A colleague of mine has designated today "Look to the Future Day." He's been working with the same organization for over a decade and is thinking about making a change. But between work and family and just living a life, he's only been able to grab scraps of time to think about the future.
So he took a day of vacation today and will use the time to gather input, reflect at length on his plans, and hopefully get a lot deeper and move a lot further ahead than he could have in 8 random hours spliced into other responsibilities. I think it's a great idea in general, but I particularly like two aspects:
- Instant Networking. Having spent so much of his career with one organization, my colleague hasn't made as many external contacts as he'd have liked, and as he prepares to make a change, he's finding his network insufficient to his needs. So he decided to just tackle the problem head-on: he made a list of people he thought it would be helpful to talk with, sent them a thoughtful email and asked for some of their time, and scheduled a series of calls during the day. Clearly, there's a skillful way and a clumsy way to execute this plan, but, hey, his approach worked on me.
- Searching AND Planning. The other day I asked, "Are you a searcher or a planner?" I believe dynamic searchers often outperform plodding planners, but I recognize that we have to find the right balance between the two strategies, matching our approach to the situation. And the way my colleague has structured his "Look to the Future Day" will help him find that balance. His calls and conversations will result in new ideas and action items, but the luxury of a day of uninterrupted focus will allow him to put those next steps into context and prioritize them accordingly.
Photo by C.P. Storm.