The Grand Master Plan

No matter who you are (or plan to be), whatever you’re doing (or plan to do), however you got there (or plan to get there) – you will always have a grand master plan that guides you. Even the most disorganized, scatter-minded individuals need some type of guideline, plan, or general outline for the current and future direction of their life, no matter how big or small the person may seem.

One of the things we all need to avoid when constructing either a new grand master plan (GMP) or updating an old one – do not allow past experiences and situations to have any influence on your GMP – learn from your mistakes; don’t let them control your future. Create a current assessment of your living situation, and go from there. Once a segment of time has passed (second, minute, hour, day, week, year, etc.), it cannot be changed – nor can any situation that happened in it. Move on, look forward, look up, look out.

Here’s a rough outline of the steps you must go through…

#1        Current Life Assessment/ Evaluation

#2        Construction of Goals, Targets

#3        Establishment of Time Guidelines

#4        Preparation for Launch Period

#5        Initiation of Grand Master Plan 

#1        Your Current Life Assessment – In this step, you’ll ask questions (and answer honestly) such as am I where I want to be? If not, how did I get to the place I am now? Am I living up to my absolute potential? Have I placed myself in a positive or a negative environment? Have I educated myself as much as possible? Am I satisfied with my current career/ job? Is my career/ job a boost to me or a drain of energy? Are my relationships a positive or negative influence?

#2        Construction of Goals & Targets – Once you’ve created a life assessment (which is really a list of honest questions we all should ask ourselves on a repeating basis), you can then move into the construction phase, which is where you create solutions to your problems so to speak. This is the largest, most energy consuming, and sometimes most difficult step of creating a new or updated grand master plan.

If you determined you aren’t where you want to be, this is where you make a path for how to get where you want to be in life, and examine what it will take. If you aren’t living up to your absolute potential, what resources will it take to get you closer to that goal? If you’ve realized you’re in a negative environment, come up with a way to get out of that environment. The same goes with if you determine your relationships are negatively influencing your life – find a way out. I’ve always been an advocate of the “life is too short” theory – yes removing yourself from negative areas you’re entrenched can cause even more turmoil short-term, try to think long-term. Never accept to stay put in areas full of stagnation, negativity, pessimism, indifferent, abusive, or detrimental ways of operation. This goes for your work, your home, your friends, your family, and your associates.

The atmosphere you place yourself in is a large portion of the reflection you cast to others – I learned (and am still learning) this the hard way. It can be hellish to snap loose of bad habits (or people), but once you’re truly ready for change in your life you will find it a lot easier to shake loose turbulence. You should also keep in mind that changes you enact to better yourself and your life aren’t selfish as long as they don’t actively seek to suppress others. Here’s a tidbit to go with that thought – divorcing a cheating or abusive spouse isn’t trying to actively suppress them. Neither is distancing yourself from a friend you know has a drug problem. If you find your current job is excessively stressful, unsatisfying, or causes you undue misery – what’s wrong with seeking a change? Don’t let misplaced loyalties keep you stuck in a place that misuses your talents or doesn’t let you operate at your absolute potential – and that goes for all aspects of your life.

When building your solution list, be realistic, but at the same time dream big. If you need more education, examine what resources are available to you to make it happen. Come up with an area you would like to expand your knowledge, and see what programs are offered in your area. Scan for free educational opportunities or advancement courses at your local community college. Attend any relevant job workshops. Look for leadership courses. Examine your community for opportunities to get involved – volunteering, organizations with agendas that interest you, advocacy for certain causes – there are a plethora of ways to expand your horizon. A bonus with expanding your horizons is you increase the chances of meeting more like-minded individuals to yourself.

As you create your construction goals & targets, be sure to think outside the box. Don’t be afraid to seek out help from your close and trusted resources to tailor goals/ targets just right for you and where you want to be. A note I’d offer is be absolutely sure you know where you want to be, or at least have an idea of the right direction to head, so that you aren’t overstretched reaching for too many targets. 

#3        Establishment of Time Guidelines – Once you’ve got the solutions in place for your master plan – you’ve determined where you want to be, who you want to be surrounded by, what you want to be doing, how to be doing it, etc. – come up with target dates. For example – maybe you’d like to have your degree in the next two years, and a masters within four years of that. Or – I’d like to be actively involved in at least two organizations in the community by the end of the year. A target could also be sometime along the lines of being surrounded by a more positive and supportive group over the next few months to help bolster my newly created grand master plan. Even something as broad as becoming a leader within the workplace within the next five years, and being in high-level management over the next decade; while these might not be concrete or have specific dates, they do offer you some guidance and direction over the course of your future and keep you directed towards continued growth.

An important note to remember is when you are building your timeline is to be sure to be realistic and give yourself ample time to enact your “solutions” to your “problems”. In the same token, don’t give yourself TOO much time – it only allows the opportunity to remain stagnant and procrastinate versus being continuously productive.

#4        Preparation for Launch Period – This is the most varying step in the grand master plan process. For some, this step could take a matter of days. For others, this step could take a couple of years. This is the time that you take to put yourself in position to roll out your new grand master plan. It could be the time you accumulate the necessary capital and support network to go back to school or start a new career. For some, this could be the time you take to pry yourself out of the negative environment you’re in. Sometimes, you can be so entrenched in disarray just the thought of moving towards a better day is a pain – which is why this period is included. You could be surrounded by stealers, liars, cheaters, and druggies and just need time to find a safe way out. You might even just need this period to clear your head, clear your thoughts, or ease your conscience to move forward. For some, this is the step where you will build the confidence to let yourself know you can move from a point A to a point B, and then to points C and D.

I can give a personal example to this effect. Right now, my Weathering The Storm grand master plan is in a holding pattern; awaiting the August 28, 2012 release date. The assessment is in place, I’ve constructed all my goals and targets, and timelines have all been put into place save the book’s release date. This hold pattern doesn’t mean I’m not working until everything is finalized, it just means I’m working behind the scenes to ensure once everything has been put in to place that it has been put in to place correctly, and that when I go to initiate my own new plan, it will implemented successfully. Take this step to double, triple, and quadruple check yourself. Keep track of everything you do in a journal and refer back to it to make sure you’re making the right – the best decisions for your present/ future. Also take this time to get those last bad habits out of the way. Get your last gossip in. Release your last bits of frustration. Get your last smoke in. Go and gorge yourself on food and alcohol one last time if you need to; but know that going forward there is no room for error, slip ups, relapses, or mistakes (especially ones previously committed). Get everything off your chest, and then put your adult outfit on and get ready to construct a better life for yourself. Once you know that you’re ready, initiate your countdown clock…

#5        Initiation of Grand Master Plan – Just like the countdown to a rocket launch, countdown to the initiation of your new grand master plan. This doesn’t mean you need to go out, buy all new clothes, a new car, a new house, and put yourself with all new people to announce your GMP. But you should see immediate change in routines, attitudes, reactions, and habits once your GMP has “gone live”. All of your defeats, poverty, complaining, disappointments, disabilities, failures, and sins of yesterday are gone – not forgotten, but no longer influencing your tomorrow. If your new GMP is one health related, such as weight loss, you will go forward with confidence, endurance, and discipline until your goals and targets are met (see how this applies across the board?).

Give yourself the new you and the new beginning you deserve. It’s only fair and another of the many ways to begin living life unconquered.

L|u

J. Junior II

Shaking Off The Dust

Shaking Off The Dust

As we wrap up the first month in 2012, one common theme I am hearing is the deterioration of our New Year resolutions. For whatever reason, we’ve just gotten off the path we set before we brought in 2012.

Don’t worry, because you don’t need it to be a new year to set goals for yourself. Set realistic goals. Start small, stick to the course, and them grow them. Let one goal transform and develop into others. If you want to eat better, start one thing at a time. We can’t go from a diet of cookies, Pringles, and coke to salads and water overnight. Set a goal to replace things overtime and wean yourself away from whatever is bad. Same thing for removing bad habits; take it a day at a time, wean yourself down first and decrease your dependency on things that are bad for you. Looking to lose weight? Start with a pound or so a week. As your energy begins to increase from the weight loss, up the ante to a pound and a half a week. See what I mean?

One small goal I’d like to set for you is that you develop a monthly word of encouragement/ optimism for yourself. As you move into February, use the word “wonderful”.  

<<< Wonderful >>>

Let my month be wonderful – therefore I’ll need to make everyday of the month wonderful. Not only that, I’m going to make the month wonderful for those around me. I will operate in a way so that not only is February wonderful, so is the rest of 2012. My walk, my talk; I will be wonderful.

I put that paragraph in italics because I want you to use that paragraph when developing your word of the month from March 2012 on. It should fit into that paragraph in place of wonderful (it can also be a phrase in some cases). For example let’s replace wonderful with positive.

Let my month be positive – therefore I’ll need to make everyday of the month positive. Not only that, I’m going to make the month positive for those around me. I will operate in a way so that not only is February positive, so is the rest of 2012. My walk, my talk; I will be positive.

If you want to replace that word with things that are negative, that’s fine too, but you better read the paragraph aloud to you with that negative adjective and know that’s the image you are portraying. For example -          

Let my month be trifling – therefore I’ll need to make everyday of the month trifling. Not only that, I’m going to make the month trifling for those around me. I will operate in a way so that not only is February trifling, so is the rest of 2012. My walk, my talk; I will be trifling.

Get my drift?

As this blog is so titled – a lot of the times we don’t really need that new year’s resolution, we just need to shake off the dust and revive ourselves. Looking at myself, I know that one of my bad habits is trying to compare myself to how I was in days long past, for good or for bad. Unfortunately, the past is just that, the past. What we can tend to overlook in yearning for things to be like they were in the “good ole’ days” is the problems that came along with them; we just don’t happen to recall them.

There is nothing wrong with recapturing your glory, but aim to recapture it in the present year and not mirroring days long gone (or projecting into the future). If it’s a different time, then you are (at least should be) a different person. The circumstances could have been vastly different; your environment could have been vastly different. If you feel like you’ve gotten dusty, then try self-revitalization activities. Chat it up with friends (new and old, reestablish friendships), try new hobbies (volunteering, intramural sports, habitat for humanity, etc.), make sure you are appreciative (of your life, your surroundings, of what you do have, your friends, your family, etc), or dedicating yourself (to a cause, to a project, to your work – just don’t overdo it and strain yourself). Don’t center your focus on just your physical; being consumed with that can detract from what really may need fixed – your mental, your spirit, your intellect, etc.

We all will have eras in life that we get stagnant and start to collect dust. The best advice I can give you is to put yourself back into action and move. Move your feet, move your mind, move yourself into a new environment, and most importantly don’t cower from change or the rain in life – they both are excellent removers of dust and rust.

Until the next time –

J. Junior II
January 23^rd, 2012