THE.CONTENDER : "I am only 27 I can change my ways! "
THE.FUTURE: you have one year to change your destructive ways. I will return at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve!
What did THE.CONTENDER want out of life? Where to start? First THE.CONTENDER needed understand what he was good at what did he enjoy. Secondly what was THE.CONTENDER going to do about it!
This post is going to look at
1. How THE.CONTENDER started to plan for THE FUTURE
2. How the THE.CONTENDER tribe use the PLAN DO CHECK ACT life planning process on a monthly basis using a spreadsheet, whiteboard and a calendar.
THE.CONTENDER self analysis - what needed to change for the better
In looking for a place in society and work THE.CONTENDER had to find something he was good at. THE.CONTENDER was never going to excel at music so no there was no point learning the saxophone because it is COOL to be plain bad? Would this be a good use of my time? THE.CONTENDER must work on skills and areas he is good at or that help achieve early retirement and independence.
Firstly general traits; 1) THE.CONTENDER likes making things but dislikes finishing them to perfection (another reason not to be a musician:) 2) THE.CONTENDER 's personality is unique and what makes me but can be too abrupt and willing to take the lead. So there are areas of opportunity and other areas that need some work on.
Core skills - why THE.CONTENDER is an Engineer
THE.CONTENDER is a thirty five year old and found himself as an engineer by trade. As a result he likes to be practical and put things into action (a key part of this blog). Is he?:
- creative
- problem solver
- analytical
- have an end result in the real world
- enjoy what I do
- Going to be a famous writer or sports star (really only a very small % of society excel in these areas)
- Pander to people's every needs and be the best shoulder for someone to cry on. THE.CONTENDER is a direct person who wants results. THE.CONTENDER wants to get things done which can come across as forceful and sometimes insensitive.
- Complete things (THE.CONTENDER is a firm believer in the 80:20 rule 80% of results from 20% of the effort). Perfection produces diminishing returns and you only have a finite time on this planet (saxophone player is definitely out for me) . This is to the annoyance of Mrs C who believes in 120% all the time. She is coming around to my thinking now that we have 2 kids. A rounded approach to bringing them up instead of trying for the perceived best of everything such as enrollment of the 3 year old in every extra activity we come across. And no we are not going to make them learn the saxophone.
Improving interpersonal and skills
Lots of training has been taken to improve interpersonal skills. Here are some of the key areas that needed refinement:
- Listening to others and trying to understand their point of view (Professional training and NLP Workbook and Listening - a self Teaching Guide books)
- Simply my presentations (Communispond professional training - click here for their site and blog))
- Thinking about how other people would use any solutions that I have developed so that they buy into rather than reject them.
Creating a life plan using PLAN DO CHECK ACT
Using a planning and reviewing technique - PLAN DO CHECK ACT THE.CONTENDER got to work on a life plan (for more information on planning in business a very good book is: Project Workout):
1. Plan
Listed my strengths and weaknesses
Chose the areas I want to work on
Listed my desires and dreams in life
2. Do
Created goals and objectives
Made sure goals are SMART Specific that can be measured it is achievable, realistic and timed
3. Check
Checked the objective are aligned to needs and plans for happiness
4. Act
Cleaned up the goals and objectives
Created actions for each goal and track progress
This keeps on changing due to our circumstances. Becoming a dad threw a curve ball at me - it is the most astounding of all of the "new" challenges I had to consider. Lets have a look at each of the 4 parts of the planning process:
Plan
First I listed my own perceived skills and weaknesses (I started 9 years ago and self perception is a wonderful thing :). From my initial self evaluation:- It was a reality check - I was still single at the time, had no real savings, no home a career that was going too slowly for my liking and debt from university and a car loan. I had a lot to learn, although I had grown up a lot, I was still a little immature (too much partying).
- Helped me crystallise what made me happy - friends, exercise and entertainment (at the time)
Elsewhere I have learnt to listen, observe and question more effectively.
By listing my short, medium and long term goals it has helped me to be more future orientated. Consumerism and short term thrills started to loose their appeal. I realised they were not helping me/us reach our longer term goals and desires.
Do
Taking my "brainstorm" list 9 years ago - I then had to do something about it. I set myself some objectives which were vague to start with. Start investing, buy a property, get married, get promoted. I wrote these objectives down and thought about steps to make them happen. Looking at what I needed to do was actually quite depressing at the time. The list was very long and I had not made much progress.As I have covered in previous posts I read up on each subject - for instance Getting Things Done and the 8th Habit. I then started to started to action my objectives. What I still did not have was very precise plans and time lines to actually make them happen. At that point in time I progressed into project management. This changed my world.
Vague objectives were transformed into concrete timed actions. A plan and review process were put in place and results followed. I started to make significant progress whilst was still enjoying life but importantly I stopped wasting money.
Check
In the last few years the THE.CONTENDER Tribe has reviewed and changed the objectives a few times. A few of the objectives dropped all together we could do with out the - for instance the Chateau in France and home cinema system. They would not impact our needs at all. The reason for dropping some of these BIG goals - THE.CONTENDER and the missus started to consider what was really important. As something to benchmark against we reviewed Maslow's Hierarchy of needs (see previous post):1. Physiological - breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis (body in balance) and excretion
2. Safety - Security of body, income \ employment, resources, morality, family, health, property
3. Love Belonging - friendship, family, sexual intimacy
4. Esteem - self esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others
5. Self - Actualisation - Morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts
So I checked and prioritised our objectives against this list.
Act
Once the objectives have been cleaned up in the Check step above, it was time to put them into action. Each objective can be broken down into several steps and milestones. These form the basis of your plan which you will review on a regular basis.The Monthly Review Process
The THE.CONTENDER Tribe review both family and financial goals at the same time on the last Sunday of Each Month.
We sit down when the kids are in bed with a nice glass of Italian or French wine and go through the TPH (Tribe Plan for Happiness). The review uses three key tools
- The combined spreadsheet of the CFFP (Contender Financial Freedom Planner) and TALP (Tribe Awesome Life Plan)
- A paper calendar - update social events, holidays, key meetings etc.
- A Whiteboard - Used for the weekly plan (meals and activities) along with an immediate to do list. The White board is placed in a prominent location in our kitchen.
- We are truthful to ourselves- no procrastination allowed we have no time for that :)
- We do not have any surprises which could lead to arguments. Money is always a hot topic and having it reviewed by the same process each month with joint responsibility on actions. It takes the emotion out of it.
- The regular reviews keep our lists and plans on track
- they are accessible to everyone
- you can physically interact with them
- they are generally simple and space limited
- Easy to update
- If you spill coffee on them you can cheaply replace them
- You can hang them on a wall put them in your bag etc.
The devices generally have small screens that are not ideal for the whole family to look at. You cannot readily display the content like a poster where everyone knows where it is and can interact with it with a marker pen. In my opinion a nice piece of paper, a notebook or a whiteboard is the best medium for a checklist, to do list or a calendar.These are my humble ideas on how work and personal life skills can go hand in hand. I will use these principles for to the planning tools on this site.
THE.FUTURE: "CONTENDER you are starting to grow up my lad. I will give you another year to prove to me you are on the right track. If not I have a nice warm welcome for you below!"
Keep safe
THE.CONTENDER
Welcome New Contender Readers! Take a look around. Start at the first article, browse the all posts or just go for a Random Post. Please feel free to play with the FREE planning tools and checklists.
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Are you planning for financial independence and wondering what to do with it. If so is any of the content on this blog of use to you? I would appreciate any comments you have. All the best C