Viz Your Time – Stop, Wait or Go

As an elite business and life coach, I am fortunate to work alongside of people who want to go somewhere with their careers or personal goals. One of my client-allies made an interesting discovery during a recent coaching session. We will call him John.

In previous coaching sessions we created a graphic vision map of John’s goals so that he could see where he wanted to go. To add a little fun, we drew a bus headed out on the open road, Route 66 style. This is visual thinking on steroids!

John also identified his top 3 values, so that he wouldn’t lose sight of what mattered most. These were drawn as road signs to help remind him along the way.

Then John plotted some short-term milestones for the next 30 days, which were represented as towns on his graphic vision map. With the bus windows open and his 80‘s mudflap hairdo blowing in the wind, he cranked the music and kicked it in high gear!

But alas, the wheels on the bus stopped going round and round. The 30-day plan was not happening. Not long after leaving the garage, the bus rolled to a complete stop.

John had plenty of self-initiative and desire to make the goal happen. He knew what he needed to do, how to do it, and when. So why wasn’t he moving closer to the milestones, a.k.a. “towns” on his graphic map?

John realized that his bus had too much cargo. He learned that if he wanted to add new goals, he had to remove something first. And when new people, events and projects wanted to get on his bus, John decided that instead of 1 bus, he needed 3 buses: a “stop” bus, a “wait” bus, and a “go” bus.

Can you relate? Your head is nodding with me, I just know it!

Here’s your visual homework:

1. Draw 3 buses, like the example above.
2. Start with the third bus, the “go” bus. Under this bus, list some things that are currently filling your schedule.
3. Is there anything on this list that could move to the “wait” bus or the “stop” bus? Move them over!
4. Take a fresh look at your “go” bus. What else might need to take a hike?
5. Do the items on the “go” list move you further down the road, toward your 30-day goals? If not, you know what to do!
6. As new cargo wants to take a ride on the “go” bus, ask the same question: “Does this new item bring you closer to the destination?”

What “a-has” did you find from trying this visual homework? Do you struggle with the stop-wait-go items in your work and life? Share in the comments what has worked for you!

Related Articles from my blog author column at IowaBiz.com, a Business Record News Publication:

• Are You a Robot? 3 Tips to Prioritize Your Work-Life
• Keep Your Head Above Water with These Time Management Tools
• 3 Tips to Become a Time Management Super Hero