Planning to change
Many authors and leaders emphasize the value of focus and planning to achieve success and personal growth.
This brief video of motivational speaker, philosopher and entrepreneur Jim Rohn [a SuccessCast from TSTN The Success Training Network] includes some of his ideas on planning in order to achieve.
Jim Rohn also says in his article Personal Development - The Plan:
“When you look at successful people, you will almost always discover a plan behind their success. They know what they want, they work out a plan that will get them where they want to go, and they work their plan.
“It is the foundation for success. We as humans have the unique ability to affect change in our lives; it is through our own conscious choice when we engage in the miracle process of personal development that we are able to transform our nature and our lives.”
The floorplan image is a reference to the book The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters, by architect and designer Sarah Susanka - who effectively uses the metaphor of house remodeling for life change. She writes:
“When you remodel a house, you don’t need to change a lot of things in order to shift the character of the house, but you do need to evaluate what isn’t working and determine what you would like to have room for but don’t.
“And finally, to live the changes, you must build. This last step may seem obvious, but it’s actually the easiest to miss. No amount of planning will bring about change. It’s the actual implementation that allows things to shift.
“In remodeling your life it’s the same. You can read all manner of books and dream all manner of dreams, but only when you decide that you’re really going to do something differently, and follow through with the implementation of those plans, will things begin to change.”
June 8th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I’m delighted that you’ve found the parallel between a house remodeling and a life remodeling to be a useful one. As you describe in your article, there’s a lot that we as individuals can do to shape our experience, and to find fulfillment. For those of who read The Not So Big Life carefully, engaging the exercises as you go, you’ll discover that the “successful” life may be something that is right in front of your nose, and completely within your reach right now. But the meaning of the word “successful” may change as you come to recognize what really has meaning for you personally.
There’s a lot in life that we are told we are supposed to want but that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The Not So Big Life will allow you to look at things a little differently, and find the meaningfulness you’re seeking in the activities you engage in already, while learning how to weave into its fabric some of the things you’ve always wanted to have time for, but assumed were out of reach.
For those who are interested, and who begin to engage this book, I hope you’ll visit the http://www.notsobiglife.com website and share your comments and insights with other readers. We all have a lot to learn about how to live more of our true potential as human beings, and I’m a strong believer that by sharing our individual experiences, as the internet allows, we learn significantly faster.
And I’m delighted to find out about this website as well.
Warm regards,
Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big Life
April 28th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I’m Buddhist. I work in the home remodel industry… The life remodel thing sounds like a great idea to me. I just wish more people would try it!
Sincerely,
Robert