Welcome to our final episode on keeping time in perspective. Before we get started today, I’d like to ask you a question. How do you stay anchored in what is important? There are so many distractions out there that it is easy to become scattered in action and thought. If you lean into that scattered mentality, it can easily derail your progress and even your commitment to your dreams and vision. Today we are going to talk about how to stay grounded yet open, anchored yet flexible and you will walk away with one action item to help you stay anchored this week and keep the big picture in mind.
With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, lets jump in.
Introduction
Imagine you are working along in your business, you have task lists, you are sharing your message, you have your priorities, your pillars, your backlog, the yes and ideas overflow tasks all nicely sorted. In fact, things are humming along nicely. But you sit down at your desk one day and you realize that you aren’t sure where you are headed. So many people outline a task and then doggedly move forward because they committed to something, even if that commitment was just to themselves. There is comfort in having order, especially the kind of order that Agile systems bring to your business. There is a clear path and process for getting things done and that leads to increased efficiency and efficacy.
BUT, it is easy when you get into these brief sprints to lose sight of the big picture. Stepping back every once in awhile will help you stay grounded in your vision and pillars. What if, instead, you take time each week or even each day to explore the big picture?
Staying Anchored
Let’s back up for just a moment and think about the concept of an anchor. Think about a boat who drops anchor. What is the purpose of the anchor? It is to keep the boat from drifting off course while other things are being attended to. Maybe that is resting, eating, charting a new course, or something else entirely. A secure anchor means that the boat isn’t going to move into dangerous waters, but an anchor doesn’t keep the boat from moving at all. The chain that is attached to the anchor allows the boat to move with the water. It is not made of concrete or stone.
When you are working inside your business you are focused on many tasks, much like a boat captain would be focused on many tasks at once. You are thinking about the direction you are taking, but you are probably looking at the nitty gritty details that must be attended to at any given time. You might be working on a new product, meeting with a new client, preparing a marketing package, networking, learning about a new approach to managing client progress, or any other number of tasks that a coach encounters in their business. In this way, you are a captain of the boat. The captain doesn’t just stand at the helm of the boat and hope that they are able to get to the destination. Instead they are working on each component step-by-step.
In this series, we have discussed the benefits of Agile for staying focused, saying yes, knowing when to say no, and even choosing the right opportunities, but there is one thing we haven’t talked about and that is staying anchored in your vision. Just like the boat captain is always aware of the destination, you must also be aware of the destination so that you aren’t simply adding to your backlog, spending time on meaningless tasks that once were critical but now are not needed, and creating to dos because someone else is doing something that is working.
How can you stay anchored? Remind yourself daily of your vision. Maybe this means putting your vision on your office wall, as a computer background, or even saying your vision out loud before you begin work each day.
At a minimum, revisit your vision each time you plan a new sprint. Be sure that the backlog still aligns with your vision. There will be times that the answer is no. Your backlog does not align with your vision. By staying anchored, you are allowing for movement, but it is intentional movement rather than willy nilly movement that may actually move you further from your destination.
You may be thinking that this is common sense, but it is easy, especially when you have a well-oiled system in play to put your head down and plow forward. Why is there an episode on staying anchored and revisiting your vision? Well, it’s simple in theory, but it is easy, especially when you have a well-oiled machine to put your head down and just move forward.
Plow forward through those tasks, you have everything laid out. It is all organized. It is simple to follow. It’s simple to implement is easy. You’re focused, you’re efficient, you’re effective. Isn’t that what you want, of course, but you want it to be focused, efficient and effective on the right things. If you are focused on the wrong things, things that will not help you get towards your vision, then you are not focused on the right things. You’re not efficient or effective because those words all imply that you’re moving in the right direction.
Staying anchored in your vision will save you valuable time and energy.
Conclusions
An anchor allows for grounding and movement all at once. This is where your business will thrive. You have the chance to build using your vision, but you’re flexible in exactly the right places. You know, what tasks to do. And agile gives you a way to get them done. Remember that much like a charted course, your course can be adjusted and adapted along the way.
The key is to make sure that you’re always thinking about the ultimate place. You’d like to be in your business. In doing this, you will be keeping your time and perspective. You will be making the most of the time that you have. And remember, time is a finite resource. It is not something that we can manufacture, go to the store and buy more, or just say, well, today I’d like to order up an extra two hours so that I can get this done. It doesn’t work that way. It is 100% critical that we stay focused. We stay anchored in that vision so that each task you sit down to complete will help you move forward. Now you may be thinking, what about the tasks that I thought would help?
It didn’t really help? Well, yeah, that’s going to happen being anchored in your vision doesn’t mean that we won’t occasionally make missteps or kind of take a little bit different path before we get back onto the path that we intended. That’s part of learning and growth. That is not what I’m talking about here. What I’m talking about is sitting down doing tasks that there was never any hope that would get you towards your vision, but you did them because someone said it would be a good idea or you thought it might be okay, or maybe it had worked in the past before your vision changed. The moral of the story here is to stay focused on your vision. Look at the big picture, at least every once in a while, at least as you plan each new sprint so that you can ensure all of the items you’re moving into the sprint will help you achieve your current vision.
Now, to wrap up the series on time, remember that we began with a discussion of agile and how you can use that to say yes to the important tasks on your list in episode 49. Then in episode 50, we switched gears a bit. We talked about how to say no to the things that don’t serve your business. And we still use the concepts of agile to help us make those decisions.
And the last week in episode 51, we talked about choosing the right opportunities and creating an ideas overflow bucket so that we could stay focused. And finally, today we talked about not getting caught in the weeds, but instead staying anchored in your coaching business vision taken together, this series will help you to tackle your unruly, to do lists big projects and tiny tasks with simplicity and clarity and your vision at the center of everything.
Tip for the Week
To help you stay on track this week lets end with a simple task to keep you focused.
Revisit your vision for your business. If it needs updating, go ahead and do that. This is a great time to explore what has changed, if you’d like to stretch a bit further with your vision, or if you want to scale back to better fit your life needs and purposes.
If you are having a moment of panic hearing the task for the week because you don’t have a vision for your business, no need to panic. You can create your vision now and then make sure that your tasks are aligned with your vision. Make adjustments as necessary and if there are tasks that don’t fit your vision but seem like they might be important, you can always add them to your “ideas overflow” list.
You have probably crafted a wellness vision at some point, you can use this as a starting framework for your business vision and if you are still feeling a bit like a fish out of water, I’ve got you covered. Early in 2022, I will be releasing the Coaching Hive Mindful Vision course that walks you through 8 core components for your coaching business. I’m looking forward to walking alongside you as you craft your Mindful Vision for your business so that you keep time in perspective week in and week out.
I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful coaching business and adds in a dose of momentum.
Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!
~ Dr. Moira
