(Source: Envision)
Imagine getting onto a plane whose pilot doesn’t know where he’s was going.
Sure, he has a short term plan like “go south for 500 miles”. But
what if his “plan” in dealing with the long term is to figure out where
he’s going next after he’s finished going south for 500 miles?
It sounds silly, but if you look at our lives, you’ll notice that’s
pretty much how we operate too. We do make plans. But, without fail, the
horizon of those plans is often very short.
The prevalence of short term planning
A newly-made friend recently told me that he planned on pursuing a
Masters degree in theology. Because I wondered what someone with that
type of qualification would do for a living, I asked him an important
question... “What next?”
He continued to tell me that he would pursue a PhD. Again, I became
intrigued as to what someone with these qualifications would do for a
living, so I asked again... “What next?”
He then continued to tell me that he really didn’t know. He loved
studying theology and assumed he would become a professor but, believe
it or not, since accepting Islam, he had lost interest in academia as a
profession and was pursuing it because that was the path he was already
on.
Now, we could all point fingers at him and tell him how short-sighted he was being, but we too are just as short-sighted.
How short-sighted are we?
If someone were to take me, or you, and give us the same “what next?”
drilling that I gave my friend, we’d pretty soon discover how
short-sighted we really are. It would sound something like this...
“I currently work for X.” - “What next?” - “Erm! Next
question please!” “I’m currently working on growing my business.” -
“What next?” - “I’ll have more freedom” - “What next?” - “Erm! No
comment!” “We’re hoping to have kids soon.” - “What next?” - “Erm! We’ll
raise them!” - “And then?” - “Erm!”
My guess is that the most we plan is for 1 - 5 years
For most of us, the extent of our planning lasts for 1 - 5 years.
And, as a result, our long term plan, in essence, is to keep on creating
short term plans every few years.
The agile nature of this approach may seem sensible, but doesn’t
planning life in this way put us at serious serious risk of wasting our
lives away? What if it turns out that my previous short term plan
doesn’t align with the current one, or the current one doesn’t align
with the next one? And what if all three of them don’t align with my
Ultimate Purpose or Ultimate Vision? Wouldn’t years of my life be wasted
away?
And just like a plane has limited fuel to fly with, we have limited years to live with.
Time: The fuel of life
The big problem with heading south for 500 miles and deciding where
to go to next is that the plane can’t stay in the sky forever. And, when
Captain Biloo finally decides where he’s going with his plan, he may
not have enough fuel to get there.
Similarly, if we keep on planning out our lives in batches of
short-term plans that are not connected to a long term plan or our
Ultimate Visions, our lives will eventually run out without us ever
achieving our Ultimate Purpose.
And that’s when we have people attending our workshops realising that
their lives, especially their youths, have been wasted away pursuing
short term objectives that did not align with, or feed into, their long
term Strategic Visions.
And that’s why you must stop procrastinating and start visioning
As mentioned in the outset of this series, the main reason why
Strategic Vision Workshop graduates procrastinate the visioning process
is because they give preference to some very important activities.
However, as important as those activities might seem today, if they
don’t align with your Ultimate Purpose and Ultimate Visions, that
importance will disappear when you look back at life 20 years from now.
And so, whilst we don’t recommend you to stop doing these important
activities (as they could, in fact, align with your Strategic Vision),
you must ensure that time is made for the strategic visioning process
and that you get moving right away.
If not, you run the danger of running out of fuel before you reach your destination.
Keep on Learning... Stay Blessed!
Team,
Scouts HR
