When to Disengage the Autopilot

Are you an active participant in your business or life’s design?  Where do you crave having more control?

It’s time to face the truth: you’ve been putting something in your life or business on autopilot.

What (or who) have you allowed to slip back from your conscious management?  Where have you neglected staying on top of things to the level you’d like?  What results are you seeing (or are resistant to acknowledge)?

OK, now wait a sec- before you start beating yourself up too much…let’s just acknowledge that it happens.  To all of us. Sometimes.  

To not let things slide down too far with sometimes forgotten or taken-for-granted aspects of business, relationships, health, finances, etc…here is a simple 3-step process you can follow:

1. Take stock periodically through a quick self-assessment (quarterly works well for most people)
2. Make a conscious decision as to what is a priority for you now, and what is intentionally ‘on hold’ and for how long
3. Identify tasks and take action 

I offer you these as suggested guidelines before we delve into the decision and action phases:

• It is A-Okay to allow yourself some “intentional imbalance” (as long as it is temporary, whether short- or long-term).
• Do give yourself permission to say “No” or “Not Right Now” to certain things.
• Don’t let “guilt” be the engine that drives you.

How are things going?  Sometimes it feels like nothing is going well when in reality several things are quite good but a few areas need work.  To gain a realistic perspective and have something actionable, I like to use this version of the wheel of life.  I sometimes include this in a client session and I enjoy seeing them make progress quickly and feel more in control (download the worksheet below):

1. Assess each area of life quickly and rate where you are currently compared to where you want to be.  ’10’ is the highest rating, representing “realistically awesome” as I like to say. (I’ve noticed many people won’t allow themselves to ever get to ’10’- but for the sake of this exercise consider what YOUR ’10’ would be in each area.) 
2. Optional: some people like to connect the dots to see the shape of the wheel, or to color in the “slices” up to the rating, to have a more visual representation.  This step is extra credit! 
3. Take a look at your wheel overall and identify 1 or 2 areas you would like to change.
4. Consider what it would take from you to reach the next rating number for each focus area (Example: Suzi rated her finances a ‘7’ currently and to get to an ‘8’ she wants to meet with 3 financial advisors, get a plan in place for retirement, and set up automatic savings.) 
5. Select a few tasks from those you identified and set a deadline for each.  Take action within the next 24 hours on at least 1 task!
6. Feel the surge of power as you take back control of your quality of life!

I want to hear from you!  How did this exercise help you?  What did you select as your first task?

Tag me online or post in the blog comments below.  Share with friends and colleagues who want to feel more in control of their life.

hugs, Heather