YOU SHOULD GET CLEAR
Monday, January 23, 2023
Is there a theme in life?
Do we have an editorial calendar for our year – is what is essential, a monthly milestone or seasonal high point we can identify and set as a target or goal?
It’s more complicated than a gardening magazine that focuses on spring planting issues in the winter or on fall clean-up in late summer months, so we are receiving messages consistent with what we are thinking about or should be planning at a particular time of year.
Financial planners spend their advertising budgets and promotional energy from December to March each year because the focus is pension contributions, tax filings and persuading customers to save, invest, switch advisors or switch institutions/money managers …
We live in a culture, maybe even a time warp of sorts, between the middle ages and the future – so much in lifestyle, intelligence/knowledge, and possibilities have been shifting over shorter and shorter timelines.
Not so long time ago, human knowledge grew at a glacial/snail’s pace. Now it seems to double every time we turn around or open the following issue of a publication touting the next new thing everyone is talking about, new tools everyone is dabbling in, technologies some are racing into, while others wait for the 2.0 or 3.0 version before venturing into unknown territory.
We can’t slow this down, but we often reach out for something secure and familiar to hold us steady.
What is your calendar?
What is mine?
Is it monthly, season, or stage of life?
Now, for tomorrow or the next fifty years – where does this begin, how long do we plan for each goal or task, and how can we be sure we have enough time?
We all know how it ends.
Suddenly.
But until that happens, likely several decades from now, part of having plans, processes, procedures and task lists – should we live by some statement we voice (or we know it but keep it to ourselves) that makes it clear who we are, what we are going about and why – our purpose. And whether or not anyone is paying attention to any of that, we should be clear.
As much as I hate the ‘should’ word when anyone tells me what they think I should be doing – because they should NOT. I offer this up today for readers to consider – you should be clear, or getting clear, or see getting clear on who you are and the where/why of your purpose/destination however you define it. I don’t think this is a universal/for everyone truth, but it SHOULD be.