Daylight savings time will be ending soon. Sometime this Fall anyway. Do you turn your clock ahead or back? How does that saying go?
Oh, that’s right, it doesn’t matter anymore. Every clock I own except for one does that for me. I don’t even have to think about it.
Or do I?
When it comes to your career, knowing how to turn your clock forward or backward is an essential skill. The big decisions, and even some of the little ones, demand that ability to place yourself in a different place and time. And that can be a challenge.
Let’s start with the easier one. Turning back your clock.
You stand where you are right now. All that you have and all you’ve achieved are true because of actions and reactions you’ve made up to this point. How intentional were you about those choices? How fortunate or unfortunate were you regarding circumstances that happened around you? Here’s an exercise that will help you think about that.
Get a piece of paper. Turn it sideways. Make three columns. Write the headers Career, Relationships, Stuff at the top of the columns. Now write the five most important things in your life today under each of the headers. The accomplishments, role, and sources of energy present in your career today. The personal, professional, or community relationships that mean the most to you right now. The material, financial, or any physical things you value the most in your life. It’s OK, go ahead. You’re allowed to like your stuff.
Now set your list aside and pick up your clock. Close your eyes. Go back 3 or 5 or 10 or 20 years. Place yourself in that scene. Do you remember what was going on in your life at that time? How were you feeling? Who were you with? What were you excited about? What worried you? How were you thinking about who you wanted to become, what you wanted to achieve, how you wanted to be perceived by others? Spend some time there.
Open your eyes. Pick up your list. How many of the things on your list occupied your attention way back then. Were these items part of your plan or did some of them just happen? Were you thinking about accomplishing things that aren’t on your list at all? Did you achieve those? Did they evade you or did you decide they weren’t that important at some point? Were you fully intentional about your journey from that time to today?
If you could return to that time and place, would you construct a different plan to pursue and accomplish your priorities or are you happy with the path you took on your journey to today. This isn’t about regrets. Its about intention and your ability to be clear with yourself on a destination, and your commitment to make choices that enable you to reach it.
Related: Rising Leaders: You’re Only Job is to Grow
Now pick up your clock again. Close your eyes. Pick your time horizon for the future. Imagine yourself standing in that someday place and time and look around. Who are you surrounded by? What have you accomplished since today? What are the physical items in your picture? Finally, what is your mood and sense of well-being?
This is harder. It is more abstract. But if you are good at the first exercise, you can do this one. Start with your physical appearance. Add a few wrinkles and grey hairs and take a good look at yourself. Then go inside that person and look outward. Before you know it, your imagination will be firing.
Related: Are You Looking Through a Single Lense?
Once you’ve spent some time inside your future self, get your paper again. Flip it over and write the same three headers. Now start filling in those columns with your vision for your future self.
Now the most important step. Make a plan. I’m not talking about a step by step set of tasks that you’ll complete to achieve the things on your list. Make a plan built upon the principles you’ll follow to stay on the path in the direction of your desired destination. Remember, you didn’t get where you are today only by following a task list. You arrived as a result of some of your own beliefs and actions, as well as circumstances, people and luck you encountered along the way.
If your intended principles recognize those dynamics and you remain open in your journey, you’ll be able to make wise decisions no matter what circumstances arise. I have no doubt you’ll become the person you intend to be.
So, this Fall, when it is time for daylight savings to end, turn your clock back. Then turn it forward and live your intended life.
Lead well.
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