles also talk about the importance of sharing goals with your boss — as well as in your personal life. You’re much more likely to run that marathon, save up a house down payment, or learn how to cook a mean souffle if you write down those things as goals.
- Leadership trainer and author Mark Murphy found that people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to accomplish those goals than people who don’t.
- So, what are these magical questions I’ve been hinting at?
- They were crafted by author and coach Dan Sullivan, and are designed to help you recollect and be proud of your recent past, as well as get focused on what really matters in the future.
- Set a timer and spend just two minutes on each question — you’ll be amazed what you come up with.
- These are examples of answers I’ve written for myself in the year that I’ve been doing this.
- If you answer these questions every 90 days, you’ll know what you’ve done well — you’ll be able to talk about your successes and future goals with your boss. You’ll have something that reminds you of personal accomplishments, and helps you nail down things you want to try, relationships you want to improve, and projects you want to complete.
- I can’t guarantee that you’ll get a raise or win that Iron Man competition, but you’ll be in a much better position to accomplish those things in the future if you take the right steps now.
Photo by James Lee on Unsplash
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