“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”

– John Lennon

I continually run into people who are very future-focused, so much that they can’t appreciate what it means to live in the moment.

Don’t get me wrong; goals are wonderful.  Having a vision is inspiring and powerful.  But if these just sit there on the shelf, they can actually turn UNinspiring after a while.

Joseph has grand plans.  He’s written a 30-year career plan (really!) which ends up with him leading an organization of thousands of employees before he retires.  Joseph’s problem was that this vision was so grand that he didn’t know how to get started.  He didn’t know what he should be doing today, and felt as if his current job was largely pointless.

I worked with him over the course of several coaching sessions, to bring that vision down to some current steps:

• Building experience in managing people
• Understanding what it means to manage a business, not just manage a team
• Developing some key relationships to help his advancement into management

Without these steps, he’d still be in that strange gap, doing daily activities that didn’t seem to advance toward his goal.

I’d also like to point out that life never goes according to plan.  It’s great to have worked out where you’d like to be in a year or two, and to be taking steps toward that, but then things happen.  Both barriers and opportunities, and some events which seem to be a barrier might be a blessing in disguise.

The way to make decisions in this uncertain and changing environment is to have a set of values, principles, and goals.  When your situation changes, go back to the basics and make a new plan.

It’s your life, so you get to change your plan.  In small or large ways.

Carpe Diem!

P.S. I’ve seen a t-shirt that said that “Carpe Diem” means “seize the carp” but I suspect that may not be true.

P.P.S. That’s a joke!

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

© 2011 Possibilities Partnership LLC