By now, we have achieved a number of key steps in the process. We have accepted the need to change; we have identified where we are going wrong, the bad habits we have formed and the daily distractions that stop us from being in balance. We have prioritised them, put time frames in place and been very clear on when we want these changes to be completed. The next step is determining what we need to do to make the changes happen. This is where we have to really spell things out. What actions do we have to take to make these changes happen?
An example that remains particularly vivid in my memory happened a few years ago. I had finally decided that I had to get fit and lose some weight. I was getting ever more seriously overweight and it was really only a matter of time till I dropped dead. (I had the right motivation.) So I made a list of all the things that stopped me from being fit, that made me put on weight and generally kept me in the shape I was.
Most of the things I wrote down were hollow excuses—no time, the business needed me or else it would fall apart, my clients would leave if I wasn’t there to answer their calls from early morning till late at night, I was too busy to take the time for a proper lunch break so I ate on the run, and so on. In hindsight not one of them was true, but I had learned to believe my own propaganda.
Then I set my goals. They were big, but most of my goals are. I wanted to lose 50 kilograms and climb the tallest freestanding mountain in Australia (which is 922 meters—not Mount Everest by any means, but in my mind there was little difference).
Then I set time frames to achieve each of these goals. Three years to lose the weight (this was based on professional advice) and one year to be able to climb the mountain.
The next step was the action plan to achieve this. I went to a gym where a team of personal trainers started the process. They looked at my overall wellbeing, my goals and the reality of my situation. I was never going to be a bean sprout-devouring kind of fell, so they developed a plan to suit me. We revised it often, always with my goals in mind. I pinned it up on my door at home, along with my goals, and I read both of them every morning as I walked out the door.
I am happy to say that both goals were achieved. For me, the biggest challenges in my life at that stage were overcome. I realized that I could apply the same simple processes to solving any problem, but specifically those that affected balancing my business and my life.
It is important to detail, step by step, the actions that you need to take to implement significant changes, and otherwise they rarely happen.