Overcoming Overwhelm I

from Liz Uible

Last week, Christine and I met for three and a half days focused entirely on strategic planning for WomenforWealth.com. We thought about the community we are creating, the impact we want to have on people’s lives and businesses and how we wanted to feel about the work we do on a daily basis.

We categorized the different areas of our business and became clear about what each of us liked and didn’t like about each one. We looked at where we want to be in one year based on all those goals we set out. And we looked at what we needed to do this quarter in order to have those results we want next year.

It was a great exercise, but we found ourselves still feeling overwhelmed. “How can we keep doing all the things we want to do without ignoring the things we feel we have to do?” we wondered. We were now had an overwhelming plan. Do you ever feel that way?

And then something fortuitous happened- a voice of sanity in the form of Christine’s friend dropping by.

Beth Walkup, whom we had interviewed as part of Motivation Marathon last winter is a fantastic, generous, active business person who has lots of experience with business and non-profit strategic planning. We told her we had created a 9-part strategic plan that is bound for great things.

Then Beth said something that seemed profound:
“But ladies,” she said, “strategic planning is about choosing the areas that you will focus on most, not choosing everything!”

We looked at each other a little stunned, so she went on. “The point of strategic planning is to choose the 3-5 areas of business that will make the biggest difference in your business over the next 3-5 years and to focus your time and resources on those few areas.”

“The way you measure if you are following through on the plan is to look and the time and resources you are putting into the business. If the majority is spent on your strategic areas, then you are in good shape,” she explained.

And something inside me smiled.

The point was that everything does not have to have the same priority. In fact, it shouldn’t. Priorities allow us sanity. Priorities differentiate the successful people from those who are consistently ‘overwhelmed.’

If you have your priorities already set out, you have a track to run on. In other words, instead of having two to-dos on the list and doing both halfway, you can easily see which one is important to your long-term objectives and the other can wait.

**What are the priority areas in your life and business?**

Tomorrow, we I'll talk about creating a priority system that works for you and your priorities. Then you can achieve the results you want and stay out of overwhelm while achieving your goals! We will begin to create your Personal Strategic Plan.

And you can bet we will be talking about this more on the Member Call next Tuesday, June 26^th at
6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern.