Photo Credit: From the Hip, Photo of Lindsey and Jeremy Rainwater 

I have officially created my blueprint for 2017 and I feel excited to share my process with you! I have followed this process for multiple years now and I can tell you that it works for me. I set the intention and then accomplish exactly what I set out to do and that feels really good! My husband and I (photo above) give ourselves at least half of a day to spread out and create both individual and collaborative items for both of us. I will say that in my experience, especially with the purchase of our new home together, it is important to not only set your intentions, but also to revisit your goals on regular basis. We spent time every month reviewing our goals and results, which gave us insight on how we needed to adjust our plan along the way, which ultimately brought us to our North Star Goals. It has been my experience that although creating the plan is GREAT, it is only half of the battle and having a way to review that plan on a regular basis is the true magic behind the art of completing what you set out to do.

Here are my three steps to creating intentions and actions for what I want to create over a twelve month period. 

Visualize! Then Write it Down

I really enjoy starting the process by imagining and visualizing where I want to go by viewing it on a calendar and also writing it out in a word cloud format. Start with a large piece of paper and write down all the things big and small that you wish to accomplish. It will look messy, it will look crazy disorganized and that is the point! Let your creativity put everything down on paper you could possibly imagine accomplishing over the course of the time you are planning for.  Once you've brainstormed to the point of not being able to think of anything else, walk away, clear your mind for a bit and then come back to complete. I find this exercise to be both liberating and fun because you can write anything down, you've not committed to anything yet, only brainstorming.  

Make a list, Check it Twice

Now that all your creative flow is out on paper and also might look super messy to you (all good), it's time to make some sense of it!  Begin by extracting the themes and creating a list. If you see on your word cloud "write book" then that would go on the list, or "family vacation" then put it on the list. Some of the items on your word cloud might not make it on the list and that's okay. The word cloud is the brainstorm this is the practical part, what do you actually want to accomplish this year?  Of what is on your word cloud what do you actually want to do and what has a serge of excitement to you? Once you have a well formed list it's time to create a plan!

Calendar Calendar Calendar  

If it's not on the calendar it doesn't exist!    Once you've created your list, you must create action and intention.   A plan to literally accomplish the exciting objectives you've created for yourself. The way I do this is to put down first what is literally time sensitive. The conference that I plan on attending, the wedding that's a destination event that I want to also make a vacation.  Those are items that are set in stone on your calendar because they are literal dates.  Everything else on your list goes into your calendar as a project relative to when you want to accomplish it, or are being asked to complete.   If you want to actually start creating a blog or writing a book you have to plan time for yourself to actually do that, time for the deep work outside of meetings and other work.  The other thing you might do is create a to do list from these items that is per month.  In past years I've created a list for every month of major action steps affiliated with my projects so that  way no matter what's going on, I have a very accurate to do list that captures my large "Northstar" goals.

The wonderful thing about having a to do list in the calendar that reflects your yearly initiatives is that no matter what happens you have a path.  No matter what's going on in your life you have certain things that you've decided to do no matter what, and personally I find this to be a beautiful thing. 

I'd love to hear your process of planning,  share your ideas and ways you plan to succeed! 

---

Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

A beautiful thing happened three weeks ago, my husband and I closed on our very first purchased home! A very exciting time to say the least and one that I under estimated by way of time it takes to settle into your home vs a rental.  For anyone else that is a home owner, I am sure you can relate to all of the unanticipated "things" that come from the rental, to ownership transition.  News flash, you need a mailbox, trash cans, and on and on... :-)

The other night I was in the car with my husband and I tell him, you know, I have not written my follow on blog for goal setting and intentions, and I realized today that it's because I have not done my own intentions setting for this year! (GASP)!!! It is January freaking 26th and I have failed to create my typical visioning session that happens for me the first week of the year.  He looks at me and says, "We have had a bit going on you know", me, of course I know this, and then there is the immediate guilt and shame surrounding letting my own "process" down.  And then, it dawns on me, the most obvious thought but something I had totally overlooked.  I can pick my "start" of the "year" whenever I want, of course January is the beginning of the calendar year, but how about this year I pick February as my start! 

You see, the advice I would happily grant another would be that you don't have to wait for a calendar role over, a fresh quarter or a birthday to create a new way of being.  You can start anytime, anywhere or way you want to! I have had more than one conversation with someone wanting to start a workout plan and they want to wait until Monday, a fresh week.  My thought, so what if it's Wednesday, start! Start now! 

I write this article to share with you that I do still plan to share with you my goal planning process, and, I want to share it with you as I am creating and visioning my own 2017 plan.  And this year, my "new year" at least when it comes to this process, is starting NOW and more specifically this weekend when I have blocked off the time in my calendar.  

Another "tip" or thought that came for me when marinating on this topic is this; each of us have things we do all the time because we choose to, we workout if we have a routine around it, we do or don't drink excessive amounts of coffee.  All of your existing chosen commitments continue to role on day after day no matter when it is.  What I find enjoyable about goal setting, visioning and intention setting is that it is an act of giving myself the space to wonder and dream about what I want to do next, that is not part of my current daily commitments.  How do I want to create a plan to expand my abilites and by when.  I love Mr. Thiel's quote below, and I think that giving yourself space to dream allows for this type of plan to become reality. 

"How can you achieve your 10 year plan in the next 6 months?" 

- Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and Palantir

So stay tuned for my next post about my process, and in the meantime, if you have created a new plan, and already need to re-commit to it, get to it! Stay on your chosen path.  If you mess up a few days of your new workout plan, that's okay, get up and start again tomorrow! Don't throw out your whole plan over a few missed days.  

The theme of this post is to be and considerate of your process, while also staying vigilantly dedicated to what you most want, do not loose sight of your end goal! 

Cheers, and Happy New Year ;-)

---

Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

As the year comes to an end many of us embrace our own practices and rituals, reflection and create time to rest.  Typically then quickly followed by planning and goal setting the first few weeks of the year once the Holiday buzz starts to fade.  I find these two weeks to be a particularly great time to reflect and plan, express gratitude and renew my resolve towards aspirations I am working towards.  Over the past three years I have created a new practice for myself I would like to share, It is a combination of tools I have picked up over the years, and my top two influencers in this ritual are Kathlyn Hendricks and David Allen.  

What I notice each year is that as the calendar comes to a close to turn over a new chapter, I feel an uprising energy to anticipate what is to come and also reflect on what has happened.  Today I want to talk about tools to support your completion of a year, and allow for the most energy possible to come with you into the new year.  I will share with you in two weeks what my rituals are around goal setting and intentions.  

My first activity is to brainstorm and think of any possible items that have gone undone and make a list.  I find that "energy leaks", absent mindedness or lack of focus are all a result of keeping too much in my mind and not enough on paper or in a reliable place I can come back to, to get things done.  So step one, take an active inventory of all the items out there you might not have completed or are still in limbo. 

After I have a good list of items that are still un done or slipped my mind, a practice I learned from David Allen, "Closing the loop" of communication.  The term is somewhat self explanatory, and, It is important to get at the root at this concept which is proactively coming back to anything to "tie a bow on it" so everyone involved is on the same page.  Closing the loop looks like when you say you are going to do something, and then you do it, go back to the person you told you would do the thing, and tell them what happened, close the loop.  When loops are not closed, energy can get leaked out as it creates wonder or mistrust in the person on the other end. Closing the loop  keeps a flow between the people you make agreements with and creates space for creativity and collaboration as well. 

Once you have your list, you review it, communicate with each of the items or take action if only you are involved, that act is called "completing".  You know that rush of energy that comes with crossing items off your to do list, well, this is what I am talking about, creating action around completing with all (as many as possible) agreements or things left undone that you have accumulated over the year.  What this does for me is acts as wind at my back, giving me more energy and a more ready mind to go into the next year.  You might say, I have actives that cary over into next year, of course, so do I, and the trick is to be conscious of that and have a plan for how those items play out.  I have a tendency to have one large to do list or project list that is on going, and sometimes one of those items gets a little bit of work done on it each day for three months, and then it becomes complete.  If you have items like that, I find having a deadline I am moving towards and time slotted to reach mini completions along the way.  If it is an 80 slide presentation, divide it into sections of 20 slides and give yourself 2 hours a week to complete it over the course of 5-6 weeks.  Those types of completion activities have really done wonders for my energy levels and I have Kathlyn Hendricks to thank for teaching me this skill.

As you spend time reflecting and realizing over the next two weeks, remember to actively evaluate your completions for the year.  If nothing else do this from a place of wanting as much energy as possible to bring to your goal setting sessions in 2017.  

In my next post, I will share with you my own version of how I set my goals and intentions for each year.  

Thank you for reading along and please let me know if I can help you with these items, I have found that collaboration is of the highest importance to support ongoing creativity and I would enjoy collaborating with you!

---

Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

One of my all time favorite leadership books is Good to Great by James Collins, I remember being in my early 20's and reading the book for the first time, it has remained a resource for me for over a decade.  During my last read through the book, a concept stuck out to me that I had not really noticed before.  Now I am sure it was because I was not ready to see the message, funny how life works that way, when the student is ready the teacher appears.  The book centers around many wonderful topics, and the principle I want to share with you today is the art of the "stop, doing list".  Isn't it intuitive for us to create a "to do list" that informs our actions throughout the day, of course! Collins suggest that we consider what to stop doing to really allow for true and dynamic discipline. 

I love his thoughts he noted down on the topic found on his blog, jimcollins.com.

---

Each time the New Year rolls around and I sit down to do my annual resolutions, I reflect back to a lesson taught me by a remarkable teacher. In my mid-20s, I took a course on creativity and innovation from Rochelle Myers and Michael Ray at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and I kept in touch with them after I graduated.
One day, Rochelle pointed to my ferocious work pace and said, "I notice, Jim, that you are a rather undisciplined person."

I was stunned and confused. After all, I was the type of person who carefully laid out my BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals), top three objectives and priority activities at the start of each New Year. I prided myself on the ability to work relentlessly toward those objectives, applying the energy I'd inherited from my prairie- stock grandmother.

"Your genetic energy level enables your lack of discipline," Rochelle continued. "Instead of leading a disciplined life, you lead a busy life."

She then gave me what I came to call the 20-10 assignment. It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?

That assignment became a turning point in my life, and the "stop doing" list became an enduring cornerstone of my annual New Year resolutions — a mechanism for disciplined thought about how to allocate the most precious of all resources: time.

Rochelle's challenge forced me to see that I'd been plenty energetic, but on the wrong things. Indeed, I was on entirely the wrong path. After graduate school, I'd taken a job at Hewlett- Packard. I loved the company, but hated the job. Rochelle's assignment helped me to see I was cut out to be a professor, a researcher, a teacher — not a businessman — and I needed to make a right-angle turn. I had to stop doing my career, so that I could find my real work. I quit HP, migrated to the Stanford Business School faculty and eventually became — with some remarkable good luck along the way — a self-employed professor, happily toiling away on my research and writing. -Jim Collins

Article can be found on Jim's Blog, Click here to see full article

---

Often when we create a new plan to ignite change, that plan is often coupled with initiates and tasks to set us on the new path  and direction.  In pausing to reflect about other possibilities, one suggestion that Mr Collins makes is that of evaluating what can potentially be stopped instead of started.  Making the choice and having the discipline to stop is a high level demonstration of self awareness and discipline.  Like he talks about in the article,  busy can be a state we find ourselves in and without the proper discipline, can end up not accomplishing a whole lot even if we feel like we are and instead we are delusional to the reality we have created.

As you create plans for next year, business and your own new year goals, consider what you could stop doing instead of adding in more new initiatives.  Ask yourself the 20-10 rule that collins mentions, what would you do differently?  

The hardest part of change is having the motivation and discipline to sustain the change, and a large force can be a person to support that process.  Reach out to me, I love to support people amidst change and would enjoy hearing about your plan and how it is going. Send me a note below, and let's talk about what you are going to STOP doing. 

---

Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about the miracle of flight travel, do you ever let yourself really think about what flying is, the up in the air invention that allows us to pass through time zones in the sky!  I can leave my house at 6am, be in London Less than 10 hours later, that is remarkable when you consider it used to take a month to cross the ocean and some couldn't even make the journey!  It is easy to allow yourself to expand your mind to think about the miracle of air travel, but how often do you let yourself think about other "big ideas" that contribute to your daily life? 

Most human beings have the natural disposition to seek comfort, consistency and routine, it creates the feeling of accomplishment, and is a method in which to play inside the construct you invented that is your life.  So what is it about the human condition that creates the desire for comfort more than the desire for growth? One conclusion can be that comfort can be seen as an avoidance to stress, you seek comfort, keep things the same, rely on routine to maintain what you know and do.  A fairly frequent buzz phrase when evaluating your over all well being is "are you stressed?" That tells me that a large portion of our world is using the word "stressed" as a placeholder for the side affects of rapid expansion or change without a plan.

An alternative way of evaluating your stress levels is you can take an inventory of what kind of activities you are involved in and where do you really spend your time.  Busy does not equal productive, and it is really easy to confuse productive and meaningful work with things that fill your calendar and to do list.    I know for me, I have chosen to detach from the word "stressed", the word does not have any meaning I can relate to as I like to think I am choosing to do and participate in where I spend my time.  I love what Jim collins talks about in Good to Great, the Stockdale Pradox, being willing to confront what you are spending time on and once you have looked the brutal facts in the eye, from there you can evaluate your steps forward. 

When you can “maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be,” you are embracing what Jim Collins calls the Stockdale Paradox. 

Another super meaningful dialog on the topic is found here in the below video.  Gary Vaynerchuck is the CEO of a successful media consulting agency and at around 15 minutes into this talk he goes over what I think is a huge driver in the inability to "confront the brutal facts".  As he talks about, no one wants to look at "the thing" that can be measured, to really point to success or not, because if they did then they would be accountable to "that thing".  That would disrupt the "game".  What Gary says here is everything.  Maybe we are "stressed" because we can not take a hard look at WHY we are doing what we are doing and just got stuck in the wheel of work not having a purpose. 

"The game is structured in a way where you are playing within it because you have mortgages , You are not making decisions based on what you believe, instead you are making decisions based on what is palpable and acceptable within the ecosystem that is created, here is punch line tho, if you are doing something to grow within an organization or not rock the boat and have stability it doesn't mean what you are doing is right, it just means its right for you within the context of the game you chose." -Gary Vaynerchuck

When you notice you are tired, not into what you are doing or looking for an escape, ask yourself why are you doing what you're doing?  Did you say "yes" to a series of requests that placed you were you are today? Resulting in now it is just "what you do".  Whatever you spend your time doing, My hope for you is that you have heart in it, heart does not promise daily glamour, in contrast it requires extreme levels of discipline.  Here is the truth for me, when you have heart, stress isn't stress, your day is filled with what you want to do vs. have to do.  

Are you part of a system unconsciously making someone else's dreams come true?  Regardless of your position, the opportunity to take stock of your reality is always present and a fantastic way to live.  

---

Interested in Continuing this Conversation? Contact me Here: 

LINDSEY RAINWATER, ALSO KNOWN AS LINDSEY RAINH2O, IS A SOUGHT-AFTER BUSINESS CONSULTANT, LEADERSHIP COACH, WRITER AND PRESENTER TO THE FITNESS AND WELLNESS INDUSTRY. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RAINWATER, FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER @LINDSEYRAINH2O