Summer is the time for baseball, beaches, sun and fun. It's a time to slow
down, to rest, relax and vacation, right? Isn't that what everyone does?
Well, not exactly. In my opinion, summer (and particularly this long
holiday weekend) is the time to design your strategy and develop your plans
for 2009. (Yes, already! The days march on, whether you are ready or not.)
Most of us do our year-end and new-year planning in December, to coincide
with the calendar. That seems logical, but in fact it's an "amateur
mistake." The end of the year is full of holidays. It's full of year-end
tax planning, distractions, busy-ness and stress, and under those
conditions, planning becomes a haphazard, hurried thing.
In contrast, the summer is a time for dreams. It's a time for lazy
afternoons, for watching the kids play at the beach and taking long country
drives. It's the perfect time to design and plan your future.
In my opinion, now is the time to create the year you want in 2009.
Everyone else is lazing away, but not you! Use these long summer days to
plan your next conquest, to detail your next project. Focus on the future
you really want and let the "lazy, hazy days of summer" motivate you to
dream bigger, go further and look higher than ever before.
Just be sure you don't let your summer day dreams end there. As you dream,
take notes! Get a calendar and set some targets. Use your checkbook, profit
and loss statements, and sales data to develop a budget. Talk with
colleagues and share your dreams. Develop action strategies and
implementation plans.
This year, use summer to create the life you truly want. Life will rush at
you in the months and years ahead, whether you are ready or not. Get ready.
Have a plan. Take action. Create the life you truly want and what better
time to prepare than after Independence Day? Use your summer!
Written by Philip E. Humbert, PhD
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