Planning Ahead of 2021
Unexpected events or shocks disrupt
our habitual routines, jolt us out of our comfort zones, and lead us to ask big
questions about what matters and what is worth doing. It’s no wonder, then,
that during the current pandemic, many people are rethinking their careers. right?
But is this really the right time? Even for those of us lucky
enough not be sick, caring for others who are sick, or scrambling to make ends
meet, the pandemic has increased uncertainty and caught us unprepared,
psychologically, financially, and infrastructurally.
The situation feels threatening. And,
as psychologists have shown, threatening situations prompt us to behave
conservatively, the opposite of what is required when we’re considering a
career change.
I’ve been studying career change for
over 13 years, the 2008 financial crisis, the subsequent extended bull-market
run, and now the pandemic that has brought that run to an end.
Before creating the first Stars Wars
movie in the 1970’s, George Lucas planned for at least six films and started at
episode four, rather than episode one. Almost 40 years later, the entire world
continues to be excited with the release of a new Star Wars film. This would
not be possible if Lucas hadn’t thoughtfully and largely planned ahead. The
principle is simple: Don’t just plant a tree, plant an orchard.
Before writing the first chapter of
Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling planned for seven years at Hogwarts. Harry Potter
is one of the most read books of all-time. How different might
Harry Potter have been if Rowling started the book without any intentions or
plans beyond the first book?
It might have just been a book about
a boy who went to school and killed a bad guy. Perhaps, at the conclusion of
that story, Rowling might or might not have decided to write a sequel.
Yet, by “beginning with the end in
mind,” Rowling was able to direct and position the first book much differently.
The first book, although amazing in
itself, was a means to an end, clearly leading the reader to the next book.
Not only that, but by having a
long-term objective, Rowling was able to create a much bigger story. She was
able to foreshadow to things the reader wouldn’t learn about for sometimes
several years!
But she planted those seeds early and
thoughtfully, and as a result, each book was a continuation of the next, rather
than several disconnected and random stories. So why do I have to tell you
about these guys?
I needed to emphasize the importance
of planning in every area of your life. You are the writer of your own
narrative. Yet, how often do you plan each year based on what you intend to do
during the next year or the one after that? Huh
Goals are means, not ends. Everything
you do is positioning. Are you positioning yourself to do AMAZING things in 1,
3, or 5 years from now?
I can already hear your mental wheels
spinning.
Obviously, the world is changing
fast. You can’t plan for everything. Hence, Tony Robbins has said, “Stay
committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” And that’s
the difference. Most people don’t make committed decisions, which are why only
8% of people go on to accomplish their new year resolutions. If psychological science has found anything in the past 30 years, it’s
that people with high self-efficacy and an internal locus of control radically
outperform others.
Self-efficacy = your belief in your
own ability to achieve your goals. Think “confidence.”
Internal locus of control = a belief
that you, not external circumstances, determine the outcomes of your life.
External locus of control = a belief
that factors outside of you determine the outcomes of your life. The majority
of the population have low self-efficacy and an external locus of control.
According to several research studies, people with these two traits:
- Don't set challenging goals
- Don't take leadership role
- Experience learned helplessness
- Lack motivation
- Have a pessimistic view of the
future
- Have low life satisfaction
- Have low engagement in both work
and life
The list goes on but you get the
point right?
Reverse everything on that list for
people with high self-efficacy and an internal locus of control. It’s easy to believe the idea that you are not responsible for what
happens to you.
It’s much harder to own up to the
fact that you are making choices every instant that determine your future. Even
this very moment, you’re reading my lessons right here.
Who is responsible for that?
Did you not leave every other thing
you were doing to be here?
Did you have no control over the
matter?
The moment you realize you have
complete responsibility for every aspect of your life is the exact moment you
are completely FREE!
If someone or something outside of
you is responsible for your health, you won’t do everything in your power to be
healthy.
If someone of something outside of
you is responsible for you and yours, you won’t do everything in your power to
provide for your family. If someone or something outside of you is responsible
for your future, then like most people, you will be the product of external
circumstances. Uhmmmm
And that's why I love a quote by Jim
Rohn . He said, “Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue
over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.
Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”
Oprah Winfrey once said “When I look
into the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes.” What can you see in your future?
There are three components to having the power to make
choices:
1 The right to choice
2 The responsibility to choose, and
3 The results of choice
When you take responsibility for your
choices, you realize there is no neutral ground. Every decision you make has
inherent meaning and consequence. Every decision you make also reflects what
you truly believe, far louder than any words you speak. Thus, what you do with
your time actually does matter. Who you spend your time with does matter.
Everything you do matters when you take responsibility. I'm not going to be
telling you about how to make smart goals tonight. I know you must have heard
that from someone or read that somewhere and over the years you must have been
creating those goals but yet the output is low. But to stay ahead in 2021...
apparently, one of the most important ways to tick all you goals is to Live a
Consciously Designed Life and plan.
Pulling it all together, here’s how
it works:
1. You must believe YOU ARE IN CONTROL of what
happens to you (i.e., internal locus of control)
2. You must believe in YOUR OWN
ABILITY to make things happen (i.e., self-efficacy/confidence)
3. You must believe you, and only
you, are RESPONSIBLE for the choices you make
4. You must have HOPE that what you
seek will come about.
According to Psychology Hope
Theory, hope reflects your perceptions regarding your capacity to:
• Clearly conceptualize goals
• develop the specific strategies to
reach those goals (i.e., pathways thinking)
• initiate and sustain the motivation
for using those strategies (i.e., agency thinking).
From a spiritual perspective, hope is
far more than wishful thinking. It’s a sense of confidence, even assurance,
that what you seek is a foregone conclusion
5. You are MOTIVATED, even when life
is difficult.
• the value you place on your goal
• your belief that specific behaviors will
actually facilitate the outcomes you desire
• your belief in your own ability to
successfully execute the behaviors requisite to achieving your goals
If you don’t truly value the goal,
you won’t be motivated.
If you don’t believe you have
effective means of achieving your goal, you won’t be motivated. If you don’t
expect yourself to do what it takes, you won’t be motivated.
In 2021 you have to embrace the
"liminal" period
The hallmark of the career-change
process is the emotional experience of “liminality”, that is, of existing
betwixt and between a past that is clearly gone and a future that is still
uncertain.
Liminality can be an unpleasant state
to inhabit emotionally. People going through it feel unmoored, lose their
bearings, and oscillate between “holding on” and “letting go. But this fraught
stage is a necessary part of the journey, because it allows you to process a
lot of complex emotions and conflicting desires, and ultimately prevents you
from shutting down prematurely and missing better options that still lie ahead.
Neurological studies suggest that
taking advantage of liminal time to do that “inner business” may be more
beneficial than engaging in a flurry of busy-making self-improvement efforts.
Downtime is crucial not only for
replenishing the brain’s stores of attention and motivation but also for
sustaining the cognitive processes that allow us to fully develop our humanity.
It’s how we consolidate memories, integrate what we have learned, plan for the
future, maintain our moral compass, and construct our sense of ourselves.
The current crisis is likely to
prolong liminality in-between state for many of us. While frustrating at times,
the state has its benefits. As Bill Bridges has written in Transitions, “We
need not feel defensive about this apparently unproductive time-out at turning
points in our lives … In the apparently aimless activity of our time alone, we
are doing important inner business.”
Also in 2021 you have to get going on
projects. The most common path to a career goal involves doing something on the
side. Cultivating knowledge, skills, resources, and relationships until you’ve
got strong new legs to walk on in exploring a new career or business opportunities.
More so, in 2021 you need to Work
your “dormant” ties.
Networking is a contact sport, which
makes it hard to play in a lockdown. Many people today are wondering how in the
current environment they can initiate and build the relationships to rely on,
relationships with people who may be struggling to adapt to difficult
circumstances themselves.
The golden rule of networking for
career has always been to mobilize your weak ties, that is, the relationships
you have with people you don’t know so well or don’t see very often, in order
to maximize your chances of learning things you don’t know already.
The problem with friends, family, and
close coworkers, your strong ties, is that they know the same things you know.
They’ll want to help you, of course, but they’re unlikely to be able to help
you think creatively about your future. It’s more likely that they’ll
pigeonhole you.
To conclude; David Copperfield once said “My dreams are my
dress rehearsals for my future.” Does everything in life go exactly how you
plan it? Of course not.
Here’s the principle: Expect great
things to happen, be happy even when they don’t. however, just because things
don’t go exactly according to plan doesn’t mean you aren’t in control. It is
your decisions, not your conditions, which determine your destiny. When you take
up the responsibility to live your life according to design rather than
default, you will constantly be humbled and in awe.
You’ll be blown away as you watch
life unfold as you saw it in your head , as your physical world conforms itself
to your thoughts. You absolutely can live your life how Rowling wrote Harry
Potter and how Lucas wrote Star Wars.
You can dream and live BIG.
You can live by design. Your world
can continue to expand.
But you must think further ahead.
2021 shouldn’t be viewed in isolation. It’s an obvious continuation of 2020. So
what will your life be like in 2022?
That's a challenging question for
every one of you here. I will end my presentation here tonight. I hope I have
been able to impact and add more knowledge to you.
Elvis M Okoye, SFc, BA; MSc Lagos
Selling and Marketing Consultant, GTI Capital ; Consultant; OnFrontiers LLC .NY
$ Business Manager & Facilitator, Open Warehouse Limited.
Elvis M. Okoye is a Fellow African Leadership Institute ; ALI; I Alumnus ;WYDNER Coaches LLC Millbury; MA l Alumnus NAU Awka & The University of Lagos l Member, Entrepreneurship Sports Generation(ESG);Global Entrepreneurship ecosystem (EWC) I
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