IT’S OK TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

I’m a proper prior planner kind of woman.  It doesn’t matter what aspect of my life I engage in; I like planning ahead.  I would get so attached to my plans that some serious self-regulation needed to take place to bring me back to neutral.  Over the years, my relationships have helped me dabble with spontaneity and lessen the effort needed to get back to neutral if deviation is required.

Commitment is also a value; proper prior planning paired with commitment resulted in sticking to a plan blindly without awareness.  This means that once I started a project, I saw it through regardless of current circumstances.  With increased awareness, I’ve been able to stop and assess the situation.  I now ask myself the following questions:

Does this plan reflect the human I am right now?

Does this plan reflect the human I want to be?

Does this plan accomplish the expressed purpose of my goal?

Is there alignment between the activities and the individuals participating and supporting them?

Do the activities effectively build a path to goal attainment?

Am I quitting, or am I reassessing?

Am I quitting, or am I realigning?

Am I quitting, or am I listening to my inner voice?

The answers to these questions offer insight into whether or not a plan or vision needs to be paused, adjusted, rewritten, delegated, or simply thrown away.  They help shift the perspective from “this is quitting” to “this is effective”; “this is deviating from the plan” to “this aligns more with who I am today.”  Some life plans are created 5-10 years in the past, and it is imperative we assess if we are the human we were then.  If we are not, we risk living in the past.  So, I encourage you to:

“Take a deep breath.

Start again.”