Strategy Week
Strategy Week in the focus course was all about manifesting our vision and values. We started out with an introduction to the 8 Laws of Focus.
- Clarity
- Boundaries
- Ownership
- Margin
- Sowing and Reaping
- Tradeoffs
- Action
- Attention
These made a lot of sense, each one describing a way of bringing things into focus, like whatever the machine is at the optometrists that swaps lenses in and out.
We then went into the 6 Areas of Your Life
- Career
- Relationships
- Physical Health
- Inner-Personal
- Finances
- Rest & Recreation
These areas often overlap; what happens in one space affects another, and one goal can help achieve another. The big aim of the week was to take each area and develop goals for different time spans - someday, 5 years, 1 year, 1 month, 1 week and today.
This was some big thinking, but I felt prepared for it. Mrs K and I had a habit of doing 5 years plans when we were younger. We joked that they always needed to be rewritten every 3 years as we made some dramatic decision that would uproot our lives. We haven't done that for a long time though. Once you have a partner, house, child and steady job, there is a tendency to stay that way and not be adventurous. For a while, that was good enough, particularly as we dealt with the trauma of the fire. Moving to Adelaide was a big move, and then COVID hit, and I am only realising again how traumatic that was. We lived off adrenalin and cortisol for two years, waiting for family to die whilst being at our most remote and distant. We were forced to retreat and disconnect and be unable to connect with anyone new right when we arrived in a place where we knew nobody.
It was time for some goals!
To be honest, I jumped the gun on this a little. I had started thinking about this before I really started this week in the course. During my thinking time hiking through the bush, as I pondered values and vision, I also started to think about goals. We have a house (well, a mortgage, at least) - what's next? I have a decent-paying job - so what comes next? In the next 5 years, where will we be as a family? How different will our situation be?
Having my values and vision made this task a lot easier, and I really liked working in those different timeframes. It was thought-provoking, but that's why I'm here. I was able to marry my vision to some clear goals and get some of that clarity and focus I've been missing in my life across all six areas without too much hassle. For the first time in a long while, I feel like I made progress rather than just treading water.
I'm not going to share everything, but I think my Someday Goals act as a guide to how I'm thinking about the future and how that sits with my values:
| Area | Someday Goal |
|---|---|
| 1. Career | Work is optional and I have a choice about it. Rather than dominate life, it becomes an auxiliary function. |
| 2. Relationships | Maintain a strong family bond with both sides. Have friends to share travel and adventures. |
| 3. Physical Health | To take better care of my body and embody my physical self. |
| 4. Inner-Personal | To find a sustainable connection to people and place. |
| 5. Finances | No mortgage or debts. To have a haven - a place to go for refuge and safety. |
| 6. Rest & Recreation | To feel I have the energy and capacity to give and be able to choose when and what to give. |
They provide a bit to play with in the other timeframes, but I was able to flesh out actionable and achievable goals for each area, which I'm happy about and can work towards feeling better clarity around why I'm doing what I'm doing.